EPISODE 11: The 7 traits of a champion with Former Professional Boxing Champion, George Groves
With a wealth of championship titles to his name, George Groves has experienced the pain of having to rebuild, and exhibited physical, mental, and emotional strength throughout his illustrious boxing career.
For episode 11 of The Perfect Athlete we finally hear from a world champion in my own profession. This feature-length deep dive covers every step of George’s journey – every trainer, every injury, the landmark bouts, right through to the motivations for calling time on his boxing career.
George also shares his 7 pillars – a series of ideas which form a cyclical ethos that can be applied to sport, work, and life in general – and the experiences that taught him the importance of each pillar.
This episode of Perfect Athlete is sponsored by Precision Hydration who help athletes personalise their hydration strategy using their sweat tests and electrolyte supplements.
Get 15% off first orders with discount code PERFECT15 or book a 1-2-1 call with one of the sweat experts here: https://www.precisionhydration.com/book-a-sweat-expert-call/
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IN THIS EPISODE OF THE PERFECT ATHLETE:
- George’s transition from kickboxing to boxing
- His support network and parental pressure
- Coping with losses and feeling self-assured
- Adapting his boxing style with different coaches
- The 7 traits/pillars of a champion
- Physical, mental and emotional ability
- Dealing with various injuries
- George’s exit plan from boxing
LINKS & REFERENCES
Chris Billam-Smith: https://twitter.com/chrisbillam
George Groves: https://twitter.com/stgeorgegroves
Chris Billam-Smith: https://www.instagram.com/chrisbillam/
George Groves: https://www.instagram.com/stgeorgegroves/
Precision Hydration: https://www.precisionhydration.com/
Get in touch: [email protected]
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
“To have true confidence, you want to be good at something, and I always felt very good at boxing. I was told I was good at it, encouraged to participate, and reveled in it.” – 5:50 – George Groves
“I tell people you need to have unwavering self-belief, unwavering confidence, borderline arrogance, that you are certainly more than self-assured, that this job is a foregone conclusion, that you prepare right and show up on the day.” – 20:10 – George Groves
“It’s important to not waste your time. It’s obviously self-explanatory as a fighter, but any sports person you’re up against usually will have a short career. And in life as well, you don’t really want to be wasting time.” – 45:40 – George Groves
“It was a conscious decision by me, certainly at the start that I wanted to develop myself as a complete fighter, to bridge the gap to becoming a more complete fighter and being able to throw combinations. It sounds bizarre if you fight tiles, and you can’t throw combinations.” – 1:06:00 – George Groves
“I needed to be in control of my own destiny. At that point I would not delegate anything. I didn’t trust anyone apart from myself.” – 1:16:30 – George Groves
“I think Shane [McGuigan] is pretty independent, he’s happy to stand on his own two feet and make his own decisions, from his own experiences. And I hope he never lets anything dampen his love of the sport, or change his own views and philosophies.” – 1:35:25 – George Groves
“If you’ve got an emotionally sound fighter, it doesn’t matter whether they’ve had 6 hours or 10 hours of sleep the night before a fight, because you’ll never get textbook in boxing. You could have your fighter absolutely nailed on, tick every box, and they just don’t perform. And it’s usually because of an emotional or mental reason.” – 1:36:45 – George Groves
“I had just become a Dad. My life had changed in that respect. I felt like I was enjoying boxing again working with Shane. But for so long before then I was on a ticking time bomb of hating boxing and wanting to get out anyway.” – 1:58:52 – George Groves
