Inside Manyuchi’s intense training regime

By Joseph Murambiwa

World Boxing Federation (WBF) middleweight pug, Charles Manyuchi, is undergoing a series of psychological and somatic training ahead of his bout slated for February 2021.
The pugilist will square it off with a Ugandan boxer, Muhamad Sebyala, at the Harare International Conference Center (HICC), a show which was postponed twice due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Manyuchi hopes to retain his WBF title which he won in September 2019 after thumping Argentine Pablo Ezequiel.
The showdown in February will also see the two boxers (Manyuchi and Sebyala) competing for the WABA crown.
With hopes of clinching victory, the boxer has adhered to a strict training and diet regime.
The boxer is making up for lost time during the lockdown period where all sporting activities had been halted.
His trainer, Ali “Otto” Phiri confirmed the athlete is undergoing a series of psychological training till he faces off with the Ugandan, a move they anticipate will boost Manyuchi’s chances of clinching the tittle.
According to Jim Taylor, mental training for athletes is an essential piece of the athletic success puzzle.
“The mistake that athletes and coaches make is that they don’t treat the mind the way they treat the physical and technical aspects of their sport. Athletes don’t wait to get injured before they do physical conditioning.
“They don’t develop a technical flaw before they work on their technique. Rather, athletes do physical and technical training to prevent problems from arising. They should approach the mind in the same way.”
World Boxing Association says mental preparation is a major and influential factor to achieve the goals set during training and competition.
“Mental preparation is a complex psychological construct, but can be identified in boxing as the training of personality traits, psychological factors and habits – attention, concentration, self-esteem and self-confidence, courage, focus, analytical skills, decision making, endurance, positive attitude, resilience, motivation, among others – that boxers use as a strategy to cope and optimise their performance to win the fight.
The mental preparation strengthens the personality structure of each boxer to be able to adapt to the high competition environment, in a way that can even overcome a defeat or a bad performance. Likewise, this preparation allows the effective management of physical energy in endurance training where the willpower plays an important role.
It also allows to support the physical pain due to the effort and the blows received during a training and/or competition.
According to recent reports, Manyuchi admitted to having been rusted due to the Covid 19 impasse and has gained weight but he assured his fans that he is working tirelessly to retain his title.
The boxer who hails from Chivhu made his professional debut performance in 2009 and won the ABU welterweight title in 2013, since then the pug has never looked back and he has represented the country well in the boxing ring. Nhau/Indaba