Guys back in the day didn´t hit pads...

You won't believe how many times I've argued this point at the local sports bar.
It seems to have started with May Jr. The trainers are actually pushing the mitts
into the the boxers punches , making it appear as the boxer is super fast. It's more
a stylized dance than an actual training session. Playing paddy cakes with boxing
gloves and mitts.
I took the time to demonstrate to some of the patrons at the sports bar I go to. When I
showed it to them they were shocked how basic it was. I'm almost 60 yrs old, it
APPEARED like I was putting combo's together like prime Ray Leonard as one person said!!!
It's no better , and as about as useful as board breaking demonstrations in Karate.
Glorified paddy cakes with gloves......

 

Super ironic in a couple of ways:

1) FMJ is fast enough not to need a parlor trick to make him look like he has fast hands.

2) Floyd, at least in the latter third or so of his career, was mostly a cover up, make you miss, throw a right lead and then get out of the way kind of guy. Rarely threw more than 2-3 punches in combination at a time. So why do a training drill that involves throwing 40-50 punch flurries … if you never flurry, haha?

 

I don't think it does take up so much time in their training. It's an individual thing for a start. In a normal gym, say there's three of four coaches and twenty fighters, they're not all spending 80% of their time on the pads. It just doesn't add up.

As a method, pad work is best when used for drilling individual sequences into fighters. The long drawn out pad routines you see on Instagram or YouTube where they're going as quick as they can with short shots and ducking, blocking and spinning off. It's all for show. It doesn't actually do ****. You have to already be good at boxing for anything like that to somewhat impressive.

I got more out of a few 10 minute sessions with a coach, one on one, practicing basic combinations, defence and counters than I ever did ****ing around doing fast paced drills that would never be used in a fight.