as a late starter to boxing I'm looking for advice on the best route for me in terms of training and competition, I'm 24 now but started at 21 boxing on the white collar circuit and had 3 fights in my first 6 months then got injured and have trained on and off since then, I've now decided I want to do things properly especially given my age so would like to carry on until I no longer can but I'm not sure which route to go down. There's plenty of white collar boxing around me but I'm not sure I want to be boxing in a head guard and 16oz gloves for the rest of my life on a platform where anyone can get involved and have a go, ideally I'd like to do things properly and get licensed as an amateur and box in the amateurs on a regular basis but it seems that in my area (bedfordshire) senior amateur boxing is a dying breed, I've been to gyms and it's mainly young lads sort of late teens early 20s in the lower weight classes, I'm 90kg when in shape but currently sitting at 97kg so there's never many lads my weight I can spar with which makes me question how I'd be able to find matches, also I've found that a lot of the trainers don't seem to take ME seriously and they tend to focus on the younger lads which is fair enough if they've been there a while I just want the opportunity to compete. The other option is semi pro/unlicensed but I've heard it can be a bit dodgy with mismatches and safety etc but I've been told if I find a decent promotion then it's a good platform and I could fight with no headgear and smaller gloves, in a nutshell I'm a 24 year old lad looking for fights 90-100kg what's the best platform these days and is amateur an option?
Go to a gym and learn the facets of boxing. To be a good boxer though you will have to do more than just go to a gym. You will have to spend time studying fights on your own time. It helps show you what you are supposed to do in the ring. You won't be able to box in the amateurs (at least in the USA) unless you have someone, usually a trainer, to corner you. The best advice I can give you is try to find a gym that isn't totally open (training on your own) but isn't a boxing class either. The gym I trained at was small and only open for a few hrs each day but it was free, because of this the coaches made everyone train at the same time doing the same things such as everybody shadowboxes "x" amount of rds, hits the bags or sparring (Depending on if competing or not), etc. That set up is good if you don't know how to train but if you know how to get yourself into condition and not over train then you should be able to train on your own. If I wanted to compete, I could get into shape and everything without a trainer. A few sparring partners and a place to train is all I would need. Idk how much you know about boxing so that will play a role in determining what is best for you. I would recommend a gym where the trainer works with you a few times per week.
Thanks for the reply I appreciate it. To give myself a fair evaluation I'd say I have the basics down well but need to sharpen up a lot of things technically, I've sparred some pretty good guys and by no means have I got the better of them but I can hold my ground. And I do watch a lot of fights and study boxing and fighters that whose styles I try to imitate, (I am a long, rangey, outside fighter so have watched a lot of Klitschko etc). I could find a corner but in the UK everyone needs to be licensed to box in the amateurs and these days it seems that people would rather compete in unlicensed fights rather getting carded as an amateur. I don't think I'm at the stage yet where I could train myself for a fight I think there's a lot of technical things that need a trainer to improve but I guess if I was doing it myself I'd do a lot of shadow boxing and bag work, plenty of running and fitness and as much sparring as I can get in. What do you do to get fight ready? But yeah I agree, in a nutshell I need a trainer to work with a few times a week the rest I can do myself such as my own shadow boxing, bag work and road work. Just having trouble finding a decent trainer as I've moved areas and there's not a lot around here and I'm kind of spoilt because the gym I trained at before had some great coaches who definitely knew how to get fighters ready.
That's good. You are right where you need to be. Klitschko's style is perfect for tall rangey guys like us. Very hard to penetrate. If you want to do anything in the sport as far as professional goes then you need to have a really good amateur career. I know absolutely nothing about the UK amateur boxing system but I am sure there is someone on here who does know. As to who that is I also don't know that. Find a gym and see what happens is all I can really say now. Don't let anyone use you for a sparring punch bag, work as if you are the star fighter and everything needs to be for you. Boxing is a selfish game, you can't go look out for the other guy whether in a fight or training.
