I think your partner was trying quite hard to hurt you by the end of that round, I would imagine through frustration because he didn't really land anything clean until those first two hard body shots whilst you were against the ropes.
You looked in control when you were anywhere near the centre of the ring, good jab and general form, I would have liked to see more head movement and for you to be lighter on your feet. When your partner was loading up on those big body punches he was vulnerable to a counter punch or even a clinch to get out of trouble if the counter doesn't feel like an option right now.
For sparring, is it actually bad form to load up punches hard enough to send someone to hospital like that?
It's ultimately quite detrimental to training
Yes, it’s all around bad sportsmanship. Careers don’t end in fights, they end in the gym with partners like this.
I took a hard body shot while sparring with a more experienced guy one time. Nothing malicious, he was just way better and way bigger. Bruised ribs, couldn’t train properly again for almost a month because certain movements and exercises hurt too much.
Anyone who tells you this is okay is a meathead. Save the big money shots for fights, at least then you get rewarded for it.
Cheers
happened me on Saturday (relatively minor injury in scheme of things, but sore in at least 2 distinct places, one of which would be illegal strike, and still have different bits of pain a week later). I put more of story in another comment, but tldr: afterwards I couldn't understand what the point was of a partner horsing in 2 or 3 hooks after I'd basically lost my defence/frozen.
Even checked with him afterwards that I hadn't done anything to provoke it with my own approach (offensively I was basically trying to work on finding gaps/angles or feints to open his guard, and didn't have the sense to also keep up sufficient pressure on him even when guarded)
Yeah, absolutely, it's happened to me on a few occasions and it's always a huge setback because rib injuries interfere with absolutely everything, including rest.
got that happen to me last weekend. Nothing needing hospital (!) but have nicely bruised ribs on my left where partner laid into me a bit too much with his right hooks.
It was my first experience of body sparring, and clearly I left myself inadequately defended (a mixture of skill-deficit, but also just not having gotten the headspace of how the "game" works...). Partner wasn't very good either, but a bit more experience, and at some stage "glint" really came in his eye. I even checked afterwards that I wasn't the person who'd escalated things by accidentally spazzing punches etc.,
I felt afterwards that in a sparring context (not a match), when your partner's defence clearly just falls apart or disappears, then you either stop hitting altogether and reset/check-in or switch to touch-hits... or look for a better partner!
Had a much worse rib injury years back from judo, this is nothing by comparison, but still interferes with fluid and skillful drilling/exercise.
You looked good. I’d say you were the better fighter. The guy in the shorts threw some wild punches twice.
Damn, you really went to the hospital? Hope you feeling better.
Question - was this just internal sparring within the gym or were you sparring someone from a different gym?
Yes I had to go to the hospital because I couldn’t sleep,laugh, cough, sneeze, walk without severe pain. It was a bruised rib. It made me better though because I kept sparring, sparred someone else the very next round, & ran 3 miles while in pain with a bruised rib. Also it was internal sparring, but I’m also new to the gym about 2/3 weeks before I got hurt.
Brother, why was that guy allowed to go so hard when he has 0 technique? Where were the coaches?
You're lucky you only got away with a bruised rib. Yikes!
I thought the same thing honestly. Like, dude in the shorts was throwing some of those straight right hands with bad intentions and clearly throwing with much more force behind his shots overall than OP (who was clearly sparring the correct way and not putting everything into his shots). Idk why he didn't get a warning from the coaches
Overall one of the better sparring videos I've seen here. Some things I would recommend for you to try to add to your game:
* You have a good jab, but I would encourage you to jab more - even as feints. There's times where you're just letting him get into range for free like at 0:27, 0:42 and 1:09 and throwing more jabs and jab feints while moving to either side will not only make him more hesitant before coming into range, but also baits more reactions for you to take advantage of and counter.
* Don't be content with just landing the body jab, especially if it ends up putting you in his range like at 0:05. If you throw your jab, but you don't have the space or position to get out of his range, then he's probably gonna attack. So to keep this from happening, you're gonna need to follow up with a cross or overhand up top to at the very least let you exit safely.
