I am conflicted and confused

[wilddeuces]

What's up y'all Ima just cut to the chase. I like martial arts. I like fighting . I want to be a fighter. Plain and simple. The problem is I just don't know what kind of fighter I want to be. My heart and soul is in boxing but the problem is I just started 2 years ago( at age 20, am now 22). Now I know 20 ain't THAT old to get involved in the sport. If i stick with it I could be a average boxer. But you see, I ain't trying to just be some average boxer no one remembers I wanna be great. But let's just face reality, the talent pool in boxing is very deep. You got kids that been doing this since they were baby's. Those are the ones to become great champions( with the exception of a few late starters) let alone someone that just jumped in the game at 20.


Ok, so aside from boxing my other interest is in mma. The reason I would choose mma is because i have a better chance at making it to the top in that sport. My reason for this are as follows.
It's a relatively young sport so the talent level hasn't had the time to develop at its fullest. I hear about guys all the time getting into mma in their mid 20's. You can't just jump into boxing in your mid 20s. Another reason is that I used to wrestle in college for a club sport. I wasn't very good because i did not wrestle in highschool. My friend in college was obsessed with wrestling and told me I'm pretty strong and I should try it out. Come to find out I was one of the strongest guys on the team . My coach even gave me a nickname , "Hercules" . My only problem was that I had no skill. But I bring up wrestling because it's a dominanting martial art in mma and I already know the basics.

So in conclusion I'd go the boxing route because that's where my heart is but being practical I don't think I could become a world champion, Especially at the gym i go to now. Mma route because I actually believe I could be a mma champion whether that be UFC, bellator, WEC, WSOF, etc. I know this is a long post but I'd genuinely appreciate any input you could give me, thanks in advance

Don't box for the future, box for right now. You get to decide how you feel right now, while you box, and that's a real gift - that's why it's called the "present". Chances are you won't go anywhere, but if you keep at it, and focus on personal growth, you can have something that you are proud of and can look back on with dignity. From there, anything can happen.

 

[Mr2urbo]

@Shoemaker hit the nail in the head

You also sound like you want overnight results, it doesn't work that way in boxing

 

[Shoemaker]

@Shoemaker hit the nail in the head

You also sound like you want overnight results, it doesn't work that way in boxing

Hey that's not what LA Boxing told me.

 

[mozfonky]

i don't see why people are getting so anal with this guy, I don't mind his posts a bit. Some of us do have experience, not just with fighting but with management, trainers, situations. If it can be of any help to anyone, I'm glad to part with the knowledge. As far as his frequent posting, he looks to me to be at a stage where a lot of fighters get to, it's a beginning stage, a stage that should be transitory, but it's a stage that I've been at and I've recognized others as having been at. You're just on fire and full of passion, now, he's got to take that and do what he can with it. Does he have a shot at something? We don't know, only god knows. So saying he can't do anything because he looks horrible is wrong. No one starts out good or even close to it, i've said it before but even ali had to be a gymrat for a year before his trainer saw potential. In my case, I was horrible, just horrible, I went from horrible to where people thought i could "make money" which I never did because I thought there was too much bullshit involved. Point is, no one knows. We've had guys who have been through sherdog with their hopes up, posting their workouts etc.., and they usually dissapear after a loss or two. It's a tough sport, a brutal sport but anything is possible. If i can help the guy with my exp. i do, some people are just mean, some people don't want to see anyone else do anything because they have never done anything, in fact, in my exp, most people are that way, even ones' so called friends.

 

[Sunfish]

i don't see why people are getting so anal with this guy, I don't mind his posts a bit. Some of us do have experience, not just with fighting but with management, trainers, situations. If it can be of any help to anyone, I'm glad to part with the knowledge. As far as his frequent posting, he looks to me to be at a stage where a lot of fighters get to, it's a beginning stage, a stage that should be transitory, but it's a stage that I've been at and I've recognized others as having been at. You're just on fire and full of passion, now, he's got to take that and do what he can with it. Does he have a shot at something? We don't know, only god knows. So saying he can't do anything because he looks horrible is wrong. No one starts out good or even close to it, i've said it before but even ali had to be a gymrat for a year before his trainer saw potential. In my case, I was horrible, just horrible, I went from horrible to where people thought i could "make money" which I never did because I thought there was too much bullshit involved. Point is, no one knows. We've had guys who have been through sherdog with their hopes up, posting their workouts etc.., and they usually dissapear after a loss or two. It's a tough sport, a brutal sport but anything is possible. If i can help the guy with my exp. i do, some people are just mean, some people don't want to see anyone else do anything because they have never done anything, in fact, in my exp, most people are that way, even ones' so called friends.

To be fair he has been given a lot of decent advice in his threads. The people who still train are critiquing technique and we've all told him he needs to be in a proper gym as long as he isn't there as cannon fodder.

A lot of the people with deep historical knowledge can watch tape and give suggestions. I struggle sometimes with that because I had a shit chin so if I sparred I probably looked like a cross between Old Arthur Abraham and josh clottey vs pac, lol.

If sinister still posts his instructional videos in stand up technique ts should watch them.

 

[mozfonky]

To be fair he has been given a lot of decent advice in his threads. The people who still train are critiquing technique and we've all told him he needs to be in a proper gym as long as he isn't there as cannon fodder.

