#TBT Cus DāAmato, one of the greatest Boxing Trainers to walk this earth, with a young Mike Tyson in the Dressing Room before his Fight. Cus DāAmato on making Fear your Friend: "When theyā¦come up to the gym and say I want to be a fighter, the first thing Iād do was talk to them about fearā¦I would always useā¦the same example of the deer crossing an open field and upon approaching the clearing suddenly instinct tells him danger is there, and nature begins the survival process, which involves the body releasing adrenalin into the bloodstream, causing the heart to beat faster and enabling the deer to perform extraordinarily feats of agility and strengthā¦It enables the deer to get out of range of the danger, helps him escape to the safety of the forest across the clearingā¦an example in which fear is your friend. The thing a kid in the street fears the most is to be called yellow or chicken, and sometimes a kid will do the most stupid, wild, crazy things just to hide how scared he is. I often tell them that while fear is such an obnoxious thing, an embarrassing thingā¦nevertheless it is your friend, because anytime anyone saves your life perhaps a dozen times a day, no matter what how obnoxious he is, youāve got to look upon him as a friend, and this is what fear isā¦Since nature gave us fear in order to help us survive, we cannot look upon it as an enemy. Just think how many times a day a person would die if he had no fear. Heād walk in front of cars, heād die a dozen times a day. Fear is a protective mechanismā¦.By talking to the fighters about fear I cut the learning time maybe as much as half, sometimes more, depending on the individual." #ThrowBackThursday #IronMike #MikeTyson #Boxing #Boxeo @miketyson
