Nerdcore Boxing

What makes a boxer tough enough for the sport? And can this toughness be built up over time, or does it have to be there from the start?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the last few days after seeing the all too common ritual of throwing a new guy in with a bigger/better boxer to take his first real beating (note this wasn’t at my gym). In this instance I saw a once proud and swaggering teenager break down and quit. Did that mean this kid will never be boxing material?

If his body can be built up to take punishment, why can’t his mind? Personally I think the boxing mind can be conditioned somewhat gradually, just like the body. But I guess a boxer’s will is the big variable that trainers want to size up. Thus the school of hard knocks maintains its popularity.

Sparring is for learning, for working on things. It’s for getting ready for a fight, but it’s not a fight. Don’t try and knock out your sparring partners.

You can still spar hard and not try to KO people. If you actually do KO one of your partners, you’re probably going to really hurt his chin (chin means one’s ability to take a punch without getting wobbled). And since your partner likely isn’t trying to KO you, don’t you think it’s kind of lame to ambush him during practice?

At every gym I’ve ever trained at, there is always that one guy that’s trying to hurt his sparring partners. If you happen to be that guy, you should know, people talk. And in your case they probably have nothing nice to say.

This post is a continuation of Boxing Tips: Sparring Comfortably, Part II.

As I developed in the ring beyond basic defense, some endurance and jab, I recall encountering these stages:

Stage 4: Getting Distance Right

Really to develop a decent jab you’ll have already developed some sense of distance. But now, even though you can find your opponents head with the jab, you might find you fall into the trap of reaching. Reaching refers to starting to throw the punch little too soon during the step forward. If you have this bad habit you’re probably wondering why good boxers always seem to slip your jab.

But even when your jab develops there is still a lot to learn about distance. I found getting distance right has a lot to do with getting used to contact. When you get closer to your opponent things get dangerous. Yet you need to get into range and come forward to land.

Watching a new boxer’s cross is often amusing, it’s kind of a girly pawing punch. But most people go through this stage so don’t be embarrassed. Partly it’s because the boxer is simply afraid to come forward.

Stage 5: Seeing Punches Coming & Slipping

It’s the punch you don’t see that hurts you. If you saw it coming it probably didn’t land cleanly. You need to gain the guts to watch the punch as it flies into your mug. You especially want to watch the big punches. If you close your eyes or turn your head then you’ll have little chance of slipping or rolling.

A trainer once said to me, “If you’re going to get hit, you might as well see the punch coming.” Following this advice dramatically improved my defense.

Stage 6: Telegraphing

I found when I first started to develop my cross, hook and uppercuts, I’d telegraph them, (meaning signal that I was about to throw). I’d cock my right, or start the punch by raising my elbow. Before my hook I’d pause to shift my weight to the left.

Ask your sparring partners why they can always slip a particular punch, they might be able to help isolate the problem.

Stage 7: Building Your Arsenal

Learning to regularly and cleanly land more than a jab against a good boxer can take some time. But by this time I had developed some comfort and the fun really began.

For those new to sparring, this post lays out what I remember to be the stages of my progression until the point I became comfortable sparring with good boxers. If you haven’t sparred yet, in addition to reading this you might want to start developing pre-sparring skills.

Stage 1: Basic Defense

No matter how hard you try, new boxers seem destined to keeping their hands down during the initial rounds. Forget trying to look like Sugar Ray Leonard the first time you spar. Set a modest goal such as keeping your hands up. Try overcompensating, put them extra high.

Other basic defensive goals are, stay calm, don’t lose your temper and generally try to circle away from your opponent’s power hand.

Stage 2: Endurance

The first major barrier to sparring proficiency is getting your wind. When you start sparring will probably be the first time you take roadwork seriously. Not only will lack of endurance rob you of the latter parts of rounds, but it will make you afraid to do certain things when you’re fresh. Best get to work on your sparring endurance training.

Stage 3: Developing a Good Jab

Against a good boxer, you’ll have difficulty landing punches at all and likely the first punch you will land regularly will be your jab.

To be continued…

A few days ago I went to another gym to watch one of my sparring partners spar with a few pro boxers and some very experience amateurs. We weren’t the only ones there and I had the fortune to watch a number of very talented pro and am boxers step in the ring.