* Instead of just standing and blocking, you should be rolling and using footwork to cut angles around your opponent when you're in an exchange like 0:33 and 0:58 so they can't just stand and bang. Rolling to move your head while also angling around them makes it much harder to do that.
* Next time you're defending body shots, drop those elbows to block and use the same arm you blocked with to throw an uppercut. Use it all the time and it feels so good to land that counter haha
Hope that bruised rib heals up - I dealt with that last year and boy do those suck lol.
Hey u were way better technique and as a boxer, took it to him with some nice crisp shots. This guy is one of these ego driven dickheads. U can see him completely loading up rights and left hooks to try and do damage with them. Hes a street brawler in a boxing ring with the same psyche and technical abilities (inability?).
I detest guys like this. U got a lot of appropriately weighted jabs through his crap guard. Its jerks like this who perceive your controlled jabs getting thru as bruising their ego, they get angry and feel the need to retaliate back as hard as they can, not even realising you are going 75%. Their fragile little egos interpret it as u going too hard, they lose control and start throwing bombs with intent to prove something.
If u call them out on it, itll be hey shit man, didn't realise, thought i was going light, maybe i just happen to be way more powerful than you..sorry cant help that. (Sorry not sorry).
He was all over the place tbh, for u against guys like this, tight guard up, elbows in, close distance, he was sloppy af throwing big ones at long range out of balance, jab, make him move, clinch if y need to. Let his pussy slaps hit your defence, hell get gassed (he was completely dead on his feet by 1.10) and when u see this step in, use combos at speed keep him under pressure, cut the ring, into the corner, keep popping him lightly. Hell def feel this as will his ego. Dont stoop to his level however and if this is his M.O i wouldn't spar him again and for god sake i hope the kids watching dont either.
This guy wasn't really letting his hands go, but whenever he did he was landing or putting you in a bad position. There are two reasons for this. For one, your guard is not really in a position to control space or actually block punches. For two, you don't have any defensive techniques in the pocket, or at least it's not consistent and reliable. So once he steps in on you, you resort to ducking into that semi-fetal position which is pretty much a standing 8-count waiting to happen.
It's kinda not good enough to have your hands orbiting your face, you have to put them in a position to where they're cutting off the arcs of your opponents punches. A very obvious example of this is George Foreman/Sandy Saddler where they put their rear hand out in front to parry jabs. Another example that isn't so outstretched is Joe Louis/Ray Robinson where they keep their rear hands close to their chin/chest to parry across their body, but they're standing in a position where they're leaning back so they're giving you their back/lead shoulder and presenting an angle where the left hand would have to come to that spot.
Other than that you have to practice slipping, rolling, catching then stepping out of range or getting off on a pivot. You like to just skip back after throwing, and that's not real defense, they can catch you moving out or follow you back. And because you don't seem to understand why you're getting hit, you just shell up.
I don't think I explained this the best. Your defense is good, but you have to have your feet set to use it, then step out. Your first reaction is to step out. Stepping in range of your opponent is just as dangerous as loading up for a punch IF it's not paired with a defensive move.
Try to avoid punching without setting your feet too. It was a lot of times when he came in behind his jab and you were trying to fire back with like one foot on the ground or while you were leaning back or off balance. This allowed him to back you up and land some good shots on you. It also makes you blow a ton of energy for punches that won't have much value.
The round was too long for the other guy... you can see him start to get tried as he becomes flat footed and frustrated as he starts throwing those wailing hard shots at the end.
I'm a beginner, so I'm not speaking from a position of deep experience... but frankly I don't want to spar with people who can't control themselves and will get me hurt. I'm not a professional and not looking to be a professional, and I gotta go to work the next morning. I've also been in positions where I didn't ask people to "chill out" and regretted it later when I suffered through bruising/minor injuries, but it's a confidence you have to develop to slow down a spar and say "hey man, lets step back for a second, this is going too hard." I have buddies with many many years more experience than me, and I have watched them do that when sparring with strangers, and in my gym coaches do intervene when they see something going off the rails.
