Boxing Challenge : Volunteers Needed

By Michael Brewer

Too often, I think people look at sparring as a competition, or as a way to "test their skills" against an opponent. It can be those things, but it should also be a way to develop new skills. I remember one or two forum members calling into question my statements that a person can train to think under pressure. Well, I decided that it's time to illustrate some of the drills that make it possible. In this thread, I'd like to look at sparring as a tool for developing skills that would otherwise be neglected. To get us started, I'll need some guinea pigs. Anyone who does this program for the next six weeks, I will make you the following guarantee:

You will, if you do the things I describe here, see a marked improvement in your fighting and boxing skills. You will be a better fighter than you have ever been, and I will give you my word on that. This will not be a small growth measured in increments, but a growth spurt like the ones you felt when you were just starting out.

Before we get started, you'll have to be aware of three very important things. First, you'll have to be able to stay focused on the goals of each session. Let everyone else look at these sessions as a "win or lose" affair. You need to see them as just another drill. Your goal is not to win each time, but to do the specific things I set out for you to do. If you accomplish that in your rounds, you'll "win" regardless of the beatings you take. Second, you need to be aware that you will be limiting yourself, while your opponents will not. That is insanely frustrating for many people, and the tendency is to revert back to doing whatever you want instead of sticking to the program. If you do that, the training will not be of any benefit at all. You must be disciplined in your training. Finally, it will require two sessions of sparring per week. You'll need to limit yourself to boxing tools (this is the boxing forum) and you'll need to invest at least six rounds each session. I prefer eight. That's roughly 12 rounds per week times 6 weeks, for a grand total of 72 rounds of sparring.

Okay. There's the ground rules. Anyone inerested?

Assuming someone wants to get better at boxing, I'll post the first session's drill, and the goals of the sparring rounds you'll do.

The goal this week is to improve mobility and get a handle on our sectoring skills. You will have two sessions of sparring this week, each at least six rounds long. You may make these rounds two minutes in length instead of three if you wish. Please keep a log of these rounds so you'll know what happened. Write down the important stuff at the end of the day or whatever. Just make sure you have the pertinent information in writing for later reference.

The Drill:
I'll break this down into rounds so that you'll have an easy worksheet to cheat from. Each round, you have just one single goal. You're not trying to outpoint the other guy, and you're not trying to land any tools except the ones I specify. Limit yourself only to what I'm giving you for the entire round, and allow your partner to do whatever he likes.

Round One:
Use the jab and the cross, but stay away from any "curved" punches. Your goal is not to score lots of blows, but to influence your opponent's footwork. In this round, you should attempt to get him to move forward, backward, left, and right by using your own footwork, and your straight blows. You'll have to remember what caused him to move in each direction, and then repeat the stimulus to see if you get the same response each time. Goal: Get him to move in any direction you choose.

Round Two:
Test the theories you built in round one. See if he'll still move where you want based on what you found out in round one.

Round Three:
Add the hook line. High and low hooks are fine. The goal should be to use the jabs and crosses along with your footwork to get him to step to the side you want, and then land your hooks to the head or body as he gets there. Make him run into the punch.

Round Four:
Spend this whole round drawing him in. Let him throw punches, and allow the ones that won't hurt you to score. The entire goal of this round is to make him feel comfortable throwing punches at you. As needed, back him off with your jabs, crosses, and footwork, but let him come back in. You want him to end the round feeling like he's gettng the best of you. Study him closely to figure out which side he likes to move to when throwing, or which direction he goes after a punch/combination.

Round Five:
Test the theories from Round Four. Do the same thing again to make sure the patterns you discovered will hold. End the round with him feeling like he's beating you, and with you having a clear picture of how he moves both in offense and in defense.

Round Six:
Your job is to isolate his cross. Make him step to where he is comfortable throwing the cross, and then get him to commit to it. Your combination for the day is to step to his lead side as he throws his cross (inside his cross, but at your full extension; don't smother your own straight) and land your own counter-cross as he misses. Follow that with the hook to the face. For most people, this means stepping to the right and throwing the right hand. Remember, your only goal is to draw his cross, step inside, and counter with your own. Step to the right and throw the right hand.

If experience is trustworthy, you'll only get about five or maybe six opportunities to make this work in a round. That's not very many reps. So I recommend doing an extra two rounds, for a total of eight. Each of the two extra rounds should be the same format as the Sixth. Step to the right and throw the right hand. You need to balance timing, anticipation, speed, and good distance to pull this off, and above all, you need to be able to predict his footwork! If you can't, then spend this whole session figuring out how to get him to move where you want, and we'll work on this drill next session. If you get it right this first sparring session, then repeat the process next session.

Recap:
Goals - Force his footwork with your offense. Force his offense with your footwork. Remember the patterns and stimuli. Apply your own counter (step to the right and throw the right hand) based on what you learned.