It
could be the toughest of all sports to survive.
Many
fighters are drawn to the sport because they love the one-on-one competition
and may have seen their heroes emerge victorious in a big fight and they want
to emulate that success.
Having
that desire is a small part of being successful. You need to have athletic
ability and the determination to turn that into fighting skill.
It
takes hours in the gym and years to develop the specific characteristics needed
to be a great boxer.
Quickness
This
is the skill that will give you a chance to be successful in the ring. You need
to be quicker than your opponent. If you can move before he hits you and you
can land a punch before he moves, you have a significant advantage.
An
athlete with quickness can learn the skills that it takes to be successful in
the ring. A fighter who does not have enough quickness is in danger of getting
hurt badly every time he enters the ring.
Punching Accuracy
In
boxing, you are required to hit a moving target.
While
you are sizing up your opponent and preparing to punch him, he wants to avoid
the blow.
If
you throw punches and miss, you will expend energy and give him a chance to hit
you with a hard punch. If you throw a punch that lands, you are emboldened and
you weaken your opponent.
Manny
Pacquiao throws hard punches with speed and accuracy. This has allowed him to
become one of the best fighters of the last 10 years.
Punching Power
Boxers
need explosive strength to develop punching power.
However,
it's not about lifting weights in the gym or following a certain exercise
regimen. It's about timing, coordination and sensing an opening.
These
are all developed in the gym in training sessions. Mike Tyson was one of
the hardest punching heavyweights in the last 50 years. He was often looking up
at his opponents, and they probably could lift more weight and were bigger.
But
when it came to throwing punches with reckless abandon and viciousness, nobody
could compare to Tyson during the early part of his career.
Defense
You
must defend yourself at all times when you are in the ring.
You
have to stop your opponent from hitting your most vulnerable areas with power
punches that are designed to hurt you.
Developing
a strong defense means avoiding or blocking these punches. You can do this with
movement, positioning your arms and your body and by using your powers of
observation.
When
you are fighting your opponent, you are noticing everything he does. You notice
that after he fires his jab, he likes to double up on it or throw a quick hook
off of it.
Once
you understand your opponent's tendencies, you can take defensive maneuvers to
avoid getting hit with those blows and then launch your own attack.
Conditioning
It's
not enough for a boxer to develop the skills necessary to throw accurate or
power punches. Defending yourself and having the quickness to avoid punches is
good, but it's not enough.
A
fighter must train for endurance so he can do this for many rounds. A fighter
may dominate with his athleticism or punching skills for a round or two, but
when the fight gets into the 10th or 11th round and he has been competing for
30 minutes or more, he may become exhausted.
That
means he is vulnerable to getting hurt badly. A great fighter can sustain his
performance for 10, 11 or 12 rounds. This means he must be in remarkable
condition, and that takes a maximum effort while training..
Discipline
A
fighter who trains hard is on the road to having the discipline needed to be
successful in the ring.
However,
training hard is not enough. You have to conduct yourself outside the ring in a
manner that will help you be successful when you are in the ring.
That
means watching what you eat, drink and being careful to get enough sleep. That
means staying out of trouble when you are not in the ring or training.
Marvin
Hagler was one of the greatest fighters of the 1970s and '80's, and
despite his muscular build and powerful punching, he was not a world-class
athlete like some of the opponents he faced. He made up for that by training
hard and having the discipline to get the most out of his ability
Guts
Call
it guts or call it courage. It's one of the most underestimated characteristics
that all boxers need.
When
you get into the ring, you face an opponent who is trying to hit you with hard
punches and hurt you.
Even
the best fighters get hit hard in their bouts.
You
know this in advance. It takes guts to get in the ring and fight knowing you
are going to get hit. It takes even more guts to keep fighting with discipline
and precision after you have gotten hurt.
Few
fighters ever showed more guts than Muhammad Ali in the ring. He earned a title
fight against Sonny Liston in 1964, and he was considered a huge underdog
because Liston was so big and strong and hit so hard. Ali, known as Cassius
Clay at the time, won that fight and a subsequent rematch.
In
a series of three fights with archrival Joe Frazier, Ali absorbed many brutal
punches and won two of the three bouts.
Ali
knocked out powerful champion George Foreman in a bout that many critics
thought would end up with Ali flat on his back and severely injured.
Ali
had many of the skills mentioned in earlier slides, and guts may have been his
greatest attribute.
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