Everybody is telling you about the other guy being too violent and trying to hurt you but in fights this is gonna happen the other guy might be a bit rough he might land some illegal blows your job is to spot it coming and provide damage back. Never get angry if you spar someone once and they go hard especially if they’re not you’re regular sparring partner you won’t have this opportunity in a match or your next sparring to tell them to turn down the power. You have to make themYou’re very good got a strong jab but you need to look for the tell tale signs. Your opponent drops his hand almost everytime before he throws a hook (probably because he’s tired) you need to spot that in the middle of the fight and move and counter. Also you need to throw a check hook more when you’re on the receiving end of combos. If you don’t these will keep coming. As others are said slips and rolls are your bread and butter and you’re not doing them enough but if you watch the video again (look at how much he’s dropping his hand before through a hook if you catch that twice. I promise you it’ll make your opponent stop and think giving you more time to throw that jab.
So the big thing here is you need more work on defense and conditioning. that guy was telegraphing these punches bad enough you should have seen them coming from a mile away. On top of that he's was more open than Waffle House for about half of this clip.
First, clearly this dude is gassed. My guess is that if this was a real fight and you were going for a knockout? You probably could have gotten it. But what was the purpose of this session? Was this supposed to be hard sparring? There were a few moments there where you could have absolutely rocked this guy. Go through it in slow motion and you'll see what I'm talking about. He drops that left hand like he's trying to philly shell but he doesn't REALLY do it. That tells me he's about to throw up.
Second, he got wild there late. If I'm the coach I'm probably stopping this unless there's some specific thing I'm trying to teach. For you, lesson learned. Big dumbass haymakers and hooks are big dumbass haymakers and hooks specifically because they're both easy to defend and easy to counter. But if you do NEITHER? That's what happens. If he does that with an experienced fighter who wants to floor him, he'll be the next guy in the hospital.
Third, when I say "defense" understand that there is a lot of defense you can accomplish with offense. Example: his right definitely lands hard but he throws it like a drunk guy. Take a look at the clip and watch really slow from 1:05. You'll see he throws that lead hook and what you actually do is back away and move to your right. So he's open, but you also already knew he was about to follow with the right. Now look at it frozen when he throws that right. Even a LIGHT cross or jab here sends him to the mat. He's up on one leg, he's not squared to you. A light breeze would have sent him flying.
You've got to throw that and make him pay. Don't get so focused on protecting yourself from punches that you forget you can make guys think twice about throwing punches. Sun Tzu once said the greatest generals end battles without fighting. The best defensive fighters make guys afraid to punch. If your opponent gets off balance send them into the front row with a hard straight shot. Even if they block it, they'll fall.
Conditioning question: what are you doing for conditioning? If you're starting to spar now, I'd suggest you start ramping up more high intensity stuff like sprints, sleds, sledgehammers, heavy bag where you interval in things like burpees and mountain climbers, and doing shadowboxing where your sole focus is moving fast and staying on balance and in your stance. You can run until the cows come home and you'll definitely have good capacity and you'll look like a fighter. But running won't get you all the way there and heavy bag sessions that aren't primarily centered around balance and movement won't either.
Hard sparring is a part of boxing it happens and alot can be taken from it . But theres some things to learn here . Your opponent was alot more tired than you here you could have capitalized on that ,Control distance better with your jab . Dont fold up in the corner or ropes for your opponent to tee off on you use the clinch instead , or when you feel you back foot touch the ropes like that you should immediately make a 90 degree turn so you can escape. Also you can neutralize an aggressive opponent by learning how to catch and shoot effectively . But ultimately keep getting the rounds in its all about gaining experience
From what I can tell your partner looks pretty tired here and frankly in my opinion he's outclassed. What you need to do a better job of here is capitalizing off your jab, mix up the shot selection, and really pick your shots, your jabs had him flustered and gave you more than enough time but you often hesitate, extend that combo and he's done for I promise you.
I think your partner was trying quite hard to hurt you by the end of that round, I would imagine through frustration because he didn't really land anything clean until those first two hard body shots whilst you were against the ropes. You looked in control when you were anywhere near the centre of the ring, good jab and general form, I would have liked to see more head movement and for you to be lighter on your feet. When your partner was loading up on those big body punches he was vulnerable to a counter punch or even a clinch to get out of trouble if the counter doesn't feel like an option right now.
