Nine times out of ten the fracture itself is inevitable, particularly in a sport like boxing, where the goal is to make money and the fuel is testosterone and ego. Whether they become a success or not, no fighter ever finishes their career the same way they started it – both physically and mentally – and the same can be said for the person who trained them, too. Together on this most unusual journey, full of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, it is perhaps only natural that they will struggle to remember what it was that brought them together in the first place. Typically, one bad defeat, and that’s it. Someone must be held accountable. Someone must go. Then even when things go well, as was true of Hamed, the need to blame is replaced by a growing paranoia and greed, for both money and power. Suddenly now, with a whole host of people telling you how great you are, it is no longer essential to have your coach provide words of encouragement or indeed anything at all. Suddenly now they become an inconvenience, a reminder of the helpless novice you used to be. In fact, why are they still around? Is it just for the money? Is it just to humble you?
Subscribe to my channel
