On more than one occasion I’ve had people say to me, “Man you should take your fights off the internet cause your opponents are going to be able to watch them and figure you out.”
Now I can understand where they are coming from and their reasoning behind it but to me I could care less what people can watch of me. I’d let opponents come and watch me train if they really wanted to. It’s pretty easy to find video on any top athlete in this day and age, especially fighters, yet how often do people ‘figure them out’? We all know Buakaw is going to Left kick the hell out of whoever he fights, how many people have known this and still can’t stop it. Just because you know how someone fights or know a certain thing that they do does not mean you’re going to be able to stop them from doing it.
To quote a classic movie “Billie Jack”, “I’m going to take this foot and put it on that side of your face and there is not a damn thing you are going to do about it.”This is the perfect example of what I am talking about. Just because you know, or think you know, what I’m going to do does not mean you’re going to be able to stop me from doing it. I want people to study my fights, I want people to get in the ring with me and think they know what to expect. I want people to get in there thinking that the version of me they saw on tape is the same one standing across the ring from them.
What happens if you spend all this time studying film thinking you know exactly what to expect but when that bell rings they fight completely different. What if you end up fighting someone else at the last minute? You’ve wasted all this time thinking you know what to expect. It’s a fight; you never know what’s going to happen. I’m not saying that it’s stupid to watch tape or even study a few things. I think that it definitely has its place and there’s a lot you can learn from footage. But if you base your entire training camp on one thing and then that thing changes, what are you going to do?
If I know of my opponent ahead of time, which is rare, I may watch a clip or two just to give me an idea of how they fight. Do they move a lot, do they just charge in, are they fast, are they power strikers, things like that. Or maybe there’s one specific thing that they do really well that I will need to watch out for but I’m not going to dwell on it and meticulously study it day in and day out. A lot of times what I like to do is just have a quick look then I’ll pass the footage onto my trainer who will go over it and then just train me accordingly, that way I don’t dwell on a certain thing too much. I definitely see the reasoning behind watching film or not wanting too much of your footage out there, but to me I could really care less.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you study fights, do you keep your fights from being online and what is the reasoning behind it?
January 24, 2011 at 1:46 pm
I think most Top Nak Muay’s are going to go in there and do their thing and adjust on the fly.
I haven’t heard of too many Thai Nak Muay watch footage. The one such case that I do know of is with Rungravee and Howson. Apparently they saw that Howson rarely checks kicks, so they went for it.
It sounds weird, but I imagine the more web savvy and international a camp their more their fighters will get a glimpse of fight footage. I’m guessing at this, but I would be will to bet the fighters at sitsongpeenong, fairtex. Etc. have access to footage.
Nice post Huggy
January 24, 2011 at 3:11 pm
i like that. let the trainer do the overthinking.
January 24, 2011 at 5:59 pm
I really like this post I agree 100% It doesn’t matter what the other thinks hes going to do once he gets in the ring. It doesn’t matter if he thinks he knows you inside out, I honestly could care less what someone thinks they are going to do because once you get Rocked upside the head or the wind get knocked out of you, most people are on the run and your “plan” goes out the window. So a set plan that you think your going to stick with from start to finish I think is very rare. You have to adapt to your opponent and find a weakness. So yea studying someone and thinking you know 100% of what they are going to do is unrealistic. I feel you should be ready for whatever and never think its going to be a easy fight. Once your in the Ring its War.
January 24, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Pacquiao and Roach have no problem with training vids up on the internet. It hasn’t hinder them in their quest to be the best either!
Good post, Kevin! Damn, that pic of you and Chris is pretty rough to see- Chris is my boy!
January 25, 2011 at 12:06 am
Tong Po-
FYI Kevin doesn’t send me pictures with his post, i normally search for pics on the intertubes… and ad them to the post. So that pic isn’t his choice.
January 25, 2011 at 2:07 am
TP:: He’s just massaging his neck lol
January 25, 2011 at 2:53 am
Ok, Nop. Is that Steve Perry in the background?
January 26, 2011 at 5:18 am
The title of the article is a little misleading…
I think it should read “Studying Opponents” – based on the way Kevin Ross answered the topic. While many people seem to think it is not neccessary to study opponents, it would be foolish not to study other fighters, in general.
January 26, 2011 at 8:20 am
@kingsolly, quit true, I actually meant to mention the fact that I constantly study fights. Pick up tricks, strategies, techniques, etc. This is a daily practice for me and I would deffinitley encourage people to do it as much as possible, especially those people out there who don’t get proper training.
January 28, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Hey Kevin, I see you’re going to be fighting on our card in March. Looks like it’ll be a good night of fights!
January 28, 2011 at 8:26 pm
I ain’t confirmed yet but it’s a possibility
January 28, 2011 at 6:52 pm
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=180014488692571