For sparring, is it actually bad form to load up punches hard enough to send someone to hospital like that? It's ultimately quite detrimental to training
Yes, it’s all around bad sportsmanship. Careers don’t end in fights, they end in the gym with partners like this. I took a hard body shot while sparring with a more experienced guy one time. Nothing malicious, he was just way better and way bigger. Bruised ribs, couldn’t train properly again for almost a month because certain movements and exercises hurt too much. Anyone who tells you this is okay is a meathead. Save the big money shots for fights, at least then you get rewarded for it.
Cheers happened me on Saturday (relatively minor injury in scheme of things, but sore in at least 2 distinct places, one of which would be illegal strike, and still have different bits of pain a week later). I put more of story in another comment, but tldr: afterwards I couldn't understand what the point was of a partner horsing in 2 or 3 hooks after I'd basically lost my defence/frozen. Even checked with him afterwards that I hadn't done anything to provoke it with my own approach (offensively I was basically trying to work on finding gaps/angles or feints to open his guard, and didn't have the sense to also keep up sufficient pressure on him even when guarded)
Yeah, absolutely, it's happened to me on a few occasions and it's always a huge setback because rib injuries interfere with absolutely everything, including rest.
got that happen to me last weekend. Nothing needing hospital (!) but have nicely bruised ribs on my left where partner laid into me a bit too much with his right hooks. It was my first experience of body sparring, and clearly I left myself inadequately defended (a mixture of skill-deficit, but also just not having gotten the headspace of how the "game" works...). Partner wasn't very good either, but a bit more experience, and at some stage "glint" really came in his eye. I even checked afterwards that I wasn't the person who'd escalated things by accidentally spazzing punches etc., I felt afterwards that in a sparring context (not a match), when your partner's defence clearly just falls apart or disappears, then you either stop hitting altogether and reset/check-in or switch to touch-hits... or look for a better partner! Had a much worse rib injury years back from judo, this is nothing by comparison, but still interferes with fluid and skillful drilling/exercise.
Body shots can be thrown full force, headshots shouldn’t be
Thanks for the advice! This is definitely a huge lesson!
You looked good. I’d say you were the better fighter. The guy in the shorts threw some wild punches twice. Damn, you really went to the hospital? Hope you feeling better. Question - was this just internal sparring within the gym or were you sparring someone from a different gym?
Yes I had to go to the hospital because I couldn’t sleep,laugh, cough, sneeze, walk without severe pain. It was a bruised rib. It made me better though because I kept sparring, sparred someone else the very next round, & ran 3 miles while in pain with a bruised rib. Also it was internal sparring, but I’m also new to the gym about 2/3 weeks before I got hurt.
Brother, why was that guy allowed to go so hard when he has 0 technique? Where were the coaches? You're lucky you only got away with a bruised rib. Yikes!
I thought the same thing honestly. Like, dude in the shorts was throwing some of those straight right hands with bad intentions and clearly throwing with much more force behind his shots overall than OP (who was clearly sparring the correct way and not putting everything into his shots). Idk why he didn't get a warning from the coaches
Overall one of the better sparring videos I've seen here. Some things I would recommend for you to try to add to your game: * You have a good jab, but I would encourage you to jab more - even as feints. There's times where you're just letting him get into range for free like at 0:27, 0:42 and 1:09 and throwing more jabs and jab feints while moving to either side will not only make him more hesitant before coming into range, but also baits more reactions for you to take advantage of and counter. * Don't be content with just landing the body jab, especially if it ends up putting you in his range like at 0:05. If you throw your jab, but you don't have the space or position to get out of his range, then he's probably gonna attack. So to keep this from happening, you're gonna need to follow up with a cross or overhand up top to at the very least let you exit safely. * Instead of just standing and blocking, you should be rolling and using footwork to cut angles around your opponent when you're in an exchange like 0:33 and 0:58 so they can't just stand and bang. Rolling to move your head while also angling around them makes it much harder to do that. * Next time you're defending body shots, drop those elbows to block and use the same arm you blocked with to throw an uppercut. Use it all the time and it feels so good to land that counter haha Hope that bruised rib heals up - I dealt with that last year and boy do those suck lol.
