How much do great fighters learn from their pro fights, as opposed to sparring?

I think the difference is the mental 'landscape' we call 'The Event'. Getting used to this is the main benefit of of high amounts of bouts imo. A lot of skill stuff can be refined in sparring, and it doesn't even have to be hard all the time (though the acclimation to event time also affects your skill application of course).

 

The research and theory regarding deliberate practice has always seemed pretty persuasive to me. So I assume boxers hone their skills the most in the gym (both in sparring and even in drill work).

 

They learn more in real pro fights but only if those fights are real competitive fights.

We are not just talking about honing technical skills here. We are talking about fighting/boxing, developing the mental/spiritual aspects, gaining experience, building character and confidence, proving to yourself you can put it all together when it matters. Tough real fights are where the real development takes place, in just about every great career you can think of. Even a fighter like Mike Tyson, who was intensely drilled and groomed for success behind closed doors, physically and mentally, would have developed greatly from the James Tillis and Jose Ribalta fights, for example.

The sport is the professional fights. That is the stage upon which they are judged.

 

The key word here is "competitive"!

That's why I'm not sure, how much experience was really gained in all those ND fights, back in the day... where in many cases (of course not all) I suspect, there was some kind of unspoken agreement not to go all out in an attempt to crush your opponent. With (often) a very busy schedule, it would be in everybody's best interest to get a fight over with as painlessly as possible... so you would be relatively fresh and uninjured for your next fight (sometimes just around the corner).

 

This would be a very good question for Witherspoon.

 

Both teach you different things.

 

@Tim Witherspoon
Could you give your take on this?

 

Certainly, in a lot of cases then (and often nowadays too), you get fights where both guys are happy to put on an exhibition for the distance, especially when the two fighters are already familiar with each other and it is not a high career stakes kind of fight.

 

Definitely Tim Witherspoon is a great example of a fighter who must have learned a great deal in the gym, because he really did not have many amateur or pro fights before stepping in with the vastly experienced Larry Holmes.
As I understand it, the gyms around Philadelphia in that era were highly competitive.

 

This probably goes without saying but without the thousands of hours of skill development Tyson gained in the gym, all that character and confidence development, mental/spiritual stuff, etc. Tyson gained in those tough fights would have meant very, very little. So it seems like a stretch to say he learned more through those fights than he learned in the gym, imo.

 

I suppose it is impossible to quantify it. What you are saying is correct. But so too is the 'opposite' perspective.
The question is specifically about great (or very good) fighters and their careers. To elevate to that level, they need those fights. And surely 'techincal' gym work itself becomes increasingly based on what has been learned from those 'tests'.

The greatest fighters trained a lot, and fought a lot. I think we can all agree on that.

 

They learn a lot from the amateur fights as well, of course.. And from 'competitive' sparring. Same as any other job, it is the stuff that comes up 'on the job' when you are no longer under supervision as a trainee, that develops you into a good professional.

 

Perhaps it stands to reason that, with less frequent fights than the old timers, mods might be compelled to put in more gym work and sparring to fill the void and maintain themselves between fights.

Could there be an argument that no amount of sparring will make up for the greater experience their old time counterparts enjoyed in actual combat?

Prior to facing Hager, true or not, I’ve read inactive Leonard fought a couple of full blown fights, 12 rds, no head gear, etc. against LHs in the gym to prep himself.

Notably, Monzon didn’t focus so much on sparring as he did focus on other training methods to hone his technique, application and conditioning. Monzon had about 100 fights over a 14 year career, avg 7 fights per year. Plenty of on the job training and Monzon certainly didn’t suffer for minimising his sparring.

IF ( a BIG if) a fighter could utilise other methods to approach the same benefits of actual sparring, it would help lessen the numerous rds of sparring that make no mean contribution to the damage many are left with at the end of their careers.