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.
David Haye, who takes on Tony Bellew this weekend, follows that same philosophy and he’s spoken about his self-imposed abstinence ahead of Saturday night’s all-British showdown in London.
“I don’t ejaculate for six weeks before any boxing contest,” Haye told host David Walliams on the Nightly Show. “It’s simple – it sounds a bit crazy.
“The way I see it, a lion is most dangerous when it’s hungry and when it’s horny.
“If a lion has just eaten an antelope and shagged another lioness – you can walk up to it and pat it on the head.
“But if it’s hungry and hasn’t eaten for a while, and it’s horny, go anywhere near it and it’s gonna bang you and eat you.”
Not all fighters subscribe to this theory, however.
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, arguably the biggest superstar in all of combat sports right now, is of a different opinion entirely.
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!”
To be fair to ‘The Notorious’, it’s done him no harm whatsoever.
