The processes Meehan uses at the beginning of a relationship can often be key in not only helping them override involuntary responses from their brain, but more importantly, to create new thought patterns to help athletes maximise their potential, bothy mentally and physically. Essex’s premier coach explained. “Athletes come to me for different reasons. For instance, they might say, ‘I just struggle a bit with anxiety,’ before an event. It doesn’t matter which sporting discipline they are a part of, it’s all the same. It all comes from the same part of the brain and I quickly try to explain to them, ‘Is it anxiety, or are you nervous and excited?’ There’s a number of similarities that happen to the body between anxiety, nerves and excitement. They’re very closely knit emotions in terms of what they do to the body. It’s a case of helping them identify what they’re feeling and explaining to them sometimes that it’s good to have nerves as long as you can control them. It’s good to have these emotions before an event because you can channel them into a driving force.”

“How I would go about addressing these emotions would be to work on their breathwork. A lot of people breathe through their mouth, which is a low-level signal being sent to your brain to tell you you’re in trouble. Sometimes, there’s nothing even wrong, but the type of breathing can set off the wrong signals in our brain. I’d go down the road of helping how they breathe and helping their respiratory system change, so they can do more nasal breathing and send the right signals to their brains at the right times.

“I’d be a bit worried if a boxer had no nerves whatsoever in the changing rooms. I’ve worked with a number of fighters and I’ve never come across one that hasn’t felt any type of emotion in the changing rooms. The difference is the ones that can control it and understand. They are generally the ones who move onto bigger and better things.”

Meehan is currently employed by Matchroom Boxing as Head of Mindset Performance. Meehan explained how the opportunity arose. “It came about through the head trainer at Matchroom Boxing, Tony Sims. I’ve known him for a while and he’d seen the work I’d been doing with a lot of professional footballers and other fighters.”

Meehan’s most notable big-fight contribution was in John Ryder’s corner, when he took on pound for pound Guadalajaran, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. Meehan recalled the steps he took to give Sims’ charge the best chance possible. “I worked with John for his 20-week camp for the Canelo fight and I even went to the fight in Mexico. Tony had seen the impact I was having on John and we spoke about it, and it was something he and his son Charlie, who manages most of the fighters at Matchroom, wanted to implement into the gym. They wanted to make sure a fighter had everything under one roof. They’ve been very professional and I hope to continue to work with them and their fighters for a long time to come.

“I teach them how to breathe in case they get a broken nose. That’s actually a very common question to me from boxers. The main thing is, once the respiratory system has changed, it comes down not breathing through the chest, but breathing from the belly, which will still send certain signals to the brain in a positive way. There was a study done where somebody plugged their nose for two weeks and just breathed through their mouth and this was done by a nasal breather. The science behind it was it took two weeks for the respiratory system to change back from the healthy way of living.

“For John, it was important for him to stand up in his corner for blood flow in between rounds. Despite a broken nose, he managed to keep it together. That’s why those weeks in advance were essential. You can’t just rock up the week of the fight and teach someone to nasal breathe and expect them to be calm if they incur a broken nose during a fight, because they would naturally have a bit more panic in them. John never did and I’m very proud of him for that.”

The list of athletes Meehan was worked with over the years in a number of disciplines is extensive, and as his niche in boxing continues to grow organically, his reputation is proceeding him and he’s become a man in demand. Meehan’s latest outing was on 30th September 2023 at the Wembley Arena. “That was a great night. I worked with Ellie Scotney, George Liddard and Maisey Rose Courtney and all three won their fights.

A lot of the work I do with them is breath work, not just for the nervous system, there’s a physical aspect where they can correct their breathing, so they can get 20%-30% more oxygen released into their body. I also work with Conor Benn as his breathwork coach. However, I also work with fighters outside of the Matchroom stable, coaching athletes from a number of sports and backgrounds.”

Each job presents its challenges and one would expect boxers to view a person like Meehan as perhaps taboo, or a sign of weakness in a sport which is intent on bringing their opponent to their destruction. Meehan gave his thoughts. “I would say that perception is across all sports. Cyrus Patterson is a boxer who’s very open to speak with me on the mindset side and he’s a good advocate for it. People such as him and John Ryder are open about the mindset and are proving to be inspirational to the young fighters, which has consequently meant a lot of younger fighters are now coming to me. They are showing that it’s a strength, not a weakness. I think boxing is probably further ahead of ‘being okay’ with having mindset coaches as part of their training than football is. I speak to a number of footballers and for them it’s a little bit more personal, because they are in a team sport and they don’t tend to be as open.”

If you are looking for a succinct piece of advice to give you a marginal gain through the power of the mind, we’ll leave you with Meehan’s sage sign off. “Learn how to Breathe correctly.”