How I Overcome Sparring Anxiousness

Today, I am going to talk about sparring anxiousness. Almost 3 years of boxing. I remember my first few sparring sessions, I was so intense. I don’t know what to focus on. I wish I had few ways to focus on when I was feeling anxious. This leads to overthinking and even though I know what to do, I end up not being able to execute even though I been training a lot.

The way to pinpoint anxiousness might often be like this :

Oh my god I don’t think I can survive one round

Shit! I get caught in the exchange

I can’t breathe.

I was thinking if I continue doing it this way, I will not get better. So I started to find ways to focus on specific things every round or sparring session.
These way I do it without feeling overwhelm before each sparring. You may not be able to improve a lot by one sparring session but everything is incremental. Pick one and focus on it for that sparring session. Let your sparring buddy know before your timer ring.

DISTANCE

I am getting better at this. Boxing is an inch game. I realise if I waste so much energy if I move so much with no intention. Only 3 range , long range, mid range, short range. One way to measure distance is using your jab.
I improve so much by focusing on this. Sometimes I use tiny steps or snap one jab.

He who control the distance control the fight.

COUNTERING

I called get touch and go. As soon as you get hit or defending, punch right back. This is hard to do, it needs to be practice which is why I always focus on few things to get better instead of thinking about a lot of things. I realise if I brace too much for impact I will countering 1 second later. Your reflex needs to be right on when you get hit. I like this Pro fighter, Gervonta counter especially as a shorter fighter.

One Round, One “TASK”

It depends on what your weakness are. How to know what you are not good at? Ask your coach or if not think about the common thing your coaches keeps telling you to do. Work on those. I wrote a blog on this topic, which feedback should matter.

You can do this way :

Round 1 > Defend the jab only

Round 2 > Footwork only

Round 3 > 1 Rear hand punch only

BREATHING

This is not being talked alot. No one talks about this, breathing technique. People don’t understand that breathing is what will help you with staying relax during sparring. Start learning how to breathe especially when the punches are coming at you. It will feel uncomfortable at first then you will get better after that.

POSITIONING

I did not know about positioning until my coach show me what it is. Make sure to align your lead leg with your opponent lead leg, so you don’t worry so much about both hands coming at you. (if this makes sense)

Overthinking has cause me to lose fights and not productive during sparring. Now with clear intention I know what to do before each sparring session. It helps to clear out brain fog, not knowing what to do. I hope these above helps you overcome anxiousness! Practice the right thing so sparring session is not another training session. Thank you for taking your time to read this blog!