When bringing a fighter to another gym, it’s not a real fight, but it’s definitely a different experience than watching two “sparring partners” go at it. A couple of the boxers looked initially surprised at their opponents whaling away, as was I. As expected, the pros that had less to prove weren’t the ones dishing out most of the punishment, it was the amateur boxers trying to make a name for themselves.

A few guys were “hurt” and needed the equivalent of standing 8’s, and some blood was split. But for me, it was a good lesson learned.

This is the second installment 0f Hiding Injuries from White Collar Jobs. In all likelihood you won’t need this particular type of boxing tips often, but they make an excellent insurance policy.

Learning the Art of Cover Up

I once had my nose busted and two black eyes from sparring (long story). At my current job this wouldn’t have been a big deal, but at that time I worked as a spokesperson for an good sized software company. I often took interviews with the media, once even being interviewed on CNN. Needless to say, I risked being fired if I didn’t handle it carefully.

Let’s just say sometimes you may have to swallow your manly pride and buy some makeup. This sounds complicated, but it’s not. Go to the beauty dept of the applicable store near you and explain your predicament to the women who works there. She’ll probably laugh at you, but then she’ll help you pick out the makeup and explain how to apply it.

Practice Makes Perfect

Don’t let the morning of work be the first time you breakout the Preparation H and makeup and attempt to rest your old pair of glasses on that fat sausage of a swollen nose. Run through your routine the night before. After spending a week managing one black eye, you’ll develop the skills that would make even a mortician proud. My wife will tell you, she is in awe of my skills.

Nose Issues

Fortunately your nose toughens up a bit. Swelling and bleeding are most common when you first start sparring. Nose injuries tend to cause numbness and are not very painful (I don’t consider them painful at all), but they are kind of annoying.

Really swollen noses are tough to breath through. Fortunately most people don’t realize this and won’t associate your temporarily nasal voice with boxing.

The day after I busted my nose boxing, the president of my company called me into her office and had me read something off a document (just my luck). At the end she squinted at me and asked, “Do you have a cold?” I replied, “Nah, my nose is just stuffed up” Heh, heh, heh…

If your nose bled a lot the night before, you’ve got some scabs holding the internal cuts together. Bleeding can start again if you rub, wiggle or bump it. You might consider avoiding a white shirt.

Using Do-It-Yourself Coagulants 
There are some over-the-counter products that act as blood coagulants and can prevent or stop a nose bleed.

Disclaimer:

Ask your doctor about this next tip before attempting it. The Nerd of Steel is not a doctor, doesn’t give medical advice, and writes this blog for entertainment purposes only.

Anyway Neosporin is a blood coagulant. If nose bleeds are a big issue apply some in your nostril using a q-tip.

Summary

• Don’t worry, people are unobservant regarding changes to appearance.
• Don’t put your attention on your facial bruise while talking to others.
• Use Preparation H to manage swelling.
• Wear glasses to hide black eyes.
• If you’re desperate, and very comfortable with your masculinity, use makeup. Practice applying the night before.
• Avoid white shirts in case of spontaneous nose bleeding.
• Neosporin is a useful coagulant.

All of these tips make white collar boxing sound more dangerous to your face than it really is. Put this post in perspective, these are remedies for the rare worse case scenarios.

I rarely get my face marked up from sparring. That said there have been a couple of times where I looked in the mirror after sparring and thought, “I’m going to be fired or disciplined at work.” Other boxers don’t get this, but to white collar boxers this is probably the biggest fear. But fear not, I get away with boxing injuries and you will too.

Being a fair skinned guy with a long and still somewhat thin nose, I’m prone to getting visible bruises, swelling, abrasions and once even a cut. Yet I’ve never been “busted” at work. Before I give some basic remedies, there are 4 points to keep in mind if you’re looking in the mirror and stressing:

1. People Are Remarkably Unobservant - You surely are familiar with the phenomena of girls changing their hair color from blonde to red only to have no one notice. People miss changes in appearance, even striking ones.

2. It Always Looks Worse to You - This is really just an extension of the last point. Don’t look in the mirror and worry, ask somebody else if it’s noticeable.

3. People Notice What You’re Self Conscious About - If you’re worried about the shape of your nose and all of your attention is on your nose, it draws other people’s attention to your nose. On the flip side if it’s the last thing on your mind and your body language remains the norm, people are less likely to be tipped off.

