BoxRec

I'm sure many people have heard the quote 'early nights win fights' but ive always wondered what other boxing fans think about it.

I had a brief pro career a few years ago but i never really had early nights as such, most of the time you fight late at night and my thought was to get your body clock used to being awake late so i often did my runs late at night rather than in the morning.

I feel if your use to sleeping at say 9.30pm at fight night you will feel tired naturally, What are peoples thoughts on this?

Matt Teague wrote:I'm sure many people have heard the quote 'early nights win fights' but ive always wondered what other boxing fans think about it.

I had a brief pro career a few years ago but i never really had early nights as such, most of the time you fight late at night and my thought was to get your body clock used to being awake late so i often did my runs late at night rather than in the morning.

I feel if your use to sleeping at say 9.30pm at fight night you will feel tired naturally, What are peoples thoughts on this?

I agree with your view , but i do think its important to be well rested , and to me an early night is to be in bed between 11pm and midnight and get up about 8 am , thats enough sleep , but a fighter in training shouldnt have less than 8 hours sleep , a lot of fighters have their early morning jog and think they have to get up early to do this , they dont need to , its all about discipline and routine , doing the run before your day really begins means you dont get to a point where you feel like you cant be bothered and give the run a miss , an 8 am run is no worse that a 5 am run in my view .

Matt Teague wrote:I'm sure many people have heard the quote 'early nights win fights' but ive always wondered what other boxing fans think about it.

I had a brief pro career a few years ago but i never really had early nights as such, most of the time you fight late at night and my thought was to get your body clock used to being awake late so i often did my runs late at night rather than in the morning.

I feel if your use to sleeping at say 9.30pm at fight night you will feel tired naturally, What are peoples thoughts on this?

I agree - it does seem strange that most/all fights take place mid-late evening yet the training times don't necessarily reflect this (I think that Mayweather trains at "fight time" ?).

Apart from the possible weight making benefits of doing roadwork first thing in a morning on an empty stomach, it doesn't seem logical.

It is not just the training, but also the diet during the day of the fight. If a boxer usually trains at say 1 o'clock in the afternoon, then his whole routine with regards to food and fluid is geared towards this, then suddenly on the day of the fight he is expected to perform at 10 o'clock at night - how do you adjust the food / fluid, is it guess work ?

As long as the boxer is getting the right amount of training, nutrition, rest, sleep etc. then I guess that it does not matter so much - unless you are competing at the elite levels.

The saying about "early nights win fights" is probably more to do with the fact that if a boxer goes to bed early then he is not out drinking and carousing or whatever !