Co-Captian College Boxing Team wrote:
I boxed in high school, college and post-collegiately. I was considered a solid point boxer, but I think a lot of it was down to my reach in my weight class (5'9 cut to 125 lbs). My USA Boxing record and NCBA records indicate over 70 amateur boxing matches for me. I quit boxing a few years after college when I just couldn't keep competing while working. I still put in a few blocks of training during the summer lull in work. I will spar very occasionally, but my competition days are behind me. I was able to transition to running pretty easily because I was already running 30 or so miles a week.
The general rule with boxing is that just to be an average boxer, you need to put in a lot of work. If you aren't putting in at least an 1hr of boxing specific work 5 days a week, you won't even be prepared for light sparring. That is in addition to general fitness training. The big reason for this is that EVERYONE is putting in this kind of work. If you don't, you will get your butt kicked and look like a fool. Talent also plays a fair bit into boxing, but at novice levels hard work is going to be the determining factor.
So the thing you really need to focus on is your skills. You really can't learn these well on your own. I know people think they can, but this isn't street fighting, it's boxing. My boxing team used to always get some big dudes who just wanted to spar and figured they would be fine because "how hard can it be to punch someone". Usually we wouldn't let those guys in the ring. The times we let them spar, it was just sad to watch. They were trying to throw haymakers and getting winded after 30 seconds in the ring. It must have been demoralizing to be a 200lb gym bro couldn't land a single hit on one of the team's lightweights.
If you want to be safe and even vaguely competitive, here are my tips.
- Jump rope and shadowbox. Dead serious, these are 2 of the most important skills you will develop.
- Train like you will fight, 2 or 3 min on and 1 min off. It teaches you to recover.
- Find a trainer who knows what they are doing. This isn't running, you can't train yourself proficiently. The trainer should be actively training other amateur or even pro fighters. Fitness Boxing and Cardio-Kickboxing instructors won't cut it if you really want to fight.
- A good trainer will give you a lot of 1 on 1 attention, but not too much. A good trainer will also prevent you from developing sloppy habits or burning out.
- Don't jump into sparring to quickly, you will develop sloppy habits and get punch shy. Often, a trainer won't let a new boxer spar until 3 months into training. It takes some time to really learn the fundamentals. Your trainer will throw you in for light sparring when you are ready. Until then, its gonna be a lot of bag and mitt work.
- Watch better fighters at your gym.
- Be prepared to get hurt. You will 100% end up with a bloody nose and bruises at some point.
- Fitness should be a mix of boxing drills, running, jumping rope and body weight drills. Old school training is still the norm in boxing circles.
- Learn to wrap your hands correctly and get proper gloves. Don't let your hands get hurt.
- Have fun. I look back really fondly at my time boxing. I gave it pretty much everything I had at the time. And while I was never a great boxer, I met some amazing people, learned some huge lessons, and really became the person I am today thanks to boxing.
TLDR: If you only follow one tip i suggested, it would be this: GET A TRAINER, YOU WON'T BECOME A GOOD BOXER ON YOUR OWN