The Art of Power

Today is the 3rd May 2009. The day after Manny Pacquiao effortlessly dismantled Ricky the Hitman Hatton within two rounds. Something no other fighter, including Floyd Mayweather Jnr had been able to achieve. Pacquiao was the lighter fighter in the bout, but his power and accuracy was mind blowing.



Manny Pacquiao, under the wing of legendary boxing coach Freddie Roach displayed phenomenal power, and not just in the physical sense. Allow me to elaborate, from a simplified view;

POWER = FORCE x DISTANCE / TIME

This does not take into account the the level of awareness, or the ability of the person to exact their will. We function as an integrated unit, physical capacity alone will not enable us to successfully apply physical power. Mental capacity, or rather mental power has several components. Two major components include

1) Awareness, or Mindfullness.

"Mindfullness is the capacity to recognise things as they are."
- Thich Nhat Hanh - Zen Master

Awareness or insight enables you to see clearly, and acts as a knife that cuts through the forest to clear a path.

2) Ability To Respond; Response-Ability (responsiblity)

The ability to respond to the given situation, is the application of true power. To be flexible enough to adapt to exact your purpose, rather than rigid and set conditioned patterns only.

Freddie Roach in the post fight interview made some telling statements.

“This was no surprise, “Hatton pumps his hands before he throws a punch. He’s a sucker for the right hook. That’s what we worked on throughout our entire camp.
Ricky fights the same way over and over."

“I’ve watched so many tapes of Ricky in the last two months. I know him as well as my own fighter.”

(you can read the full thing at the Next Big Sports Event website).


"So it is said that if you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one. If you do not know others and do not know yourself you will be imperiled in every single battle." - Sun Tzu: Art of War