By Robert Jackson: “High quality sparring is the best method to train in boxing”, “Sparring is ‘practice fighting’ with the aim of training skills and fitness, not to determine a winner”. Wikipedia couldn’t have been closer to the truth with these definitions. But…in some real world boxing gyms these truths may resonate false. Many trainers, in-fact the top trainers leave out the ‘practice’ part and emphasize that sparring should be as close to the real thing as possible to prepare a fighter for the stresses and pressure to be expected on fight nite.
Of all of the ‘martial arts’ boxing training is geared to real ‘fighting’ moreso than any of the other ‘arts’.. Sparring is that ‘10% physical’ that fight experts talk about and is used to build and develop the ‘90% mental’ part. In my gym on the southside of Chicago in the 70’s, now long gone, prospective fighters learned how to fight by sparring, yeah we jumped rope and hit the bags but respect only came after a few rounds in the ring. After those sessions everyone was classified – fighter or non-fighter. But sparring classifications go deeper, fighters were divided into ‘real fighters’ and ‘gym fighters’, non-fighters separated into ‘punching bags’, ‘toughs’ and those whose mama’s wouldn’t allow them to spar ever again for fear of them getting hurt. Even in this last category a gem can be found, some of the best fighters have evolved from a sparring class where they defied their mama’s orders and sparred anyway, and with a chip on their shoulder.
The ‘gym fighters’ were in a ‘class’ of their own in the gym and not unlike a country club Golf pro or Tennis pro had the fundamentals of the sport down to a science and to watch them spar one would think that they should be world champion, and in their minds they were; the boxing gym world champion. The 10,000 lb gorilla of the gym was usually a ‘gym fighter’ and like his golf and tennis counterparts saw no need to compete in other than gym sparring bouts. So comfortable was the ‘gym fighter’ with his role and status in his own gym that when coaches took their fighters to other gyms to spar the ‘gym fighter’ would not attend those arranged sessions. The gym fighters were used by the coaches as sparring partners for those fighters deemed to be real fighters – fighters whose mental make-up, ability and desire put them on a track for boxing success inside and outside of the gym.
The pecking order for the non-fighters had a specific hierarchy also, the punching bags were used to give confidence to those ‘fighters’ who were on the lower rungs of the ladder. Fighters with lesser qualifications were first sparred against punching bags and as they developed thrown in against gym ‘toughs’ – tough, durable guys with limited skill, without fear and very scary. While the ‘punching bags’ of the gym only provided punching targets for ‘fighters’ the gym ‘toughs’ were unpredictable and could hurt you but the odds were against it. In some cases the ‘punching bags’ after absorbing a lot of punishment over various sparring sessions, “got it”, evolving into formidable fighters themselves but in most cases they just quit and moved on only to be replaced by newbies to the sport dreaming of becoming fighters. As fighters traversed the hierarchy they would be expected to spar with better more competitive sparring partners until they were good enough to compete with the 10,000 lb gorilla of the gym.
To say the least our gym had many gym wars and rivalries which where encouraged by coaches and fighters which made for exciting sparring sessions. When you hear about ‘gym wars’ in Philadelphia boxing gyms this is what was happening on the southside of Chicago and gyms everywhere else for that matter. ESB writer Shaun Murphy forgot a 4th misconception, that being “sparring is of minor significance and has little to do with fight nite”! How well or poorly you do in sparring will definitely impact how you do on fight night!
Recent revelations regarding sparring partners for Ricky Hatton while preparing for Manny Pacquiao had him sparring against 154lb Cuban southpaw prospect Erislandy Lara, not a bad choice in this writer’s opinion. A better choice could’ve been Edwin Valero who’s style, size and body type is more similar to Pacquiao’s. Also revealed by Freddie Roach was the fact that sparring partners that Hatton struggled with were EASILY overcome and hurt by Manny Pacquiao, add Lara as a sparring partner that Hatton struggled with and could never get the better of. Sparring partners for professional bouts will be chosen and brought in for their similarities to that of the fight nite opponents. Amateurs will usually round-robin spar with each other in the gym so they can have well-rounded abilities needed to fight opponents of any style, because unless they’re pre-matched an amateur doesn’t know who he/she will fight at a tournament.
Heavyweight contender James Toney is known for basing his entire training for fights SOLELY on sparring and omitting, groundwork, roadwork and bagwork. Heavyweight prospect Chris Arreola a former Toney sparring partner has mimicked Toney’s training regiment and only recently hired a conditioning coach to work on the other facets of boxing training, because his weight has ballooned and his conditioning is not elite. Former Heavyweight Champion Evander Holyfield a small heavyweight by today’s standards disliked sparring and roadwork, substituting scientific methods and weightlifting with body builder Lee Haney into his training routines. Other fighters have been known to ‘leave their fight in the gym’ only to be flat and ineffective on fight night because of over-sparring and over-training.
Send questions and comments to jackrc58@yahoo.com.