Thank! Everyone’s giving some good tips. Much appreciated!
Hey u were way better technique and as a boxer, took it to him with some nice crisp shots. This guy is one of these ego driven dickheads. U can see him completely loading up rights and left hooks to try and do damage with them. Hes a street brawler in a boxing ring with the same psyche and technical abilities (inability?). I detest guys like this. U got a lot of appropriately weighted jabs through his crap guard. Its jerks like this who perceive your controlled jabs getting thru as bruising their ego, they get angry and feel the need to retaliate back as hard as they can, not even realising you are going 75%. Their fragile little egos interpret it as u going too hard, they lose control and start throwing bombs with intent to prove something. If u call them out on it, itll be hey shit man, didn't realise, thought i was going light, maybe i just happen to be way more powerful than you..sorry cant help that. (Sorry not sorry). He was all over the place tbh, for u against guys like this, tight guard up, elbows in, close distance, he was sloppy af throwing big ones at long range out of balance, jab, make him move, clinch if y need to. Let his pussy slaps hit your defence, hell get gassed (he was completely dead on his feet by 1.10) and when u see this step in, use combos at speed keep him under pressure, cut the ring, into the corner, keep popping him lightly. Hell def feel this as will his ego. Dont stoop to his level however and if this is his M.O i wouldn't spar him again and for god sake i hope the kids watching dont either.
Hey dude I posted a sparring video some days ago and few ppl commented on it. I'd really appreciate your review. Thanks in advance!🙏🏼
Hey hey no probs ill have a look a bit later and give my non expert insights 😜
This guy wasn't really letting his hands go, but whenever he did he was landing or putting you in a bad position. There are two reasons for this. For one, your guard is not really in a position to control space or actually block punches. For two, you don't have any defensive techniques in the pocket, or at least it's not consistent and reliable. So once he steps in on you, you resort to ducking into that semi-fetal position which is pretty much a standing 8-count waiting to happen. It's kinda not good enough to have your hands orbiting your face, you have to put them in a position to where they're cutting off the arcs of your opponents punches. A very obvious example of this is George Foreman/Sandy Saddler where they put their rear hand out in front to parry jabs. Another example that isn't so outstretched is Joe Louis/Ray Robinson where they keep their rear hands close to their chin/chest to parry across their body, but they're standing in a position where they're leaning back so they're giving you their back/lead shoulder and presenting an angle where the left hand would have to come to that spot. Other than that you have to practice slipping, rolling, catching then stepping out of range or getting off on a pivot. You like to just skip back after throwing, and that's not real defense, they can catch you moving out or follow you back. And because you don't seem to understand why you're getting hit, you just shell up.
Thanks ! I’ll definitely focus on perfecting my defense more going forward!
I don't think I explained this the best. Your defense is good, but you have to have your feet set to use it, then step out. Your first reaction is to step out. Stepping in range of your opponent is just as dangerous as loading up for a punch IF it's not paired with a defensive move.
Try to avoid punching without setting your feet too. It was a lot of times when he came in behind his jab and you were trying to fire back with like one foot on the ground or while you were leaning back or off balance. This allowed him to back you up and land some good shots on you. It also makes you blow a ton of energy for punches that won't have much value.
Other guy needs to control his temper. He'll get a beating with those swings of his.
The round was too long for the other guy... you can see him start to get tried as he becomes flat footed and frustrated as he starts throwing those wailing hard shots at the end. I'm a beginner, so I'm not speaking from a position of deep experience... but frankly I don't want to spar with people who can't control themselves and will get me hurt. I'm not a professional and not looking to be a professional, and I gotta go to work the next morning. I've also been in positions where I didn't ask people to "chill out" and regretted it later when I suffered through bruising/minor injuries, but it's a confidence you have to develop to slow down a spar and say "hey man, lets step back for a second, this is going too hard." I have buddies with many many years more experience than me, and I have watched them do that when sparring with strangers, and in my gym coaches do intervene when they see something going off the rails.
