Be strategic,
When it comes to the best they always come in with a well thought out plan, the best aren’t the best because they are necessarily faster, stronger or tougher. A lot of it comes down to preparation.
Two of the biggest fights in history show how valuable a good strategy is for victory, one mythic and one legendary.
For mythic we will talk about the ultimate underdog story: David vs Goliath.
So how did David do it? How did he overcome the larger, more battle hardened opponent?
First of all he refused to play Goliath’s game, he wore no heavy armor and weaponry and went instead with just his sling and speed advantage. He knew Goliath would underestimate him and he used his opponent’s ego against him.
As the battle begun he quickly stunned Goliath with a rock to the head, ran up, grabs his opponent’s sword and off with his head! Simple! Job done. Was the strategy risky? Certainly, but it sure did pay off.
Knowing your strengths and your foes weaknesses is the starting place of all strategies, honest analysis is essential and allows for you to exploit those weaknesses giving you the best chance of victory.
So, ok I hear you say, that is a story, what about a real documented fight?
Lets analyze a major retellings of this classic encounter.
It’s 1974, Muhammad Ali is attempting to reclaim the heavyweight title against the colossus George Foreman, the man that destroyed both Joe Frazier and Ken Norton in two rounds.
Whilst everyone else was terrified of the destructive power Foreman possessed, Ali saw a raw brawler that used a lot of energy and showed fatigue even after a couple of rounds.
Ali started to construct his strategy. Standing toe to toe with Foreman like Frazier did was suicide, Norton used his jab and stepped back from Foreman but was unable to tie him up and survive long enough to tire him out.
Ali used multiple vectors of attack: he talked lots of trash in the build up, ridiculed Foreman’s style, got the whole of Zaire on his side with his immense charisma.
Knowing he no longer had the legs to dance around Foreman he used his sparring sessions to toughen up his body, learned to control his opponent in the clinch by holding behind the head and employed his famous rope-a-dope by leaning back on the ropes letting them absorb some of the power.
Still more went into the strategy: the ropes were looser than normal as part of the negotiations. As the two came to the centre of the ring Ali taunted Foreman with spite and took every opportunity to whisper into his ear that he hit like a cissy knowing it would enrage Foreman.
Ali came out throwing right hand leads at Foreman, beating him to the punch knowing it would wind him up, make him spend his energy and fight recklessly.
As we know it worked a treat, Ali took over as the fight went on and stopped an exhausted Foreman. The world marveled at the belief, discipline, intelligence and guts this strategy took to employ, the layers of it and the courage to execute under the highest pressure imaginable.
In other fights you will see traces of these same elements however there is little to no strategy there, taunting with no plan behind it, show boating but no method to it. Each of these elements on their own are near useless but if they all come together to serve a larger goal, all moving in the same direction, that! Is a strategy that can gain victory.
Strategy is a difficult word to define, one example being ‘concerned with ways to employ means to achieve ends’.
The vast majority of fighters employ little to no strategy at all, they look to get on top and that is about it. The best, the ones that are remembered, strategize.
The best coaches tend to construct the best plans, these are well thought out strategies that give their fighters the best opportunity to win.
Now not everyone is a fighter but we can all learn from these examples and be more strategic in what we do. The majority don’t, which gives us an opportunity, the best plan and aim to execute, be the latter and topple your goliath.
If you feel like you need help constructing a strategy to get the best out of yourself in competition or in your career get in touch and lets get planning.
Rule 2 coming soon.