Читать книгу The Fighter Within. Everyone Has A Fight-Insights into the Minds and Souls of True Champions онлайн

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The momentum swung my way, and I felt great—but only for that split second, as the lactic acid had engulfed my body with a sharp pain. I was exhausted. My mind was processing what needed to be done, but my body could not carry out the acts. That was another feeling I had never felt before; it took two rounds to finally get loosened up, only to be met by a physical wall that my body could not surmount. The round was called to an end, and I thanked God that my opponent was just as drained as I was.

The beginning of the third round was painfully slow; both of us heavyweights had expelled all of our stamina. We circled a lot, both hesitant to start something our bodies could not commit to. When we did exchange, there was no power or speed. I learned a hard lesson that day, which was to never let my guard down. He twisted his lead foot and torqued his hips. My mind predicted that a whopping right hook would be coming my way, so I decided to weave beneath it. As I tried to duck toward my left, I lowered my glove from my cheek because of fatigue, and to my surprise I ducked directly into his oncoming torpedo shin. My face did a superb job of absorbing all of his force, and all that was missing were those cartoon birds flying around my head as the final cherry on top.