help, please! can he be INTx?
he's a boxing champ [for those who don't know], so a sportsman but he's got a Ph.D. in Sports Science and is heard to have studied also philosophy, speaks 5 languages, is an avid chess player, a passioante golfer and is involved in a lot of charities.
a few interviews of his on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpRUggG66Z4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXxr0xGclB0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqDDO5_qLJE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QxBlIYXbyg
and an interview on askmen:
http://uk.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_900/983_wladimir-klitschko-interview.html
some fragments from this:
AskMen: You’re quite the opposite of most athletes -- let alone athletes in fight sport -- because you’re intelligent, sharp and articulate. Has the mental aspect of your game been a priority for you or did it just evolve that way?
Wladimir Klitschko (WK): Thank you for the compliment. I should say that mental strength is No. 1, experience [is] No. 2, physical strength is No. 3, and genetic ability that you’re getting from Mother Nature probably comes after.
Mental strength is really important because you either win or lose in your mind. And I’m not solely talking about sporting matches, boxing events -- anything you do, you do it first with your mental strength. And you can actually train and develop it, and I am responsible for what I’m saying because I have experience with that.
You can train your mental strength just like you train your body. If your body looks fit or ripped, it looks strong, and you can flex your muscles. So, physically, you have a certain strength.
Mentally, it’s the same thing. You can train your psychological strength. It’s not easy, though, because we all have mental weaknesses -- all of us. There are no exceptions. No matter what you do, and it doesn’t matter who you are. During our lives, we’re always either working on it or if we are insecure in some areas, we’re trying to cover for it because we are betraying ourselves. So the whole key is to be honest with yourself, find the weak spots, work on it, get it done. Either you’re going to do it on your own or you can get certain books or you can even use a shrink if you want. There are different ways. An example in sports is golf players who use mental coaches.
AskMen: You mentioned the documentary. In it, you and your brother are playing chess, and it’s well documented that you both like to play. Is that more for fun or do you see that as having a benefit as an athlete in boxing as well -- maybe the practice of anticipating your opponent's next move?
Wladimir Klitschko: Earlier in my career, I never thought of boxing as a chess game, but I confirm it now that they are, in fact, very similar. You can plan your fights and strategy just like you would in chess.
All of my fights are planned. I study my opponents from A to Z. How he walks, how he looks, how he speaks, gestures of the human body, which is a certain language that provides you lots of information if you have the ability to read it. You just need to pay attention to it and gain experience over the years.
And if I am 100% prepared for the fight, my opponent has no chance to win the fight. I am saying what I mean: He has a 0% chance to win the fight. There is going to be no luck involved; there is going to be nothing else to stop me from winning the fight. At the beginning of my career, I didn’t realize it, but later on I realized the similarities.
he's a boxing champ [for those who don't know], so a sportsman but he's got a Ph.D. in Sports Science and is heard to have studied also philosophy, speaks 5 languages, is an avid chess player, a passioante golfer and is involved in a lot of charities.
a few interviews of his on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpRUggG66Z4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXxr0xGclB0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqDDO5_qLJE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QxBlIYXbyg
and an interview on askmen:
http://uk.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_900/983_wladimir-klitschko-interview.html
some fragments from this:
AskMen: You’re quite the opposite of most athletes -- let alone athletes in fight sport -- because you’re intelligent, sharp and articulate. Has the mental aspect of your game been a priority for you or did it just evolve that way?
Wladimir Klitschko (WK): Thank you for the compliment. I should say that mental strength is No. 1, experience [is] No. 2, physical strength is No. 3, and genetic ability that you’re getting from Mother Nature probably comes after.
Mental strength is really important because you either win or lose in your mind. And I’m not solely talking about sporting matches, boxing events -- anything you do, you do it first with your mental strength. And you can actually train and develop it, and I am responsible for what I’m saying because I have experience with that.
You can train your mental strength just like you train your body. If your body looks fit or ripped, it looks strong, and you can flex your muscles. So, physically, you have a certain strength.
Mentally, it’s the same thing. You can train your psychological strength. It’s not easy, though, because we all have mental weaknesses -- all of us. There are no exceptions. No matter what you do, and it doesn’t matter who you are. During our lives, we’re always either working on it or if we are insecure in some areas, we’re trying to cover for it because we are betraying ourselves. So the whole key is to be honest with yourself, find the weak spots, work on it, get it done. Either you’re going to do it on your own or you can get certain books or you can even use a shrink if you want. There are different ways. An example in sports is golf players who use mental coaches.
AskMen: You mentioned the documentary. In it, you and your brother are playing chess, and it’s well documented that you both like to play. Is that more for fun or do you see that as having a benefit as an athlete in boxing as well -- maybe the practice of anticipating your opponent's next move?
Wladimir Klitschko: Earlier in my career, I never thought of boxing as a chess game, but I confirm it now that they are, in fact, very similar. You can plan your fights and strategy just like you would in chess.
All of my fights are planned. I study my opponents from A to Z. How he walks, how he looks, how he speaks, gestures of the human body, which is a certain language that provides you lots of information if you have the ability to read it. You just need to pay attention to it and gain experience over the years.
And if I am 100% prepared for the fight, my opponent has no chance to win the fight. I am saying what I mean: He has a 0% chance to win the fight. There is going to be no luck involved; there is going to be nothing else to stop me from winning the fight. At the beginning of my career, I didn’t realize it, but later on I realized the similarities.