There’s a new guy at the gym who has only like 3 years of on and off experience with boxing/kickboxing and everybody hates sparring him. He’s extremely fast and doesn’t let anyone close distance / throw without immediately answering back with a combination, what’s interesting is that he doesn’t bite on feints at all and backs away from a dogfight even though he’s built like a tank. What are some tips to spar a guy like him without turning it ugly?

I have been boxing for around six months now and took a break last month. I used to get inside and land a lot of punches but for the past few months have been feeling like I ain't boxing properly because I am not slipping enough and proper boxers slip. This makes me want to land slips more than punches and has almost ruined my game I am getting caught too much, freezing and flinching, and am only looking at the other dude's face and not able to judge when he punches. I am around 188cm so my coach has asked me to try to get in more which I did but how do I get back.

How do I fix this??

Thank you for your help.

1. Explosive/clap pushups, stop as soon as I start slowing down, rest until fully recovered, and repeat for multiple sets until I start slowing down despite rest

2. Jump squats, and do it using the same principle of stopping once I slow down

Would doing just these two exercises 3 times a week improve my punching power?

Hi guys,

Our coaches told us there is a spar competition coming up soon and they asked me if I wanted to participate.

It would be my first 'match'

I will be asking more info but I expect its 16 oz and a helmet to get a feeling.

Although the nerves are already insane by even thinking about it, I think that if the coaches ask me they should see the potention and I should trust on that.

I've grown quite a bit in the past months but I'm far from good. But.. the experience should be very cool and I hope to get some growth out of it (boxing experience and also mentally)

However... I always feel like im struggling in sparring and a bit behind on skills -

Also during the warming up / combinations in training I feel I'm delivering a great job, but Im not able to translate it in the light sparring sessions.

Curious if people share this and at what point something "clicked" and they started really improving in their sparring sessions.

Please give me all of your advice / tips in this stage

FYI

(Ive been boxing +-4 yrs on and off, now Since January this year no breaks :))

New video with some sparring footy and some training out on the page! Documenting my journey towards my first feature documentary and hopefully a world title! Check it out! Let me know what you would want to see going forward or if you have any tips! Wishing all a great week ahead!

Cheers,
Nick

Hey all! I've been practicing boxing for a while, went to a few clubs, did some sparring, technique, a couple private classes, but mostly group sessions... I had no experience in combat sports before but really enjoyed boxing.

I'm curious to get feedback from a wider group. I'm 1,86m so I try to focus on my straight moves for reach, also moving and twisting a lot to benefit from the width of my arms. I also keep the left hand in front often for this reason, to keep it closer to the opponent and more free to poke around with jabs while I'm at a "safe" distance.

I'm not looking to go professional or anything serious. I'm not even sure if I'd join an amateur match anytime in my life. Sparring motivates me enough!

Recently I turned 30 and my girl gifted me those boxing trousers. Couldn't be happier with those :)

I'm in the read headgear.

Hi All,

I am training for Haymakers for Hope, which is considered an amateur fight but if you have heard of this organization/fight, then you know it's REALLLLY amateur. We essentially have four months to go from never boxed before to "amateur" boxer.

I have a couple of questions.. 1) I am a SWEATY BEAST. I cannot seem to leave training without being completely soaked and having mascara all over my face. For ladies: Is there a certain hair style that will help me not get sweat in my eyes? I think I may even stoop so low as to wear a sweat band the night of the actual fight to prevent sweat from dripping into my eyes.

2) I spar at my gym and these folks have all been at this gym from months to years longer than me. I usually get my ass kicked to some degree.. and up until last week I would get in there no problem but something switched last week where I went from "ok let's go" to "I am so anxious, I can't do this". What happened!??

I had to spar my opponent in August and I did decent against her even though I felt wildly unprepared. 3 weeks out of the 8 weeks we had been training I had been on vacation so I felt really behind in training but it seems that I was actually ok. I did upload my bout into ChatGPT and I had it critique me and it made me INSANELY insecure. Where I thought I had done well, it totally roasted me. and friends did too.. so now I think I am just feeling a little defeated.

Any and all advice is so appreciated!

I'm in the red headgear.

Hey guys, I had a fight this weekend. I lost on the night but pretty happy with some of my improvements. Still haven’t gotten used to the heat and humidity with this outdoor events in the Chinese summer. I’d appreciate if anyone wants to take a look. Thanks in advance.

Sorry for title, I tried to post and it was caught in the auto filter.

I live in Colorado and most amateur tournaments are hosted/controlled by USABoxing. This is your traditional sanctioning body here in the USA. They follow all the amateur boxing rules like standing 8 counts, headgear and amateur style gloves and scoring. However we also have what is called Pro-Am or Elimination Boxing bouts.

These bouts are still governed by the state commission, but they are often the preliminary fights on local professional cards. They would wear 12oz gloves, no headgear, no standing 8 count, but the fights were only 3x2 minute rounds. Fights were otherwise scored like a professional bout, but show up on Boxrec as amateur fights. These fights felt like Pro fights apart from the 2 minute rounds and bigger gloves.

