Sparring is different to a real fight because....

1. You can stop whenever you get buzzed
2. You don't try and hurt your opponent
3. Your opponent is not trying to hurt you
4. You don't have the same pressure, you are fighting someone you know.
5. The unknown, anything can happen in the ring. Sparring is controlled.

 

I do it just in case the thread starter edits his entry.

 

It depends on the purpose of the session. But in general the sparring partners are being paid to help a fighter train, not to beat him up - unlike the actual fight. A couple of differences this can make:

1, The sparring partner may be under specific instructions to try certain things in order to test areas that the fighter has been working on or to emulate the opponents style rather than do whatever he can to win

2, Staminina training/testing by sparring for high rounds: the point is to get the sparring time in rather than win

 

i kinda dont agree with 2 and 3.
i have heard so many fighters boasting about how they licked a certain fighter in sparring. for example herbie hide once said that 'i bet virgil hill is still feeling his bumps and bruises after the beating i gave him in sparring" something along those lines. when i heard what he said i started to wonder what sort of mentality is one supposed to go into sparring.
i watched a video of jirov gettin rocked in sparring. thats where you're number 1 came into play. it didnt look intense but the shots were still powerful.

personally i dont expect nobody to take it easy on me in sparring, if i do then i'll get a rude awakening once i get in and spar. i personally like perfecting my timing, precision and distancing mainly. more importantly defense, and throwing a solid jab with combos.

if sparring is supposed to be so easy then why do boxers usually quit within a few days of sparring against champions? i think vitali recently made some sparring partner quit. tyson in his heyday was regularly putting ppl to sleep in the gym, it became a problem becos there wasnt any sparring for him.

imo one should do everything i said above (work on form) and every now and then throw power shot cos this will be good for you're sparring partner, however the power isnt what one must concentrate on usually.

i also remema hearing marc foster telling an interviewer how he knocked out sonny liston in sparring. marc foster has a record of 30 wins 30 by knockout 6 losses (1 by ko). he fought some good fighters like ali. he mentions that he had sonny on the ropes and he hit him with a clean right hand which badly hurt sonny. he said he backed off, however all his corner men started shouting at him to go and finish the job. and he did, he put sonny to sleep. i dont know what was happening previous to sonny being sparked, maybe he was bullying marc until he got caught?

point is that why did his corner men shout at him to finish him off? i thought its just sparring.
thats why im really curious about all this sparring business. i never go in thinking its gonna be technical unless i really know the person.


i hope i helped :good

it shouldnt be intense but there isnt anything wrong with it being intense once in a while.

 

Sparring is for teaching , learning and realising , working on small flaws or errors......

Fighting is for surviving, hurting and exploiting.. No room for errors..

God bless....

 

You hit the nail on the head, B. I've watched the great ones in the gym look like palookas against nobodies, tryin' to perfect moves and correct mistakes.

Casual observers were appalled.

The real fighters couldn't 've cared less how inept they looked. It was all about being better when it counted; unlike the gym fighters who looked like world-beaters, but never progressed beyond that.

 

sparring is for learning, getting used to different types of assault and defence...sometimes used to simulate an actual fight. Real bouts are unpredictable, but is really the product of training under a controlled environment.

 

May i be right that some fighters have such a big ego they cant allow themselves to look bad in sparring and so they dont get better?

 

Absolutely, t

 

Great post.

 

good thread this..

 

Thank you. As someone who has sparred professionals boxers before, there is a big difference.

One guy I sparred with was fighting a brawler and I was asked to imitate a brawler of sorts. Mine you this is not my natural style but the key was to try to simulate things similar to his opponent.

In other sports (like american football and basketball) they have a 3rd string which is usually referred to as the "SCOUT TEAM" that does the same thing. This is not always the case, sometimes it could be, "you work on offense, he works on defense". Before you know it, you catch him good a few times and now his ego is hurt and tensions "can" escalate if he takes it that way.

Sometimes you go in there and while you don't slug it out, you definitely go in there with a more intense (FIGHT like) nature.

Asking this question is akin to asking "how is practice different than playing the game" in other sports.