4. People Do Notice Bruises On Boxer’s Faces - I have found this to be true so many times. If they don’t know I box, they either don’t notice small changes to my face or they don’t associate them with getting punched. Once I tell a coworker that I box, they notice every little abrasion.

So if you can help it, don’t tell them you box. Additionally if you do have a job where coming in with a black eye is a potential firing offense, keeping your little hobby quiet opens up a wider range of explanations.

Prevention

You should be wearing headgear to spar, so cuts should be very rare or non-existent. Abrasions are cause by the gloves “catching” on your skin and are the most common thing you’ll deal with. Using Vaseline on your nose, around the eyes, on your headgear, and if possible, on your opponents gloves can make the punches slide off.

Preparation H: Not Just for Hemroidal Swelling

Swelling is the easiest thing to fix, thanks to the over the counter miracle drug: Preparation H. Yes, your fellow boxers might call you buttface, but you’ll be amazed how much of the swelling disappears. The effects last about 4 hours.

Glasses Hid Superman, They Hide Black Eyes Too

Superman’s Clark Kent disguise always seemed stupid, but you’ll be amazed how few people notice bruises behind glasses. If you are vision impaired, wear glasses instead of contacts. I wouldn’t recommend wearing sunglasses all day, it looks suspicious.

Stay tuned for Part II of this article!

Vince Lombardi once said, “Fatigue makes cowards out of all of us!” I think this quote is particularly relevant to boxing.

Fatigue Dictates Style

Fear of fatigue effects a boxer’s style and which technique they use. Bending ones legs is something boxers often skip in the ring, even though it provides safety during body punching and allows one to sit down in their punches to squeeze out more power.

Punch output is important, especially with the scoring in amateur boxing. There are many cases where a boxer should get busy punching but he’s saving his strength. This same fear can rob a boxer of his mobility.

Fatigue and Mental Toughness

While some gyms spar when their fighters legs are fresh, I always end up training where we spar after a tough workout. Sparring after training conditions the mind too. All through training you’ll wonder if you should go easy and save your energy so you don’t end up as somebody’s human punching bag. Yet deep down you know training all out is the best way to become great. As well as building mental toughness these pressures encourage one to work on their cardio outside their gym time.

Endurance is King

Cardiovascular endurance is vital. Leg strength and endurance are of supreme importance. Punching endurance is required. Endurance will make you brave in the ring, fatigue will make you a coward.

I find foolish pride is often like a virus eating a way at my ability to train effectively. Certainly an important boxing tip would be to get over ones self.

A major barrier to improving in boxing is fear of failure or awkwardness. It keeps people from beginning training. It’s why some only practice the same combos they’ve already mastered. It especially keeps one from working on fluidity and footwork since these will make you feel the most awkward.

This fear certainly limits your selection of sparring parters. It will keep you from sparring the better boxers in the gym, even though that’s probably how you’ll learn the most. If will keep you from sparring the new guy who learns faster than you and who you don’t want to face has passed you by.

Fear of leaving the comfort zone is why I think you see boxers with the same weakness year after year. Get over yourself, don’t be afraid to try new things and leave your comfort zone. That’s how you’ll get to the next level.

Speed over power is one of the best boxing tips my trainers ever gave me. Everybody wants the spectacular knockout, but the guy who’s trying to just land big punches often comes up empty.

I myself used to spend lots of time banging on banging the bag, focusing on power punches. But I noticed that when sparring against good boxers I couldn’t land power punches routinely.

I remember one day while on the heavybag I heard a trainer that was watching me say, “he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing.” The trainer proceeded to lecture me and I was very smart to listen. He said I should be focusing on lots of fast punches and keeping my feet under me (i.e. maintain balance and pushing off the ground with each punch).

Following this critique I started watching boxers in the gym and my eyes opened! All the beginners were concentrating on focused power punches, the experienced boxers were usually putting together rapid punches while maintaining good balance. I went to YouTube and watched training videos of pro boxers I admire — they too trained just as my trainer had advised.

Two weeks after I made this adjustment to my training I went from a fairly one dimensional boxer to a guy that could land my full arsenal of punches and put together 4, 5 and 6 punch combos. Where as before I rarely landed power punches (I was too slow to the punch), from that point forward I landed them frequently.

I consider this one of the more important boxing tips my trainers ever gave me.