Hey everyone! So I could really use some knowledgeable advice from someone with experience. If you can offer some help I'd appreciate it A little about me, I had my first amateur boxing match (at the 138 lbs weight class) late 2013. I won a decision I felt great Then about 5 months later I joined a local tough man contest. What sucks is they were suppose to have a weight class for 120-140 but they removed it without any notice. I had already invited friends and was in fighting "mode" so I cheated the scales and barely broke 140 so that I could fight in the 140-160 weight class. The match was back and forth brawl, but my opponent won the decision. All my friends told me I did a good job so even though it was a loss I still felt good about my performance. (Since I lost by decision I was technically still allowed to participate in the tournament, but since I would have to cheat the scales the next day and fight again at a 20 lb disadvantage I decided not to) My most recent match happened about another 6-8 months after that tough man contest, this time it was another amateur match. I again fought at 138 lbs. This time however I didn't do so hot. I was outclassed. I never got knocked down and I made it a brawl as much as I could but in the second round the ref decided to end it and I got a TKO loss. I decided to keep training hard and hit cardio and weight training with everything I had. My weight started going up significantly and now I'm a totally different weight class (still have low body fat about 12-15%) Here's where I'm stuck at a crossroad and need some advice, I'm 5'7 and currently weigh 166 lbs (about 12-15% bf). I don't know what weight I should fight in my next match or whether I should give a tough man contest another go since I'm closer to 160 lbs now than I was back then. Or if I should just give a shot at a new amateur weight class. Sorry for the long post but as mentioned any knowledgeable advice is appreciated. Thanks!
I would say work on your skills rather than your weight would be most helpful in improving as a boxer. The auxiliary training boxers do (road work, weight training etc...) sometimes becomes too much of a focus. It did when I started and I didn't do that well. I found out the way you really improve is by sparring and drilling on the pads. Don't get me wrong, the auxiliary stuff when done right is a big help, but you only get better at boxing by...well, boxing! NB I don't mean 1 million miles per hour sparring every time. You can reduce the amount of power you use in sparring or just work specific things, like someone attacking, other guy defending or clinching drills. There are lots of variations of sparring.
Tough man contests are fixed; I wouldnt be too concerned about losing a decision there. Prizewriters advice is sound and remember most people box in the amateurs to gain experience.
Fight to your ability level, meaning newbie types who have won and lost some. At 5'7" 168 pounds, you are too heavy. Natural 168-pound opponents are going to have a height and reach advantage on you. You will need good power to stay at 168. You'd be much better off at 147.
It really depends on what kind of style you have. If you like to fight on the inside or if you are really good at cutting off the ring then stay at 165. If you have more of an outside based style where you rely on the jab mostly then try to get down to 152 over 2 months. As for Mendoza, they don't have 147 in amateurs, its 152. Also, cutting that much weight can be unhealthy unless you do it over a few months. It's not like it's excess fat, its muscle.
Poor advice. So many amateurs spend time fighting the scales instead of developing their skills. Height and reach doesn't mean **** when skills are in play.
Thanks guys. I'm more of an inside fighter. Have always been even when I was fighting at 138 lbs. I'll try to get to a little under 165 lbs. and I'll definitely focus more on sparring and mitt work. I appreciate the pat on the back Misfit. It really was about even on the toughman match but being fair and humble I think my opponent did edge out the decision. If anyone else has any more advice/input I'd definitely would like to hear it
I was just wondering...do you train at a gym or by yourself? I recently have been able to start competing in amateur boxing but I don't know where to get a fight because I train at a PAL and it's not that organized other than the tournaments they have plus golden gloves.
Dealt With, I did not say don't develop skills!!! I'm simply saying 5'7 is rather short for anything north of middleweight and short for 166 pounds. If you disagree, please show me one very good amateur at 5'7" tall or shorter that had great success at 160 or above in the past 8 years. I'm thinking you find few or none. In boxing, height and reach ( he did not say what his reach ) matters a lot and the disparity multiples in the upper weights. Unless Mr. Mean2015 is built and fights like Dwight Muhammad Qawi, he's better off going down in weight. That much I'm sure of.
Why do you keep using pro weight limits? Middleweight in amateur boxing is 165. Welterweight is 152. He is 1 pound away from Middleweight.
I actually train at a local gym. However for the toughman I ventured on my own because toughman contests technically aren't amateur bouts. Heres a good link to find amateur matches on your own..however I would recommend just going with your gym so you would have a solid coach behind you and just not feel like a fish out of water (I can't post links yet so you'll have to piece it together) www . teamusa . org /usa-boxing/ events/ current-usa- boxing-sanctioned-events
Mendoza and Mr.Dagowop you guys are both right in a way. Mendoza I know I'll be short for 165 lbs also even for 154 lbs. But Mr.Dagowop is correct in that you're listing out pro weight classes and I'm definitely still an amateur. I'm just looking for advice on which weight I should really try to settle in but it seems like the best way to find out will be for me to try to have a amateur match at 165 lbs and see how I fare. I'm really gonna try to be all muscle by the time I have it. Which means lose about 5-8 lbs of fat and add a bit more muscle..which also means I'm gonna have to really work on roadwork not to gas. I'm definitely gonna try sparring more, once a week at the gym isn't cutting it it seems
Yeah, if you want to fight at 152 or 165 (where you'll be a lot smaller and have to fight on the inside) then you're going to have to really outwork your opponent. A taller opponent could easily outpoint you just by keeping you away with the jab so I would watch old Jake Lamotta fights and try to adopt some of his techniques. He was shorter than his opponents but won a lot of decisions. Which is what you'll have to do in the amateurs.
Jake LaMotta videos. OK sure I'll see what worked for him. Yeah I've noticed they mostly go to decisions even in my cases