Fighting friends?

Discussion in 'Thai Boxing' started by |MT|omar, Jul 8, 2005.

  1. |MT|omar

    |MT|omar Thai Boxer

    Hey guys, i just wanted to ask what your opinion would be about fighting a friend in an offical competition, wheather it was a gym spar or a real fight. Dont get me wrong here, im not talkin about just beatin each other up at the park or in your garage, i mean like offical events.

    The reason i ask is, i might be having my first fight soon (at an up coming Gym Spar) and there's a good chance that i'll be fighting a mate of mine; he's the same size/weight and has as much experience as i do.

    I've got mixed emotions about this, i would want to fight him, but then i think about what might happen if one of us was to beat the crap out of the other. I dont want there to be tension between us if you know what i mean.

    Anyway, let me know what you think
    -Thanks
     
  2. Ikken Hisatsu

    Ikken Hisatsu New Member

    I dont think anyone can answer that for you. it depends on you and your friend. I know that some people have no problem with it- John Wayne Parr and Shane Chapman are good friends and have fought 3 times now. I think your friend and you should realise that its a sport and its not a personal thing.
     
  3. NaughtyKnight

    NaughtyKnight Has yellow fever!

    Just fight, and take him for beers afterwards.
     
  4. |MT|omar

    |MT|omar Thai Boxer

    Yeah good point

    Good idea :)


    Alright, we'll see how we go, i'll keep ya posted on the fight too (providing that it goes as planned)
     
  5. smiff

    smiff Valued Member

    I must fight/spar my friends alot of the time where i come from because we only have a one relatively small club.Its is definately hard to fight your friends, obviuosly someone has to lose and it can put alot of strain on our friendships,especially the day before our fight when we barely talk to each other.

    but i see it as a learning experience and if you really are friends with someone then alittle compettive fight should not be able to reak that.

    Luke

    p.s wasgonna write more but had to leave :)
     
  6. MuayKiDo

    MuayKiDo Che!

    During sparring sessions I always train with (good) friends. This doesn't mean anything for our friendship outside the ring. We stay tight.
    I do have some problems with actually hurting them. When I have the chance to make a knock out strike, I tend to hold back at the last second when fighting a friend. But I will get over this soon enough. ;)
    In the ring, your friend will be your opponent so treat him like that. If you have problems with this, talk to your kru or reconsider the fight.

    Just my thoughts, good luck.
     
  7. K1Mike

    K1Mike New Member

    I don't have problems sparring my friends for practice, but I have trouble fighting them in competition. Infact, I flat out just won't do it. Most of my mental game is having hte midnset that I want to hurt my opponent, and I can't if I am friends with them.
     
  8. Jahk Nah Rai

    Jahk Nah Rai Valued Member

    That's a touchy thing. It depends on how cool you two are. You both have to have the ability to switch your mindset from foe to friend after the match is over. In other words, clobber one another and just grab a beer afterwards. You also have to realize it's just business nothing more. It's not like you are going to kill one another with guns and knives. Think of it as "testing" one another's skills.
    When I spar with my buddy we get real serious, even to the point of punching and elbowing one another. I clock him or knee him and he gets really shocked and then knees me back even harder and so on and so forth. We even grin crazily as we're going at it because we're both equally sadistic.

    The downside is you have to beat up a buddy. The upside is, you might have already sparred with him before and so you may very well know his weaknesses to win the fight.
     
  9. incubus

    incubus Valued Member

    I have same situation like Smiff , we are a small club and we spar together all the time. One has to understand that it just sparring and friendship should remain intact.
    However it can happen that during sparring, people can take it personally...
     
  10. duderanch182

    duderanch182 Bored Thaiboxer

    Sparring is competely different to fighting, in sparring you are practising your technique and in the fight you using your technique to your full potential. Also with a sparring you are meant to hold back to a degree as you don't want to injure the other person. I have sparred with friends lots and its no problems at all.
     
  11. NaughtyKnight

    NaughtyKnight Has yellow fever!

    If you cant fight a friend and then be friends after, then they aint really your friends.
     
  12. Davey Bones

    Davey Bones New Member

    If one or the other gets ****ed off because one of you had to win and the other had to lose, the friendship doesn't mean squat. And right now, with your mindset, if you keep beating yourself over the head, you're gonna lose. You're both training to compete, you go to the same school, and you're in the same weight class. Get over it, this won't be the only time it happens, guaranteed.
     
  13. Jujitm

    Jujitm New Member

    I did that with someone from my old Karate class in my kickboxing lesson and as we were in a group where we took it in turns to spar the guys around us looked VERY... nervous :D then we got told of. And I got told of for doing this with this other boy who sparred the same :D and always got told of for this when I used to do JJ :D

    Ahh... good times... good times...

    and should that be your both equally sadistic and masocistic :D ( :confused: spelling :confused: )
     
  14. slipthejab

    slipthejab Hark, a vagrant! Supporter

    Fight him.

    It should make little difference to a true friendship.

    I've found that it strengthened several friendships. There was a mutual admiration there afterwords that wasn't there or at least wasn't so apparent before the competitions.

    I think if more people scrapped with their friends everyone would have less backstabbing, fairweather friends.

    People would be down and have your back and their word would be good. Not all the 'Homie I got ya back' BS that you hear and then when a rumble roles up your mates skip.

    lol... Pound them first to make sure they are down to scrap. :D

    edit:

    I did fight two guys who both trained and fought out of my gym... both heavier by 20 lbs. (200lbs wieght class) and I beat them both... the guy that got off lightly always held a grudge... his old lady was at the match and he thinks he lost face... the other guy I hurt badly... but we remained good friends... we still are to this day. Go figure.
     
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2005
  15. jackthe

    jackthe New Member

    Blah , i can't wait to kick the stuffing out of one of my best mates and you'r worring about a match.
    Don't take it personaly , yes one of you will lose , but the loser gets to be happy for his friend. So either way you end up happy :D.If you'r good friends it won't matter.
    And has someone suggested , go grab a drink aftewords , talk about the match , you can learn lot's of things from it.
    Have FUN! :D
     
  16. Bruce Irving

    Bruce Irving New Member

    lol me and my friend talk about this all the time. he says that he couldnt fight me because wev been through so much together, and he cant picture himself actually trying to knock me out. i on the other hand can go into a match Vs him because to me this is what we signed up for and i have that competitive edge. yea of course i love him to death bc hes my best friend, but its a sport not a street fight. We should both be walking away with no serious injuries, and "you dont truly know some one until you fight them". good luck on ur desicion i think u should talk to ur bud about it see how he feels about it.
     

Share This Page