I must say first, in writing this story, im not in any way saying that if I had not made all these mistakes in my fight preparation I would have won, in fact I learnt so much from this fight in some ways im glad I lost as it showed me many valuable lessons of which I've tried to pass on to my fighters , lessons which have to be sometimes learnt the hard way.

It was 1991 and I had just moved to sydney to start teaching thai boxing, previously had been living in melbourne for the past year training twice a day with the living legend Dave Hedgecock, training alongside the late Darren Hedgecock and fighters like Tosca, Mick Marshall etc, I had been fighting at 83k and won most of my fights, was very fit as dave would push you too your limits every day, since moving to Sydney, I had no trainer and received a phone call from Silvio Morelli asking me if I would fight Nick Talakouris for the victorian pro 86k title, right away I said yes and here is .

MISTAKE #1 never under estimate your opponent. I should have stopped and thought about this fight a bit more, but I didn't, and totally underestimated nick, his gym, his trainer (the late dana Goodson) he had it all, I at that time had nothing.

MISTAKE #2 don't take a fight without a trainer. There was no one to take me for quality pad work, to tell me all my little mistakes, to train me hard, I was doing it on my own, trying to reach the level I had previously a couple of months before, also no decent sparring could be had, in my own mind I thought I was doing ok but I wasn't.........which led to the next vital mistake.

MISTAKE #3 get your weight right ! Although id fought at a lighter weight a few times before, my training wasn't right so my weight was off, I knew it but stupidly thought "sauna it off" would be ok...NO! losing water right before the bout is a mistake, make no bones about this one and I see it all to often, losing too much fluid in the final day isn't a good idea at all, but I did this one as well!

MISTAKE #4 sex before a fight. Id just flew into Melbourne and went to my hotel the night before my fight, ill call my old girlfriend up for a bit of rumpy pumpy as I was bored, by this time I was also dehydrating myself and felt the flu coming on! I thought it was pre fight nerves and dismissed it, and of course after a night of being in the sauna and in bed with a young nymphet I woke up in the morning totally knackered! Getting your correct sleep and saving your vital testosterone is vital, especially if your going to fight a big punching opponent eight hours later!

MISTAKE #5 listen to your body, learn to say no! When I woke up on the day of the fight, I knew I was not up for this, but I knew it was my fault, and I should have pulled out, but I didn't, pride I suppose, (or was it stupidity?) I went too the weigh in and was 88k!! 2k over the limit, so back in the sauna for me and had two hours to lose it, which I did, but by this time I was really feeling the flu and the weight loss and nerves as I knew I wasn't right ...and of course the predictable happened, I got koed in round one! And to be honest I cant remember getting in the ring, let alone fighting for two minutes!

SO...LEARN BY YOUR MISTAKES!

I certainly regretted the whole affair, but I learnt not to repeat these mistakes on my next fight I was spot on the 86k a week before, and eat, slept really well, trained hard and was fit and I won which is what you want to do after all!!! By making these fatal errors in my career I've been able to pass these on to others, so hopefully they wont do the same, unfortunately some don't listen and have to go through the pain of losing to realize this for themselves.

SO A FEW POINTS TO REMEMBER...

• Never underestimate your opponent or his gym, remind yourself your taking on his whole team, with all their experience as well, not just the fighter.
• Get yourself a good gym to fight from, where you can get decent sparring, pad work, and nutrition and fitness advice.
• Get your weight spot on, on the day of the fight you want to be well fed, lots of fluid in your system, not hungry and dehydrated! Be on the weight a week before, not two hours before a fight!
• No sex at least a few days before a fight, this rule goes back years to the days of bare knuckle boxing, and has a lot of benefit to sticking to it, build up the testosterone level, make yourself angry at having to abstain from sex, and DON'T do it the night before!
• Listen to your body, only you can tell your trainer how you feel, and be honest! If you are really not feeling well let him know, sometimes you just have to take a break from hard training, sometimes you need time out to repair an old injury.

So..learn by your own mistakes.. I certainly did, and when I think back to all those years ago did any good come out of the whole disaster? Well yes, I got paid $1000 for being there, and in those days I didn't have a pot to piss in and I went out and bought an old kombi van which I used for years to start up my clubs which has become the bulldog empire it is today, so it wasn't all that bad............I.don't want a re-match though!

Nick Stone. Bulldog gym.