Greatness isn’t a birthright, it’s a state of mind
Recon Solutions host a regular CIO forum, the speakers at their Sept ’17 session did not disappoint. Professional boxer Jeff Horn and his trainer Glenn Rushton were interviewed by Recon's Steve Scanlan. They shared learnings from Jeff and Glenn’s journey from Jeff first entering the gym to his successful world title fight against Manny Pacquiao on July 2nd 2017.
The conversation was inspirational, with all nuggets of wisdom equally transferable to any situation.
Jeff entered the gym to learn self-defence and survive the relentless bullying at school, Glenn spotted his talent right away but gave Jeff space he needed to realise it himself, what followed was a conversation about the possibilities available and Glenn showed him a path: 4 yrs. training to the Olympics, then another 4 yrs to a world championship fight with a target to retire in his mid-30s a wealthy man.
A week later Jeff made his decision and they started work.
Glenn saw that Jeff was different, he listened and absorbed information and advice, he told us that you achieve victory in the 1 minute between rounds, that’s when you listen to your corner, learn, re-compose yourself and recover to get back in the fight.
Many boxers can give the punches but when they get ‘clipped’ they lose their focus and want to scrap rather than box. Jeff was able to take the punches and they didn’t faze him.
Jeff and Glenn shared advice with the room.
Mental preparation for the fight included visualising the win, so when it happened it felt like déjà vu.
Greatness isn’t a birthright it’s a state of mind
Winners will find a way to win and losers will find a way to lose,
You bite off more than you can chew and then chew like mad.
You can’t be a champion on your own, you always need a team behind you, it’s the neck that turns the head.
Keep your eye on the goal and not the effort
If you know your competitor is top quality, then you work harder to get the job done.
You don’t get hit by a right-hand legend or a left hand of a world champion, it’s just a person in front of you, a person with 2 fists.
You don’t have to act tough or look tough, you don’t have to know it all to drive the business.
If the dream isn’t important enough to hold that dream, then you don’t want it badly enough
Good luck Jeff when you defend your WBO welterweight title against England’s Gary Corcoran on Dec 13th 2017 here in Brisbane, you’re an incredible Queenslander
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