Let Your Guard Down
Heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey was the biggest sports figure of the roaring twenties, arguably Boxing’s first superstar. Dempsey’s two late career losses to the “Fighting Marine” Gene Tunney, the second defeat via the controversial “long count” bout, drew over 100,000 fans in Philadelphia and Chicago respectively, attendance numbers unrivaled in boxing history.
On July 21, 1927 Dempsey fought the heavily favored Jack Sharkey at Yankee Stadium in front of 82,000 fans. A crowd that size to see two heavyweight contenders battle is indicative of how much of a draw Dempsey was.
Here is the pivotal moment in the fight as described by Roger Kahn in his excellent book A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring ‘20s.
As described by Kahn:
Unlike Tunney, Sharkey carried the fight to Dempsey. He had a snapping left hand and he moved far ahead through the first five rounds. Only Dempsey’s great staying power saved him. Flynn shouted to Dempsey between rounds, “Go for his body. He doesn’t like it in the guts.” Sharkey had a special tactic to protect his middle. He wore the belt of his boxing shorts high.
Dempsey’s body blows slowed Sharkey in the sixth and Dempsey continued body-punching in the seventh. One punch bounced off a Sharkey elbow and landed against a hip. Another seemed to land below the belt line. Sharkey turned to the referee, Jack O’Sullivan and dropped his hands. He started to complain, “He hit me low and—” He did not finish the sentence. No prudent man facing Jack Dempsey in a prize ring dropped his guard. Ever.
Dempsey threw his great left hook into Sharkey’s jaw. Sharkey fell and rolled awkwardly so that he was lying face down. He clutched his groin and writhed and winced. But he didn’t start wincing until after Dempsey’s hook into the jaw. He was hooked to the jaw and fell clutching his groin. O’Sullivan counted Sharkey out.
The win over Sharkey was the final victory of the great heavyweight’s career. He would lose his last fight to Tunney in what many boxing fans and historians still argue was due to a crooked referee in Chicago.
The lesson, according to Kahn?
“No prudent man facing Jack Dempsey in a prize ring dropped his guard. Ever.”
Keeping your “guard up” is a common refrain when it comes to defending yourself in the boxing ring, but the top boxers are successful because of their ability to drop their guard. Undefeated Floyd Mayweather is an example. Elite boxers like Mayweather drop their guard to create openings and force their opponent into attacking and lunging so they can get into exchanges and use their superior speed and boxing ability to control the bout.
On that July night in 1927 the problem wasn’t that Jack Sharkey let his guard down. The problem was that he let his guard down at the wrong time.
Letting your guard down, or opening yourself to potential vulnerability, is part of life. The personal barriers we create, intended to protect us, can often have the opposite effect. In life, like boxing, it’s hard to be successful if you always have your guard up because you’re always on the defensive. A life of avoidance is not a life well lived. There’s always an inherent risk when you let your guard down, but when we open up to the world around us, opportunities are created. New friends are made. Career opportunities expand.
So why do we keep our guard up? What are we protecting ourselves from? Typically it’s fear of rejection or fear of failure, or fear of someone not acting in our best interests. These fears are part of life and fears that everyone goes through. The most successful people in the world deal with fear and doubt on a daily basis.
Don’t avoid calling that prospect because your gut tells you they won’t be interested.
Don’t avoid applying for your dream job because you have a feeling you won’t get it.
Life rewards those that take action, people willing to let their guard down. It starts with the avoidance of limiting thought. Adopt an abundance mindset. Recognize that opportunity lies in the people you meet and the connections you form.
This doesn’t mean you occasionally need to keep your guard up.
Have you ever met someone who says they are a “good judge of human nature?” We all have. The truth is that the person who is a good judge of human nature wasn’t born with that skill. You become a good judge of human nature through years of interacting with other humans. It goes back to the idea of the man (or woman) of action. The “man in the arena” as Teddy Roosevelt would say.
So how do you learn when to let your guard down and when to leave it up? It all starts with the willingness to put yourself out there and let your guard down. Through this, through the trials and tribulations of navigating through life and being in the fray you’ll know when to keep your guard up. Life can be tough. At times it’s going to feel like you’re doing twelve rounds with Jack Dempsey, but everyone goes through this. The most successful people in the world, the people we look up to, deal with the same fear and doubt that everyone else deals with on a daily basis. The difference is they take action. Successful people take action, every day. It’s all about the cycles. The more you go through, the better you’ll understand human nature and when to keep your guard up.