5 Essential Tips For Boxing Beginners

If you’ve just been getting your initial experiences in the boxing ring, you might be wondering how you can take things to the next level. 

Boxing is a sport of practice. Using our expertise, we’ve put together a top five list of tips for beginners; tips we believe will help you put your best foot forward during your first bouts in the ring. 

Stay Relaxed 

The thought of being in a boxing ring while an opponent squares you up can be quite a stressful one. As well as your opponent likely seeking to take advantage of your fear, nervousness also does little to help your performance. 

Loosen up and throw relaxed punches. The more relaxed you are, the more you’ll be able to control the speed and power of your punch. Keep your fists loose until the moment you strike your opponent, helping you to deliver more precise strikes. It’s also helpful to loosen up your shoulders, as this will allow you to be more agile as you glide around the ring. 

Ultimately, try not to waste your energy on tension, preserve it for taking on your opponent.

Control Your Breathing 

When your opponent is charging towards you, it can cause your breathing to become heavy and rapid. If you keep this up, you’ll quickly find yourself out of breath, and not long after that, out of energy. 

Get used to managing your breathing while training with a bag. Before every combination, make sure you take a breath, and then breathe out when throwing a punch. Following this breathing pattern will help you stay in control, delivering maximum oxygen when it’s needed most. Translating this pattern to bouts in the ring will also help you stay focused, as it becomes second nature. 

Practise Combinations 

Combinations are crucial to giving you the edge over your opponent. Combine multiple types of punch into a sequence rather than throwing one punch at a time. Maintaining your attack once you’ve started will keep your opponent from easily retaliating. 

Implementing combinations will also tire out your opponent, knocking them back enough to give you more opportunities to swoop in again. 

Develop your combinations during bag training and while practising with a sparring partner. Find combinations that suit you best, and be ready to deploy them when they’re needed most. 

Don’t Become Footloose 

Boxing isn’t all about the fists. Where you place your feet, and how you stand on them, is pretty important too. 

Your focus should always be on agility. Ensure you centre your weight on the balls of your feet, and not on your front foot. This will help you to move more quickly, evading punches, while also helping you to swoop in and strike when the time is right. 

Practise your positioning too, using different angles depending upon the situation. Rather than stepping backwards to dodge a punch, try sliding your feet to turn your body at an angle perfect for avoiding the strike, while also placing you in the perfect position for hitting back. 

Be Yourself In The Ring 

Boxing is a display of strength and athletic prowess. This can often make it easy to get caught up on how you look in the ring, rather than how you’re performing. Just as is the case for an actor on a stage, you’ll perform better if you let go of your inhibitions. 

If you spend your fight worrying about how you look, you’ll increase your tension, and you’ll be second guessing every punch, not for how much it’ll push back your opponent, but for how it makes you appear. Bring your focus back to your breathing and your combinations, and you’ll be back in pole position. 

It’s Time To Up Your Game