In September of 2019, Marcin Tybura hit a low point in his career. A KO loss to Augusto Sakai dropped him to just 1-4 in his last 5 bouts, and included 2 straight KO losses. However, like he always does, Tybura looked to learn from his bouts and make changes in the new year.
“2019 was a total disaster. I made a couple of changes for 2020, and that’s the most important thing – mental changes and game changes,” Tybura shared.
Those changes resulted in a much better 2020 with Tybura walking away with a very underrated 4-fight winning streak and a #11 ranking. So just what were those big changes that he made that catapulted him into the thick of things at heavyweight? According to Tybura, it was just taking a deep breath – literally.
“I pay more attention to different things, like harder training and I focus on breathing exercises, which improves my cardio,” Tybura explained. “I work on my breathing exercises for at least one hour a day or even more sometimes. I kind of focus on it during the workout too.”
The breathing exercises, according to Tybrua, are not as uncommon as you might think. He knows many other fighters, trainers, and athletes are also getting on board with breathing training to get ready for contests. Still, he thinks more should be following in his lead based on the results he has seen in himself.
“It’s kind of getting popular right now, but I don’t know if every fighter does it because they are not aware of how much they can improve in this,” Tybura said.
Tybura has maintained these exercises as he’s travelled from his native Poland over to Vegas for this weekend’s fight. Long plane rides and time in airports haven’t prevented him from continuing on this journey, and it’s a journey that he feels is going to pay off against the likes of Walt Harris.
“I’m expecting him to go hard in the first and get tired in the second,” Tybura said citing some of Harris’ prior fights as precedent. “Then I will get my finish.”
If you’d like to hear the entire audio of this interview, which includes Tybura’s take on the division, his changes, and his future – listen below at 2:10.
