I’ve been pondering for a long while what kind of boxers make me nervous. I spent a lot of time looking back on times I felt apprehensive about getting in the ring with certain guys. And I spent some time asking other boxers what makes them nervous.

Between myself and the boxers I talked to we came up with a lot of good answers and good attributes that make a boxer frightening. Many of these are things I’ll focus on more in my training. But in the end I was quite surprised at the attribute that came up the most.

What attribute most frightens you in an opponent? The survey says????

Hand Speed?

While hand speed is important, in my opinion, it’s slightly overrated. A good boxer doesn’t stand in punching range for long anyway. Almost no one I talked to singled out hand speed either.

Mobility?

While I don’t worry about hand speed too much, foot speed is a big deal. A guy that’s always out of reach and can strike at will is dangerous. Still it ranks in the relative middle of my “scary list” as well as in the lists of most of the boxers I polled.

Body Punchers?

Now we’re talking! Lots of people singled out body punchers. It’s hard to defend high and low. Body punches hurt and can lead to TKO’s. Plus the thought of body blows stealing one’s endurance is alarming.

Power Punchers?

Power punchers are frightening. A guy with true one-punch KO power has to be THE scariest opponent. But how many guys out there have that kind of KO power? Not many. I guess this is the reason it wasn’t the top answer.

The Survey Says!?!?

What was the top answer? Well, as one boxer put it, “I’m afraid of the guy I can’t hit.”

When one boxer mentioned only defense in his, “scary list,” I realised that defense was on everyone’s list. I also realized that my 3 most intimidating sparring partners had only great defense in common.

It makes sense when considering my own attitudes and motivations. I can take the risk of possibly going down, I can take getting beat up, I can take gassing, but if I can’t land punches I’m not in the fight. There’s nothing worse than when you’ve gotten to the bottom of your bag of tricks and nothing is working. Great defense absolutely demoralizes opponents.

I’ve always valued defense, but after this epiphany I’m doubling my efforts. Back to working on my defensive footwork!