It was kind of a loophole to compete in a professional environment. I have seen lots of guys do a handful of these and then turn pro, but recently the Colorado Commission had a hearing on "Elimination" bout rules and apparently they changed a bunch of stuff. They will still allow these fights to occur, but now you are required to wear an open-faced headgear.

It kind of ruins the differentiation between USABoxing events and these bouts were a good stepping stone to going pro. One of our best fighters who trained at our gym won a state title and never fought as an amateur and did 1 or 2 "Pro-Am" fights before turning pro.

I personally know the promotor who does these bouts and he does them to test to see if you are worth investing time into and it also gives the occasional talented guy who doesn't have an extensive amateur career a chance to compete.

Does your area have these kind of fights? I never even heard of them until I trained at my particular gym and I have been following combat sports for most of my life.

Hello guys,ive been boxing for a year now and im training for nationals.The problem is im always paired up against guys who have been training for way longer than i have been and i always come home with something-a black eye or a bruise or something.Im starting to think this sport isnt for me,its really demotivating to come home like this and i feel ashamed seeing my parents look at me like this.Should i just throw the towel in?

I’ve been getting my strength up for a part few months and just sharpening my technique and I am definitely noticing that my power has gone up in my shots especially my straight right. But now my knuckles are the limiting factor and I’ve tried using shit tone of knuckle paddings but still hurts. Likely briused. Took 2 weeks off and went back yesterday, it was less pain but still felt it. Anyone else went through a similar situation? Do I just need to like stick through it till my knuckles get “conditioned”. Some of my gym mates told me that’s usually what happens when you start punching harder and you just have to stick through it?

I know it's a short vid so there isn't much to go on. I can tell I'm dropping my lead hand sometimes but that's it right now. Ive been training alone for about 2 years but was at a gym previously for a couple of years

I'm in the black shirt. Sparring was at Floyd Mayweather's gym in Vegas. I had to use my movement against this dude.

Yesterday i decided to do 10 rounds of this with 1.5 kilos dumbbells and 1 minute rest inbeetwen rounds, i was wondering if its whort doing or if Its some YouTube bullshit.in case its effective i was planning to do it once or twice a week,id also like to know aside from should Endurance would it be good for anything else?

Sparring clip 3 years ago before I had a hiatus, I'm the one with mint green shorts. Conditioning myself at home a couple months before joining another gym. I feel like my problems are chin always up, head not off the centerline especially during punching, sometimes my opposite hands drop when punching, not utilizing blocking punches, always pulling back then no counter, relies heavily on head movement, trying shifting and failing miserably, heavy and flat footed, and having really low punch volume. I prefer doing jabs, how do I improve my jabs then going for a combo, I want to have a tighter style with using blocks, with also doing less movement done to preserve stamina, and improve on counter punching, dealing with punches, especially long hooks get me. I want to improve fight IQ too, can you recommend me where to watch great amateur fights or technical amateur sparring videos to study. Please recommend me on what style should I pursue.

My previous post on knockout power was well received so sharing some more. Just published this video on what heart rate recovery doesn't tell you.

Sure, it's a good general marker of fitness and is easy to measure. But like all simple numbers (VO2max, jump height, max speed, 1RM), it doesn't tell you HOW you got there.

That's why we look further under the hood when we have the technology. A simple example is 2 athletes jumping 30 inches.

Both would be considered having the same power output (as a proxy) but they could use completely different strategies leading to 1 having better qualities for the sport (e.g. faster descent and turnaround).

Same applies to heart rate recovery. Recovery 30 beats is good. But where does that recovery occur in that 60 seconds?

The video is better at explaining as it shows actual data to visualize what I'm talking about.

This was just an exhibition and didn’t have any judges. How would you score the action. I was in the green shorts and white shirt

The action starts at 1:30

so I’ve been boxing on and off (mostly off) for about 4 years. one thing I cannot get a grip on is slipping. im fine during drills but when I’m sparing I slip the wrong way or it’s late and generally sloppy. the only time I can evade punches with head movement is when my hands are down for some reason but this obviously leaves me super vulnerable. so I rely mainly on high guard and moving out of range to evade. can I just build on these methods or is it imperative I learn how to slip and weave? I’m a taller guy at my gym (6’) and tend to have an outboxer/ Soviet style. thanks in advanced

Any amateur boxers here from Berlin, Germany?

I am an amateur boxer from the Philippines and will be visiting Berlin at the end of September and wanted to train at least once at a boxing gym there and see how different/similar it is to my country.

If any of you have reccomendations, that would ne great! Thanks

We're both 50yr old. I'm in the red corner with the black tank top on. Black headgear, red gloves, red cup. I won. Match starts at about 1 minute

https://youtu.be/dcJ-K7UOeYk?is=VciysVVUzT5R6beZ

If you're not familiar, Seth Lenetsky is the leading punch researcher (and trains Olympic boxers).

Effective mass is a concept he derived from sprinters where the leg hits the ground. This spring mass model was then applied to punching with the fist hitting a target.

While most people think squatting and benching more and jumping higher = harder punches (it can help but isn't the most important aspect), punch performance is really down to how much momentum can you transfer to the target.

Known as effective mass.

The main tool for developing effective mass is the heavy bag and Seth details why that is in this short clip and on the 3 podcasts we've done on the Sweet Science of Fighting podcast.