What's up with Masters Boxing?

Punch resistance decreases as u get older. The body can't take the punishment anymore.

 

As you get old your body regenerate slower, your 2 week musle strain recovery becomes 2 months. You have more aches and pains, old injuries tend to bug and inhibit you more. No one want to watch 2 old (40 to 50 yrs old) guys throwing 5 to 10 punches a round.

 

There is a guy at our gym who is 7 time masters world champion at i believe 160 lbs he recently retired from boxing and moved to china tho but he was a cool dude... started as a gymnast than got into boxing late

 

idk too much about it, I will try and find out some more next week if I can

 

Just cos your fit doesn't mean you can fight.

Not sure comparing non contact endurance sports to heavy contact combat sports is a good comparison, they are very different beasts. Sure both fighters and endurance athletes are very fit, devoted and have to occasionally go to dark places in both training and competition. But the hell you put yourself through in endurance sport is for a very different purpose and isn't likely to end in injury. The goal of the fight game is ultimately to do more damage to the other guy, injury is inevitable. Sometimes the injuries are slight, sometimes more problematic and sometimes they're permanent. The point is these injuries mount up over the years and very often make it physically hard to compete in later life.

As your injuries build up whether they be form training or fighting (my permanent injuries came from training not fighting) it also makes it harder and harder to mentally get yourself "up for it" on a regular enough basis to compete. Weight cutting becomes more and more of a drag as you get older, add to this you can feel your self slowing down, not being able to do the things you used to do at a much higher intensity & pace as well as realising your usual durability you may have relied on is slowly eroding can all give you mental doubts that make it hard to motivate yourself for the heavy, demanding, repetitive training that you used to love and thrive on so much. Not to mention even though you love what your doing the whole routine of preparing, training and then fighting can be an emotional roller coaster that 's pretty physically & mentally draining. You cant really play at fighting, it can be too dangerous, you really have to devote huge amounts of time to train, it's a total lifestyle choice which a lot of older guys can't commit to. There are no short cuts and the older you get the more this becomes true.

In my case it was mostly injury as well as the need to give my time to other things in life that stopped me from fighting. At this point I should mention I was never a western boxer I was a Muay Thai boxer who fought mostly Muay Thai bouts and a few Kickboxing bouts, but occasionally I was a sparring partner for Thai's who'd converted to boxing. The last time I stepped in the ring was in 2002, but I still train when I can as I love the sport, but am acutely aware of what I can and can't do as I know my body well and there's alot I used to be able to do that I can't now, I'm 39 & consider myself still pretty fit. Most of it is injury related, shin and ankle problems, bad wrists and decreased flexibility. Even though I'm still fit I know when I spar my old aggression isn't there so much anymore and I feel slower and "weaker" in my core and find it very very frustrating that I can't perform to the level I used to. I still tell myself I'll have one more fight just to close the book as it's a pretty easy thing to arrange in Thailand, but then I have one of those sessions where things get a bit overheated in the gym and boom.... reality kicks in and I realise I'm not up to it anymore. "The mind is willing but the flesh is weak". I'm not trying to give you an autobiography just explain some of the reasons guys may give up the fighting side of the sport much younger than they do in non contact sports. Most older guys have families and work, you cant keep turning up at your work or your wife's door totally exhausted inbetween training, with black eyes, sore ribs & swollen fists all the time etc etc

I think it's great you wanna fight later in life, but if you wanna fight maybe you should look at some White Collar Boxing as you get alot of late starters on those circuits, but the truth is fighting's a young man's game. By the way, I'm not disrespecting Endurance Sports they are very tough, but in a different way & I've got alot of respect for what those guys do.

 

My kickboxing instructor used to beat my ass all the time and he was 46 at the time.
That guy would be straight running **** if he were into competing, but he's not unfortunately. I had trouble keeping up, and i'm in pretty good shape.
In Ontario, masters are so scarce, we still get a match-up or two at some events, but most of the guys I know are in different weight classes.
So we end up fighting younger guys most of the time.

 

Boranbkk is spot on boxing is something you can't walk into & feel because for example your fitness is off the chart it gives you a base point at a later age against someone of a similar age without the decent basics it frankly doesn't.

Even down to white collar it's something you would have to think about carefully superior fitness one thing or having the bare basics of a fighter just holding a reasonable guard I have a example.

British Olympic gold medal rower James Cracknell when 35 years old had a charity white collar charity fight against a cricketer from New Zealand Kerry Walmsley who would be fitter better conditioned easy Cracknell by far.

He got ko in 45 seconds he had no basic fighting skills it's a fight you can find online easy enough & this is with headguards obviously & 16oz gloves.

If you do want to do it you will need to spar & get used to being punched anyone that has ever boxed any level will understand that.If especially you have a decent gym & training partners they will be honest best of luck if you do.