Nerdcore Boxing

I bet before the yuppie boxing and girl boxing days, a very high percentage of boxing students sparred. I bet it used to be common for trainers to pressure people to spar. Today lots of students don’t spar and I rarely see trainers put any pressure on beginners to spar.

In my opinion everyone should spar and at least to get a taste of real boxing. You won’t appreciate what boxing is really about until you spar. There’s a lot more than making a punch look good in the mirror. There’s defense, knowing when you’re safe, where to put your head. There’s what punch to throw, when, at what angle, and against which kind of fighter. Hell, 80% of boxing can probably only be learned inside the ring.

You can have a lot of fun “cardio boxing,” get in great shape and add a little adventure to life just by stepping into a boxing gym. But no matter how much effort you spend on your skills you won’t know if you’re doing it right until you can do it against a quality opponent.