I seem to remember a long time ago reading in a boxing magazine that Mate Parlov, the former light-heavyweight champion who beat Miguel Quello, defended successfully against John Conteh, then lost his title to Marvin Johnson, never skipped rope but mainly prepared for his fights by sparring. Is rope skipping pretty much a universal must for fighters?
I don't think James Toney did much rope work or road work. He shunned a lot of traditional exercises and mostly just hit the bag or sparred --which may have contributed to his cognitive decline as he loved to engage in ring wars. It was effective in sharpening his reflexes and timing since it was direct hands on training against an opponent who was hitting him back, but Toney's conditioning wasn't as good as it could've been with more traditional cardio workouts (not to mention better dieting).
I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Sumbu Kalamby (spelling?) I have read only skipped rope instead of running.
I would have to disagree - Roadwork can mean many things so I may have you wrong, but the sort that involves a lot of sprints and running hard for rounds will always be better then skipping rope. I got to the point where I could skip rope in a way you’d advise a beginner not to, jumping too high and trying to burn out, I could do that for about an hour - the strongest response I could get was from essentially sprinting on the spot like I was hopped up on something. I also still have golf ball calves… A max effort 800m will always make you want to throw up.
