The cliche question often depicted in Hollywood movies when the protagonist is interviewed for a job position is “Are you a thinker or a doer?”
Boxing is not for thinkers, or scholars it is a very physically and mentally demanding sport designated for doers only. Boxing is about muscle memory and instinctive reactions; all thinking and preparation should be wired in months prior to the fight. Bruce Lee (although not a professional boxer) once said
“If you try to remember, you will lose!” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjpbUaqJqyw at 6:51)
All forms of fighting and combat sports (whether it’s Taekwondo, Judo, wrestling or boxing) are essentially the same; when you’re moving around your opponent, obviously fragments of thought will flash through your mind but the trick to beating your opponent is to not dwell on thought about him or your next move.
If you occupy your mind on thoughts such as which punch he’s going to counter you with or what you want to knock him out with you will not land punches. The only way to win fights (a side from getting extremely lucky) is to train like your life depended on it. Combining accumulated experiences of past fights with conditioned reactions, a fighter should effortlessly know exactly what to do in every possible scenario that could arise during the fight.
During the weigh-in of Timothy Bradley vs. Juan Manuel Marquez (before the fight even started) I accurately guessed that Marquez was going to lose; I was able to swiftly draw this conclusion after a brief glance at one medium-shot (picture frame) of the two standing side-by-side, it was gut instinct.
Since the the last time I saw Marquez fight (which was Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Manny Pacquiao 4) he had gotten fatter, indicating to me that he did not prepare as hard for the fight with Bradley as he did for the fight with Paquiao. Underestimating your opponent is the most elementary and fatal flaw any fighter can make, Marquez should have known better.
If you go watch the fight of Marquez vs. Pacquiao 4 then watch the previous trilogies you’ll see that Manny too had gotten fat for the 4th bout. Marquez on the other hand was in supreme shape and was determined to win, sure enough in the 6th round Marquez knocked out Pacquiao with a career ending right cross.
All the great champions ever considered to be the best are only regarded as so because of how much harder they’ve worked; you might argue that some were destined to be the best (for example Muhammad Ali) and I would agree with you however boxing (or any other form of combat sport) is much simpler than that.
Essentially what every fighter in every single weight division wants is the championship title, therefore once a fighter obtains the title he immediately becomes public enemy number 1 to all others in that weight class; if the fighter won the title by sheer chance then it wouldn’t be long until the obviously better skilled fighter(s) take it from him. However the chance at fighting the champion for the title is not given to just anyone, it is only given to the best contenders (second best next to the champion) in that weight class; and in order to move oneself up the ranks and be called the number 1 or number 2 contender you have to win fights over all other contenders (or at least cause critics to believe that you are better than all the other fighters). The championship titles of each division are always being fought over by the best (contenders) of that weight class; no fighter is ever propelled to the top by magic, the champion(s) like all other fighters began slowly working their way up the ranks, starting from the very bottom, amateur boxing.
Work Cited:
“The Way of The Intercepting Fist”. Longstreet. Creator. Stirling Silliphant. Perf. James Franciscus and Bruce Lee. Paramount Television, 1971. Television series.