Can U tell anything 'bout a green kid 1st time he spars?

most kids r eager and try to impress its always good to get a beating first spar, if the kid shows the next day he gt heart

 

It seems to me that persistence would matter more. Michael Jordan was originally cut from his high school basketball team. Sometimes, the drive fueled by initial failure or rejection is the propellant to greatness. Tom Brady generated years of motivation and competitive hunger out of the fact he was only a sixth round draft choice.

 

First time i sparred, i thought i'd be pulling off Mike McCallum's ko of Don Curry, and i just got peppered with shots for like two minutes straight. You could tell i was green because i was ****.

 

I notice the kids who stick around are the ones who dont try to show off. The guy who gets in the ring takes his licksa and is back in the next day.

 

Heart and sportsmanship.

 

i got ripped up the first time i sparred...

 

You want the guy to be eager to spar for the first time, but not too eager.

The former comes in week after week hitting bags, jumping rope, appearing to be quite dedicated but thinks he "just needs a little more work" before he puts on the headgear.

The latter shows up and wants to throw down the first day. He's usually a self proclaimed bad ass, often the biggest kid in his little group he brings in to witness him kick some ass. These types are almost always humbled inside a round and never, ever come back.

The kid who's truly worth spending time on will ask when he can spar, do his best while he's in there, and acknowledge he has along way to go afterwards. And be back the next day, working on the things he learned.

 

Definitely from the good ones. Natural movement, reaction and timing.

 

I do not think anything can be told the first time unless he punches hard from the get go naturally.

 

At least for my first sparring session, a realization set in that this wasn't a sport in the sense that you think of most other sports. I realized this was serious and I better get my **** together quick or I could get hurt. My first two rounds or sparring must've looked like Holmes vs Cobb. I was just following and the guy was jabbing me to death. In the 3rd round he got cocky and tried to come inside and I hurt him with a couple uppercuts. He got back on his bicycle and back to boxing the **** out of me.
I left with the realization that this was a very serious, hard "sport". I was tough enough. And improved technique, mainly footwork, would allow me to improve dramatically.

 

Not an old schooler or a gym rat, but I've heard or read a lot of trainers say that they look for how a guy reacts the first time that he gets hit. Does he wants to take his gloves off right there, or does he suck it up and come back for more? Manny Steward apparently did that with Hearns, if I'm remembering an interview I saw correctly.

First day Tommy walked in on his own and Steward put him in with a guy who'd been in the gym for awhile. Again, if I remember right, Steward said that Tommy took his lumps and just asked if he could come back again tomorrow when the sparring was done.

That can be misleading too though, I think I read that Ray Leonard ran home after his first sparring session, but Leonard turned out to be halfway decent fighter, eh?

Besides that. I imagine you can look for speed, (even if the guy's technique sucks, you can see if he can move quickly) aggressiveness, and if by some miracle the guy has a great 1st spar, killer instinct, but heart and determination have to be at the top of the list. Knowing a kid isn't going to quit on you against adversity is a major plus.