Mind over matter: Hong Kong boxer Tyson Ng picks up mental skills, gets into WBC rankings
The 35-year-old – who was not named after Mike Tyson – is the first from the city and one of only five Asians to achieve the feat
He may have all the signature moves and combination hits up his sleeves, but Tyson Ng Ping-tai is not your typical boxer.
Heeding all the talk about boxing being a chess-like mind game, that someone’s head was as important as their fists, Hongkonger Ng worked hard during the Covid-19 years to add to his advantages in the ring by becoming a registered mental skills sports coach.
“My professional qualification at the ASPPA [Asian Sport Psychology Professional Alliance] taught me how to differentiate each sport’s level of difficulty, and boxing was among the most difficult ones,” he said. “Many people think of boxing as barbaric, but it’s much more than that.
“I had reached a bottleneck early in my career, not quite able to perform in a bout the way I had trained, but after fine-tuning my mind, I started to see improvements in my game. I learned how to deal with pressure. I began to feel much better. And it began to show in my results.”
In November, Ng knocked out Atchariya Wirojanasunobol of Thailand in three rounds in Bangkok to put his hands on the World Boxing Council (WBC) Asia Super-middleweight belt.
The orthodox boxer became the first from the China region to become a four-belt champion under the WBC Asian Boxing Council, having previously held WBC Asia titles at middleweight Silver and Continental levels, as well as the super-middleweight Continental belt.
