Shannon: When the fight gets closer like it is now and we are about a week away, you have trained for what feels like forever (actually six weeks) and know that you are in shape and ready to fight. Mentally, the biggest challenge is getting ready for the fight and believing you are ready. If you doubt you are ready for one second, you will have some issues in the fight if things get tough. The week before the fight is the most difficult training as you are maxing out on everything you do. Your body aches all the time. I have never been as sore as I am now. I think this is because of the added weight lifting I have been doing lately. Mentally, you can get thrown off track for a bit if your opponent changes, but usually only if it is an established fighter where he has a known style and you have seen him fight. In Shawn’s case where his opponent just changed, there is not much to think about as four-round fighters tend to fight other beginners and there is not much to learn about them. You just get yourself as ready as you can and prepare to fight your fight. This also is the case when making choices about who to fight. As a boxer just starting out, information is limited about potential opponents because none have had many fights to see. In my case, if I have a change of opponents then I can find out quite a bit about the guys because they have had quite a few fights. You always take into consideration what style of boxer the opponent is, as you want one that is going to cause you the least amount of trouble. At the end of the day the bottom line is you have to go in and fight. I'm ready to fight!