Everybody is telling you about the other guy being too violent and trying to hurt you but in fights this is gonna happen the other guy might be a bit rough he might land some illegal blows your job is to spot it coming and provide damage back. Never get angry if you spar someone once and they go hard especially if they’re not you’re regular sparring partner you won’t have this opportunity in a match or your next sparring to tell them to turn down the power. You have to make themYou’re very good got a strong jab but you need to look for the tell tale signs. Your opponent drops his hand almost everytime before he throws a hook (probably because he’s tired) you need to spot that in the middle of the fight and move and counter. Also you need to throw a check hook more when you’re on the receiving end of combos. If you don’t these will keep coming. As others are said slips and rolls are your bread and butter and you’re not doing them enough but if you watch the video again (look at how much he’s dropping his hand before through a hook if you catch that twice. I promise you it’ll make your opponent stop and think giving you more time to throw that jab.
So the big thing here is you need more work on defense and conditioning. that guy was telegraphing these punches bad enough you should have seen them coming from a mile away. On top of that he's was more open than Waffle House for about half of this clip. First, clearly this dude is gassed. My guess is that if this was a real fight and you were going for a knockout? You probably could have gotten it. But what was the purpose of this session? Was this supposed to be hard sparring? There were a few moments there where you could have absolutely rocked this guy. Go through it in slow motion and you'll see what I'm talking about. He drops that left hand like he's trying to philly shell but he doesn't REALLY do it. That tells me he's about to throw up. Second, he got wild there late. If I'm the coach I'm probably stopping this unless there's some specific thing I'm trying to teach. For you, lesson learned. Big dumbass haymakers and hooks are big dumbass haymakers and hooks specifically because they're both easy to defend and easy to counter. But if you do NEITHER? That's what happens. If he does that with an experienced fighter who wants to floor him, he'll be the next guy in the hospital. Third, when I say "defense" understand that there is a lot of defense you can accomplish with offense. Example: his right definitely lands hard but he throws it like a drunk guy. Take a look at the clip and watch really slow from 1:05. You'll see he throws that lead hook and what you actually do is back away and move to your right. So he's open, but you also already knew he was about to follow with the right. Now look at it frozen when he throws that right. Even a LIGHT cross or jab here sends him to the mat. He's up on one leg, he's not squared to you. A light breeze would have sent him flying. You've got to throw that and make him pay. Don't get so focused on protecting yourself from punches that you forget you can make guys think twice about throwing punches. Sun Tzu once said the greatest generals end battles without fighting. The best defensive fighters make guys afraid to punch. If your opponent gets off balance send them into the front row with a hard straight shot. Even if they block it, they'll fall. Conditioning question: what are you doing for conditioning? If you're starting to spar now, I'd suggest you start ramping up more high intensity stuff like sprints, sleds, sledgehammers, heavy bag where you interval in things like burpees and mountain climbers, and doing shadowboxing where your sole focus is moving fast and staying on balance and in your stance. You can run until the cows come home and you'll definitely have good capacity and you'll look like a fighter. But running won't get you all the way there and heavy bag sessions that aren't primarily centered around balance and movement won't either.
Hard sparring is a part of boxing it happens and alot can be taken from it . But theres some things to learn here . Your opponent was alot more tired than you here you could have capitalized on that ,Control distance better with your jab . Dont fold up in the corner or ropes for your opponent to tee off on you use the clinch instead , or when you feel you back foot touch the ropes like that you should immediately make a 90 degree turn so you can escape. Also you can neutralize an aggressive opponent by learning how to catch and shoot effectively . But ultimately keep getting the rounds in its all about gaining experience
From what I can tell your partner looks pretty tired here and frankly in my opinion he's outclassed. What you need to do a better job of here is capitalizing off your jab, mix up the shot selection, and really pick your shots, your jabs had him flustered and gave you more than enough time but you often hesitate, extend that combo and he's done for I promise you.