Take the recent collision between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley. The latter, in fact, appeared to be more interested avoiding a collision. Why? Because ‘Sugar’ had an 0 in the 'stoppage loss' column, and the reward of actually trying to win the fight wasn’t worth the risk of suffering a knockout and thereby blotting his career copybook.

For his part, the ‘Pacman’ once again made a mockery of the usual physical constraints that almost invariably box fighters into a division like sardines in a tin. These are also numbers that matter, for how successfully one can make weight is greatly governed by how well one naturally fits the weight, and also how hard one trains and how easy one goes on the snack attacks.

This is yet another area in which numbers matter: the key sum is calories in minus calories out. As our feature on cravings emphasises (see pages 77–83), the constant battle to beat down one’s own habits and addictions can exact a high price. But sacrifice is the necessary price of combat sports success. Deferring the gratification provided by one’s favourite foods – and keeping the number in the guilty pleasure column as low as possible – could help you to crank up the performance level on fight night.

The stats may happily record you throwing more punches, landing more punches, winning more rounds and winning more fights than you would otherwise have managed. But the numbers game can also provide portents of doom. Its rows and columns can spell out messages in cold, stony reality – messages every man must read and react to in an appropriate fashion. Shane Mosley, the final bell tolls for thee.

And what about you, Fighting Fit reader: Have you got what it takes to be more than just a number?