There’s an old theory which states that fighters should refrain from pre-fight sex in order to boost their performance come fight night.
“Women weaken legs,” Rocky Balboa’s trainer Mickey Goldmill famously noted.
And over the years, several high-profile fighters have latched on to the suggestion that abstinence is imperative in the latter stages of fight camp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U8_LX7ccC4
The theory is based around some fighters’ belief that denying oneself sexual gratification will lead to more alertness and hunger when the opening bell rings.
The undefeated heavyweight Rocky Marciano was said to avoid sex close to his bouts while the greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali, reportedly stayed away from any funny business for six weeks prior to his fights.
And Floyd Mayweather, who can eclipse Marciano’s 49-0 record with a victory over Conor McGregor on August 26, also subscribes to the abstinence theory.
“Absolutely,” Mayweather responded when asked if he would be abstaining from sex prior to his super-fight against ‘The Notorious’.
Mayweather didn’t elaborate and perhaps he was simply trying to appease the inquisitive reporter as succinctly as possible but McGregor was entirely more definitive with his stance on the subject of one of boxing’s oldest superstitions.
Prior to his meeting with Chad Mendes at UFC 189, McGregor revealed that he enjoys as much sex as possible prior to fight night.
“I feel superstitions are another form of fear,” McGregor told Conan O’Brien in 2015. “If you need something to happen a certain way or you need to wear a pair of lucky jocks or whatever, then when those lucky jocks aren’t there you’ll start to freak out. It’s another form of fear.
“That [sexual abstinence] is most certainly a superstition that I do not abide by.
“I definitely have as much sex as possible!”
