Cus D’Amato on the Importance of Maintaining a Prevailing Sense of Calm (1983)

“That’s what you’ve to tell yourself, to completely relax, able to see everything that’s going on, your sense of anticipation is sharp. That can’t happen unless you relax. A man who’s worrying about getting hit is not going to have a good sense of anticipation. He will, in fact, get hit. And, most important, when you get hit, you get excited … when you get hit, that’s when you’ve got to be calmest. A professional fighter has got to learn how to hit and not get hit, and at the same time be exciting. That’s what professional boxing is about. You’ve got to be clever, you’ve got to be smart, and not get hit.
When you’re able to do this, you’re a fighter.” 

(Excerpted from Watch Me Now)