Sparring: a cautionary tale

There are lots of sparring guides on the web. So there's no need for another one. This article comes from a conversation I had with one of my clients. It's more a cautionary tale.

This young man is everything you want from an aspiring boxer. He's eager to learn, committed and reliable. He's also very polite and respectful. I enjoy working with him.

He came to me after a long injury lay off. He was out of action for almost 8 months. He picked up the injury at a boxing gym in sparring. Boxing is a tough sport. Injuries happen and are part and parcel of combat sports. In this case, though, my young friend had only been at the gym for a few weeks.

Sparring is the closest thing you will get to a competitive bout. Any reliable club or coach must be very careful who they allow to spar, and when. They must consider some very basic principals.

Fitness

It's a simple concept. Is the person in question fit enough to spar? And in this case, fitness is relative. I can still recall my first time in the ring. I had spent a long time preparing myself in the gym and putting in miles on the road. I was fit.

Imagine my surprise when I gassed out after a minute. I discovered that doing push ups, runs and rounds on the bag is very different to moving around in a ring. Especially when someone is trying to punch you in the face.

That's something every prospective boxer has to find out. Luckily I learned the lesson in a reputable gym that had my best interests at heart. Others aren't so lucky.

In an affiliated amateur gym, even recreational boxers must have a medical to make sure they are fit to spar. That’s worth considering.

The requisite skills

If you are going to spar, it's only fair that you have basic skills to be able to defend yourself. I've seen sparring — and I hesitate to call it that — when two untrained people get thrown into a ring together. It quickly descends into a free for all.

Sparring is a learning process. It develops skill. It can let inexperienced boxers acclimatise themselves to the ring. A brawl achieves nothing. Two people flailing away at each other without technique is a waste of everyone's time. You can get that outside the pub on a Friday night. It has nothing to do with boxing.

Putting someone in harms way without the skills to defend themselves — I think that is unforgiveable.

Mental preparation

There's something primal about two people facing off in a ring. It's far removed from modern day to day life. It stirs emotions in human beings that have been with us for millennia. Add in other factors and unpredictable things can happen. I have seen people burst into tears during and after sparring. Innocuous, orderly sparring can catch fire into a vicious war in a second.

People need time and experience to prepare themselves for sparring. It's a big step from hitting bags and pads. Conditioned sparring is excellent for this. Adding a condition reduces the cognitive load and gives the boxer a chance to find their feet. For example, a coach might set the condition that the two boxers can only throw a jab. This concentrates the time to a specific skill — throwing and defending the jab.

Experience

Experience is everything in boxing. I was lucky enough to spar with more experienced, better boxers than I ever would be. But these guys had excellent sparring etiquette. They would learn nothing from giving me a good pasting.

They used our time to practice more advanced skills against a more forgiving opponent. I got the experience of moving around with an excellent, seasoned fighter. That is a win-win situation and it is excellent coaching.

Using an inexperienced boxer as cannon fodder is a cowardly act. And any boxer that takes advantage of such a scenario should take a long, hard look in the mirror.

Back to the story…

Returning to my young friend. The gym in question pitched him into sparring with no defensive training in week one. They matched him with bigger, more experienced opponents in open (full on) sparring. All this without any form of preparation.

One 'coach' even managed to disadvantage him more by forcing him to adopt an incorrect stance. This made him easier to hit.

And that is where he picked up his injury.

This brave, young chap ploughed on regardless and ended up breaking his hand. He broke his hand fighting life and death to keep a bigger, more experienced opponent off him in open sparring. To say that gym let him down is a massive understatement.

I thought boxing had left this kind of stuff in the past. Ring initiations like this used to be common practice. They are pathetic. They serve nobody. I often wonder how many gifted athletes have left a promising career behind in the sparring ring of a bad gym.

So take my friend's story as a warning. The majority of gyms will never do this. But there are still some rotten apples out there. Do your research on a club before attending. Find out about the people who run things. Bear in mind, a good coach will always be on hand to dictate the cadence and personality of sparring.

If you even get a sniff of a horror story like this, I'd advocate for a swift exit.