How do I get ready for my first amateur or point match?

It starts earlier than most people think and it is a lot less dramatic than they expect. Nobody runs up any steps.

Weeks out, we work the format itself. Point Muay Thai sparring and point boxing score clean, controlled techniques, which means the way you win there is not the way you would win in a bar, and it is not the way you win on a full-contact card either. So I go through the actual rule sheet with you and we work out what the judges in that room are rewarding. A crisp jab that lands and comes back scores. A wild hook that grazes does not, and it puts you out of position for the counter.

Then we find your two or three things. Not a full arsenal. The stuff that already works for you under pressure, because that is all you will have access to on the day. A first-timer with adrenaline in them has the working memory of a goldfish. If the plan has five steps in it, it is not a plan, it is a wish. Mine usually sound stupidly simple when you say them out loud. Jab to the body, then the leg. Circle away from the power hand. Hands up when you come out of an exchange. That is enough, and the reason it is enough is that you will only manage about that much.

The last few weeks are conditioning that matches the format. Short formats need you sharp and able to recover between rounds, not able to jog for an hour.

Fight week goes quiet on purpose:

• Weight and rest checked early in the week, not Friday night
• One light session. Timing, not fitness. You are not getting fitter that week
• Gear checked against the event’s rule sheet: gloves, mouthguard, shin guards, headgear
• Sleep, food, and staying off your feet more than you want to

Gear gets settled early rather than the night before. Every promotion has its own sheet, and some are specific about glove weight and shin guards down to the type, so I read it with you before anybody buys anything. See when you need shin guards.

How far out all of this starts depends on what you already have. For most first-timers with a base under them, six to ten weeks is the shape, and it is not an eight-week course in how to fight: how long a fight camp runs.

The day itself is longer and slower than anybody expects, and knowing that in advance takes a surprising amount of the sting out of it: what fight night actually looks like.

Deal with the losing question now, not in the changing room. What if you lose your first one is a short read and it settles a lot of people down.

Then you walk out and find out something true about yourself, win or lose, and afterwards we sit down and go through it honestly. Read what I do in your corner, or the whole Fight-Day Corner page.