First time sparring ... I was terrible

I asked at the gym if I could spar tonight. It is my third class. He seemed surprised as my cardio is the worst. Needless to say I was terrible. Nothing flowed. I got hit and was slow and tentative to punch. I felt kind of embarrassed but the worst part was being gassed and trying to attack and defend. It was grueling.

Any tips for a newbie sparring?

 

Keep on sparring. Keep relaxed.

 

Accept that you're going to stink until you don't.

Seriously, sparring is different enough from other forms of training that no amount of training in drills, shadowboxing, or equipment is going to make your sparring feel effortless and comfortable. Only experience in sparring will do that.

 

If you expected to be anything but terrible after 3 classes then you really need to change your expectations of yourself.
After 3 classes I'd still be having trouble finding where the gym is let alone actual sparring.

 

It's your first time sparring... I'm sparring with my instructor 3 months into my lessons and still getting schooled. I've barely hit him lol. You're supposed to lose for a while... otherwise you'd never learn.

Also, as Simon says (PUN INTENDED HA!!!), he can hit you, but you can't hit him is most common for me. Gauging distance is NOT as easy as people think. You have to really pay attention to footwork, using your first and middle knuckles, etc to get that little bit of extra distance in order to use just your jab for instance.

Wouldn't feel bad though... happens to all of us.

 

You sound pretty normal to me, just work on your cardio. I know from first hand experience it's pretty impossible to focus on doing anything right when you can't breathe or stand up, one 3m round can suck the life right out of most people forget about multiple back to back rounds...but believe it or not, your cardio is probably the thing you can improve the fastest! the boxing skill will take time to develop, but in between sparring you've got time for rope, jogging, and a million other things. Guarantee you spend a few weeks focusing on your cardio, and everything will improve your endurance, your focus, and how much power you can out put.

 

Chin down, guard up, focus on your footwork, and never turn away from your opponent. Also keep throwing the jab. That would sum up my basic advice to anyone new to sparring.

 

yeah... all the basics, you even see MANY pro boxers who forget much of the above. I never have understood why some of them don't do something as simple as keeping their guard up and using a jab... that's a professional?

 

You never been so tired you literally can't keep your hands up anymore and the mere thought of throwing a jab is enough to make you want to cry? Don't worry - it'll happen.

 

oh no, I've been there. We go through it just about every class. Last week I felt like I was going to puke and then pass out. I didn't do either, but my shirt was SOAKED after class and I felt like I had been in sauna doing neverending pushups. Where I train is like an old warehouse... no AC of course, It at least had a fan in there, but it was in the 90's outside and inside might have been 5 degrees cooler... MIGHT have been lol.

I was also speaking about professionals. As a professional you should be prepared for absolutely ANYTHING, there's no excuse to not be in the best condition your body can be in. I also was saying that from the first round many of these guys fight like that which is amateurish at best.

 

Really?? In your view many pro fighters fight like an amateur from the first bell? Can you post clips of what you are talking about so we can better understand what you are on about?
For example are you referring to people simply fighting professional as opposed to amateur rules in boxing, or actual decent pro fighters with proven track record?

Because if it’s the first then its amazing to me what adreline and the fear of facing an opponent who is actively trying to hurt you can do to even a very well trained fighter in his first proper full contact match (note not out point you or beat you, but actually trying to knock you out)
If it’s the second like I said post some clips so we can see what you mean by fighting like an amateur from the first bell

 

He was probably also surprised you asked as being three lessons in you dont really have the skills needed to get anything out of sparring

Boxing is grueling, dont be too hard on yourself listen to your coach and do as he says and you will get better

 

I'll bet you weren't so hot your first time swimming either.

 

Pretty muc what everybody else said, you're going to suck for a while. Stay humble and push forward!

 

Some of them are just so good they don't need to keep their hands up. A lot of southpaw fighters drop the lead hand as a tactic to draw the jab.

I don't deny there are bad professional fighters out there, but they are professional only in the sense that they are getting paid.

 

Do you even watch boxing? Look at how many pro fighters fight like amateurs. Look at Sergio Martinez for instance. I like Sergio, but he fought a strong, very experienced solid guy with solid fundamentals in Cotto and he got stopped. Why? Part of the reason being that he's always fought with his hands low. Look at guys who just suck, look at Brandon Rios... he's good at blocking punches with his face, look at Carl Froch... only having a decent chin has kept him from getting KO'd. He throws his jab from the hip, he also leaves his hands low. Look even at Roy Jones Jr. Great fighter in his prime, but once his reflexes slipped just a little bit... he was OUT, and is now killing his legacy by continuing to fight and not looking good. I loved Hatton, but Ricky left his hands to low, he used some head movement, but relied on his chin to much to keep him out of trouble.

It's like a lot of these guys never even had a trainer stay on them about the absolute basics of boxing. You hit and not get hit... that's the game. Slugfests are fun to watch, IF you like to see guys who are going to wind up with brain damage later.

 

I understand there is a difference between tactics and fundamentals... but is getting a KO loss worth dropping your hands to try to bait someone into making a mistake? IMO you fight like you are supposed to... protect yourself at ALL times.

 

simple and to the point! That's that.

 

Of course you fully understand how a pro fighter feels in the ring, because you have trained privates for 6 odd months now.