I mean they don't work unless you appy the right amount of power and hit the sweet spot and I'd feel like a huge jackass if I did full powered blows to the liver during sparring
If you hit the right spot you don't have to put much force into the blow to put someone down. It's something you shouldn't worry about. Why does this even matter to you? I've floored a few people with liver shots during sparring, not intentionally, but it happens. So what? I don't feel bad about it at all. Are you scared to rock people, wind them, cut them, upset them..?
If you are scared to hurt people you lack a major element that successful boxers have. Killer instinct.
ive probably dropped 20 something people with body shots in sparring. i think fairly intense body shots in sparring are allowed. ive dropped people with shots which i havent thrown very hard and i not hurt people with shots iove really gone for there is an element of luck to them poke yourself in the side with your fingers to work out where it hurts most and aim for that!
Do you feel like a huge jackass for giving your sparring partners unrealistic expectations about boxing? "Oh hell yeah I can take a TON of body shots, I eat that **** for breakfast lunch and dinner..." And then they find out the hard way what a real livershot feels like. Pound the body mercilessly in sparring. I shy away from full power head shots but their liver will always taste my kung fu. :bbb
Well, if you're winging wide hard shots at your sparring partner, then sure they're gonna know you're trying to hurt them. And that may not be entirely bad - like the others have suggested. But like Virus said - it doesn't take a whole lot of power to hurt someone. A proper liver shot is a short quick shot. No big windup or wide looping shot needed. It hits your partner fast and drops them in an instant. In other words, the most effective liver shot is a quick discreet sneaky little punch - if you deliver it right, it should LOOK as though you simply got lucky. There are some good videos on youtube that demonstrate how to not only practice throwing one, but how pros have applied this in actual fights. Keeping it short and quick requires a little setup. In other words, it's rarely thrown as a single punch. It's usually on the tail end of a combo - where it is thrown quickly in short range. Good luck practicing this.
Hurting someone with a shot in sparring is fine - its jumping on them as if you're trying to stop them afterwards that is probably going a little overboard. Also, once again, what Virus said - it is where you hit them when it comes to body blows. Another surprising one that people don't expect is a shot to the chest... I've had one leave my chest burning for days before.
Stick some thing on the side of a heavy bag, where a liver would be then throw 2 consecutive left hooks from different angles.
In sparring you go 100% with body shots but less with headshots. Also as said sparring is more about not jumping on your sparring partner when you land a good shot rather than not hitting them with anything meaningful.