A lot of the people with deep historical knowledge can watch tape and give suggestions. I struggle sometimes with that because I had a shit chin so if I sparred I probably looked like a cross between Old Arthur Abraham and josh clottey vs pac, lol.

If sinister still posts his instructional videos in stand up technique ts should watch them.

ya, i know, but some people are tearing his ass up. truth is, as i've said, you are your own best teacher, and today, with the internet, there is access to a lot of stuff earlier generations didn't have access to. there are great instructionals on youtube, there are a history of fights to watch, there are forums like this but still, the man himself is his best teacher. the info is out there, it's up to him if he tries to assimilate some of it. today, there really aren't any excuses as far as information, you know, i'm a musician, there is one facet of music i can't do, it's improvisation. there are great books, there are forums, there are catalogues of music but the real reason i can't improvise is I don't spend time on it, it's me, not the info that's available.

 

[cheesus]

i don't see why people are getting so anal with this guy, I don't mind his posts a bit. Some of us do have experience, not just with fighting but with management, trainers, situations. If it can be of any help to anyone, I'm glad to part with the knowledge. As far as his frequent posting, he looks to me to be at a stage where a lot of fighters get to, it's a beginning stage, a stage that should be transitory, but it's a stage that I've been at and I've recognized others as having been at. You're just on fire and full of passion, now, he's got to take that and do what he can with it. Does he have a shot at something? We don't know, only god knows. So saying he can't do anything because he looks horrible is wrong. No one starts out good or even close to it, i've said it before but even ali had to be a gymrat for a year before his trainer saw potential. In my case, I was horrible, just horrible, I went from horrible to where people thought i could "make money" which I never did because I thought there was too much bullshit involved. Point is, no one knows. We've had guys who have been through sherdog with their hopes up, posting their workouts etc.., and they usually dissapear after a loss or two. It's a tough sport, a brutal sport but anything is possible. If i can help the guy with my exp. i do, some people are just mean, some people don't want to see anyone else do anything because they have never done anything, in fact, in my exp, most people are that way, even ones' so called friends.

What sort of serious athlete comes to Sherdog to gain career advice ? The road to becoming a prize fighter is a long and painful one, no one who is serious comes and posts on these boards after a couple months training and says they want to become a pro fighter. That is a discussion you have with your coach. In any gym I've been a member off, they won't even allow you to ask that question until you've put in the time, work or displayed freak natural ability. Furthermore, this is like the 4th or 5th thread I've seen more or less asking the same question.

Sherdog isn't going to give you anymore advice than a legitimate boxing or MMA gym will. You're either in or out, by the sounds of it...he is way too green to be able to even tell.

 

[mozfonky]

What sort of serious athlete comes to Sherdog to gain career advice ? The road to becoming a prize fighter is a long and painful one, no one who is serious comes and posts on these boards after a couple months training and says they want to become a pro fighter. That is a discussion you have with your coach. In any gym I've been a member off, they won't even allow you to ask that question until you've put in the time, work or displayed freak natural ability. Furthermore, this is like the 4th or 5th thread I've seen more or less asking the same question.

Sherdog isn't going to give you anymore advice than a legitimate boxing or MMA gym will. You're either in or out, by the sounds of it...he is way too green to be able to even tell.

i hear you but i think him getting to some better trainers is a step in that direction. I think we cut the young some slack, sometimes i think about how goofy i was and some of the things i used to do and it's embarrassing, i did a lot of stupid shit trying to find my place in the world. I believe it's part of manhood. Young men do a lot of wierd shit, dress certain ways to fit in to some group, compensate in all kinds of ways, much of it to prove to themselves, not to mention women, that they are men. It's a stage, older men don't need to do those things as much, or rather, if they do, something is fucking wrong with them. If you're 50-60-70 and still basing your whole identity on something as stupid as knocking someone out, you got problems, and yes, those kinds of guys really do exist, they just make me scratch my head but yes, they do exist.

 

[mozfonky]

i remember we had a guy who wanted to go pro here, he did. he was always, always bragging about his workouts, his abilities, seemed like a nice guy, he had a couple fights, lost and we never heard from him again. Where is he now? I don't know, but he ain't boxing no more, if he was lucky he learned from it and grew as a person. and jsut because he lost a couple fights doesnt' mean he had no talent. lots of talented people run into assholes who don't give them good direction. I knew a guy who lost two pro mma fights and he was far from inept, he was one of the best fighters i ever knew, i don't think he mentally could handle the pressure of a fight, i don't think he really had the confidence of a fighter, but talent/skill wise, he was awesome. Other guys i've known, just didn't have any fucking sense, they'd go fight in an event without any kind of good sparring, training whatsoever just a pure ego thing, those guys usually don't get far, you can't win off of pure ego.

 

[mozfonky]

i'll grant you that guys like this are annoying as hell in real life, but hey, i'm a bit more sympathetic, i was there once. I'm actually a bit nostalgic for those days, i used to just live to train, now i have to really really force myself to the gym. it used to be so much funner when i was discovering things.

 

[bobthebuilder]

20 is not too old if you have the talent and dedication. You need to train at a gym that has high level amateurs, have amateur matches then go pro if you are good enough.

How fast can you run a mile?