The Successful Man is Himself

Point to ponder: In all my years of coaching, I have never been successful using somebody else’s plays..  - Vince Lombardi

Storyline: Muhammad is not talking, The fight that Ali lost.

Muhammad Ali was set for his first fight against Leon Spinks, an unknown boxer who had only six major fights in his career. Leading up to the fight there were a few things Ali did not do that were part of his normal routines before fights. 

He did not prepare as hard but also noticeably was his silence before. In all fights before he was very vocal about opponents, making statements, poetries how he is going to humiliate the opponent. Basically he used to Psyche them out and Psyche him up mentally for the fights. This was also a key factor in his winning fights where he mentally screwed up opponents even before the fight. 

From what I had heard, he was advice to be modest before Spinks fight and he decided to stay complete silent when reporters would approach him for questions, refused interviews . He would turn away and walk away when microphones were put in front of him.

And you know what happened? He lost that fight against very junior and unknown fighter.

Reflection:

One cannot tell what exactly was going through Muhammad Ali's mind leading up to the fight. But what one can learn is that he deviated from what was typical to him as a fighter. That was enough to mean the difference between a win and a loss. The moral? Always fight your fight.