Читать книгу Fight to Win. 20 Simple Techniques That Win Any Fight онлайн

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This is especially true in a sporting contest, where survival is not threatened. Sometimes a fighter subconsciously decides that he is taking too much damage for what is at stake. A knockdown or a momentary pause provides an opportunity to collapse, ending the bout. This subconscious decision to give up can be overridden by a determined fighter, but only so many times. Everyone has their limits.

A fighter who is down but not out has a tough decision to make: get up and risk taking more punishment, or accept defeat? Fatigue and pain can wear down a fighter until he just can’t go on.

It is easy to be contemptuous of someone who chooses to go down to a blow that they could have taken and fought on, or who taps out to a painful but not damaging submission. However, it is not as simple as that. A fight is more than an exchange of physical techniques; combatants attack one other’s will to fight at the same time as they inflict pain and damage on the body and attempt to tire one another out.

These three factors—physical damage, tiredness, and the erosion of the will to fight—are all interrelated. A fighter who gives up easily may be worthy of contempt perhaps, but one who is worn down in a tough contest deserves respect whether his inability to fight on stems from exhaustion, damage, or mental defeat.