The Deep Water Defines Us: From the Boxing Ring to the Boardroom

Where legends are made. Deep water doesn’t drown you—it reveals who you really are.

“It was the closest thing to dying that I know of. Frazier quit just before I did. I didn’t think I could fight anymore. I was going to quit. My arms, my body—I was just holding on, trying to survive the round. But when his corner stopped it, that was all I needed to hear.” – Muhammad Ali.

Think you can’t go another round? Demoralized and ready to give up? Here’s a case study in why the deep water is exactly where you need to be (and you’re not weak to think about giving up).

Picture Manila, Philippines, 1975.
120°F heat inside the ring: it was a furnace with sweat pouring off two boxers whose physiques looked like they were carved from meteorite. The legendary rivals Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier— head-to-head for the third time. Frazier won the first, Ali the second, and one this would “settle the score”. An estimated one billion viewers around the world watched. It was called “The Thrilla in Manila”. What made this fight so epic wasn’t just the technical prowess of the two boxers, the stunning complementary fight styles set up for nuclear fission, or the prefight trash talk; it was that they both were swimming in deep waters for so long and didn’t give up at the 99% threshold.

That’s what we remember. Grit on a visceral level. Not the technique. Not the scorecard.

The moment where Ali thought he was dying—but didn’t quit. The moment where you could feel Frazier knew Ali wasn’t broken, in spite of having thrown everything he had at him, and Frazier didn’t quit. At the end of round fourteen Frazier was basically blind in one eye from swelling and his trainer called the fight (therefore Ali won by TKO). What they didn’t know is that Ali’s team was ready to cut off his gloves by round 15 if he wanted to quit.

If you're reading this, you may not be a fighter in the actual ring, but you are a fighter against yourself every day to reach your goals and to grow. We all are whether we like it or not. Maybe you're leading a company through restructuring chaos, holding together a collapsing team, pushing through a brutal stretch of burnout, or deciding whether to put in the extra time – after you are already dog-tired with head swimming – to do that one task you’ve been putting off that can move your dream project forward one degree.

This is that moment.

Not the first 99%—that’s only the toll you have to pay to get a shot at real growth. People don’t just get there for free. It’s in the last 1% where your future self is made.

Against the ropes: this is where the truth shows up.

Muay Thai has a way of putting folks in deep waters. It’d be about round six or seven of sparring with fighters in the gym, most who were usually faster, younger and more skilled than me. By round six or seven I’m just trying to survive. I’m gassed, legs feel so bricked out my opponent can read my low kick from a mile away, arms burning where I can barely keep up my guard. I’m not quite seeing shadows but close. This is when Kru (coach) Shoemaker would say “stick to the basics” and “basic wins every time”.

That is also exactly when truth shows up to define you.

You slacked off on intensity during the tail-end of heavy bag drills when no one was watching? Fate didn’t forget - you’ll pay for it now. You didn’t listen during pad drills when the kru would yell “hands up” “don’t drop your hands”? - now you have less arm and shoulder conditioning to keep them up in sparring when you most need to. And best of all – you know what you need to work on to improve.

What carries you in the deep water is what you drilled when it was boring, when it was painful, when no one was watching, and you pushed that extra one percent.

Your grit circuit. The anterior mid cingulate cortex only lights up when quitting seems easier than continuing.

And here’s the thing: your brain is built for this.

The anterior mid cingulate cortex—your grit circuit—doesn’t light up when things are easy.
It activates when the only thing keeping you in the fight is your decision to stay in it and success isn’t guaranteed. Furthermore, you can strengthen this circuit by repeatedly testing yourself.

So if you’re in it now—good.
You’re not drowning. You’re being forged.

Because when it’s all over, the only thing you leave behind is your legacy.
And a true legacy is only earned in the deep water.

Stay in.
Stay sharp. Stick to the basics.
Keep your hands up.

Be a legend in your own mind and push that extra 1%.

Brian Mendenhall, D.O.