Developing a Young Fighter From Scratch

Lloyd Honeyghan just taught himself how to box. - on his own.

 

this. repition builds perfection. from the very first session I would start them with some sparring drills at the end of the session as people enjoy these the most imo.

eg one jabs, one catches.

ideally you would make them do rounds and rounds of fotwork drills before starting anything else. but people get bored and wouldnt come back.

but i believe build the basics and get them right before expanding into complicated things.

so 3/4 rounds x footwork drills
3/4 rounds x shadow boxing keeping it very simple eg jab and 1/2 concentrating on bringing hands back to guard. slow at first and then sped up
2 rounds on pads same as above
2 rounds on heavy bag
3 rounds of very light sparring wtih very clear objective eg he jabs you catch. then he janbs, you catch and then jab back counter etc etc

I wouldnt worry about conditioning until later

if i did i would do 3 x 2 minute rounds. each round divided into 4 different exercises.

 

my experience of uk thai boxers is they are **** boxers generally. spend too much time practicing kicks, knees and elbows. technically weak etc.

 

I totally agree. You must lay the foundations, before starting with the rest. My first coaches(a term that a hesitate to apply to those clowns) didn't do this, severely hindering my development.

 

That's because they're primarily training Muay Thai I expect. In Thailand they train both and are expected to be able to handle themselves in either style. Saying that, if you look at footage from the golden age of Muay Thai punching wasn't utilised all that much (more areas to target)

 

From my own experience of learing to box, and helping ickle kiddies just starting out (6-7 years old) you have to forget punching to start with.

It all starts with footwork, balance and guard. You have to get the kids comfortable with moving around and having their hands in the right place not to get hit too often.

If you don't get these things right then once they step up to start sparring they never get comfortable enough in range to let their hands go for fear of getting walloped every time they try to punch.

If you can get them comfortable with blocking, parrying, slipping and moving then you can get them to start to put punches together. Otherwise most of them at a young age are too scared to throw anything other than a jab, and because they feel under pressure they even forget how to do that properly and kids who could be good end up getting put off by kids who are simply slightly bigger and more aggressive.

 

First thing I was taught and the first thing I would teach is the stance and footwork. My coach had me going up and down in lines and going around the bag without throwing a punch. As everyone has said, repetition is key.

 

i can relate a bit to this because i had to start from scratch and i found the thing that brought me on faster than anything else was extensive sparring, day in day out, not having world war 3 everyday but learning sparring, some days it would be jabs only then the next day i would only be allowed to box on the back foot then the day after i wouldnt be allowed to throw anything back just work on blocking and slipping shots, i found that there was nothing like been in the ring to sharpen me up and also getting use to punches coming at me, i know loads of keep fitters that come to the gym and do the pads and bags and look the bollocks but they cant box for toffee, if i had a young raw fighter on my hands id basically make him spend as much time in the ring as possible and you learn the rest of the other stuff while your in there like footwork and balance, as long as you and your sparring partners are not knocking lumps out of each other it can be done 4 or 5 times a week

 

id also stress to my young pupil the importance of staying in the gym if you have a fight coming up or not, alot of fighters only go to the gym 6 or 8 weeks before a fight then have 3 or 4 months out, how can you improve if your not in the gym to work on your skills?

 

my first session was moving up and down three lines and round and round circles for hours and did the same thing for weeks if not months before moving on to anything else, my first session i would make them spar and see if they have what it takes, can tell straight away if they have something this way

 

One thing for me is not caring about size disadvantages and coming in as close to your 'optimum' natural weight as possible.

Less time spent on cutting, more time spent on developing.

 

jonnyp is spot on, you can tell within 10 seconds of the bell going if somebodys got something or not

 

glyn is a believer in that i am sure :good