Boxers must not lose focus and let the fame and riches go to their heads

As demanding, harsh and relentless boxing can be, it can also be a means to an end.

Boxing, when one dedicates themselves to it, can permanently change one’s life for the better.

Many boxers have been able to provide a decent way of life for themselves as well as for their families.

Boxing has taken dedicated boxers from shacks to mansions in a very short space of time. Boxers have been able to run successful businesses through their proceeds from the sport.

Boxing has provided hope and saved the lives of many people who could have gone astray had it not been for their involvement in the sport.

But, as life dictates, there is always a flip side to every coin. In the case of boxing, the flip side is when the very success of the boxer diminishes the desire to work harder. It has been proven that sometimes in boxing the biggest threat to a boxer’s success is success itself.

Success, whether monetary or material, has been the biggest threat to many talented boxer’s flourishing careers.

Some boxers, when money, fame and praise starts piling in they suddenly develop a “big head”.

They stop adhering to instructions from handlers. They bask in the spotlight, they miss training sessions and subsequently they spend more time under the bright lights of fame rather than in the gym.

Whether it’s an upbringing issue and judging by the conditions most boxers are subjected to, but boxers tend to easily get side-tracked by issues that are meant to motivate them.

Oscar de la Hoya, even at the very peak of his career, is said to have always kept a food stamp in his wallet as a reminder of his humble beginnings as well as a constant reminder of the suffering he had to endure to get to where he was.

That is a sign of a man who wanted to remain level-headed by all means.

He knew he was worth millions of dollars, but never lost touch of how he got to those riches.

That is the mentality local boxers need to adopt... and that is the mentality of staying “hungry” in order to fully exploit all the financial rewards of boxing.

One cannot easily get excited and sidetracked by winning a national title and start missing gym sessions and being unruly. There are still international and intercontinental titles to pursue.

There is still the rest of the world to be conquered. Discipline is not only knowing what is right from wrong but it is also exercising self-control at all times and in every situation one faces.

There is absolutely no harm in enjoying the rewards that come with boxing, but one should always aim for more.

Boxing has no limits but boxers set limits for themselves by being ill-disciplined and “big-headed” and knowing it all, especially when things start going right for them.

The likes of Mayweather and Pacquiao, even our own Zolani Tete and Hekkie Budler, have achieved almost everything that most boxers would want to achieve in boxing, yet their work ethic and discipline remains intact.

It’s no rocket science how they manage to keep focus, it is knowing how rewarding boxing can be and having the desire to go that extra mile in pursuit of those rewards.