sparring

How to Choose the Right Pair of Boxing Gloves

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Even if you are only boxing for fitness, you will need a decent pair of boxing gloves. But before you buy the first pair you find in the local sporting goods store, here are a few things you should consider. Communal gym gloves reek. And they’re worn out. There are plenty of people who use [...]

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What to Expect the First Time You Spar in Boxing

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Whether you started boxing for fitness or because you want to compete, one of the most scary and exciting things you’ll ever do is step into the ring for your very first sparring session. Depending on how long you’ve been training, who you’re stepping into the ring with, and how trustworthy your trainer is, your [...]

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Fighting the Dread of Boxing Training

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Having just moved to a new boxing gym, I’m once again reminded of how hard it is to make inroads into a new gym, a new team. I don’t mean overcoming the reluctance to train, but rather the simple and profound fear of boxing itself, and all the insanely hard work it takes to stand [...]

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Taking a Knockout Punch

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I haven’t been knocked out yet, but I’ve been rocked hard plenty of times in the boxing ring. The only reason they haven’t been knockouts is because when you get hit hard enough to stumble dizzily around or hang off the ropes with a head full of stars, a sparring session will pause until you [...]

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Back in the Ring to Take Another Swing

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In an attempt to lever myself out of my post-fight funk I’ve been listening to lots of hair metal, so that’s the post title and you can laugh all you want. But while hair metal might address the out-of-the-ring blues, it can’t cure it. There’s only one cure, and that’s to get back in. I [...]

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Training in Atlanta

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Training for this fight has been rocky, and not the Sly Stallone kind, either. So last week I called the promoter, two-time Strawweight World Champion Terri “The Boss” Moss, for a serious tête-à-tête. I related the details of my bumpy progress, she invited me to drop everything and come down to Atlanta for a week [...]

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Do You Get Beat Up In Boxing?

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Once in a while someone asks me if I get “beat up” in boxing. It’s a weird thing, this fierce sport. And I completely understand why people associate it with phrases like “getting beat up,” “taking a beating,” and so on. But after studying and practicing boxing for several years now, I have a different [...]

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New Lessons in Boxing

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I’m making my way back from the Christmas holiday slouch — a much-needed break — and I’m doing okay. And the first challenge of the new year was sparring with a group of young men from the UNC boxing team (yep, they have a boxing team! No women, though.), who joined us recently at the [...]

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8 Rounds Boxing and a Personal Best

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Bonnie’s ramping up for her title fight on December 10th, and as her sparring partner, I’m getting schooled (again). To be in the ring with someone so much better than me is an incredible thrill and it stretches me, grows me, teaches me, and absolutely makes me work my ass off. About 8 weeks before [...]

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New Lessons in Sparring: Controlling the Ring

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I like to box from the center of the ring. I was never that boxer who floats endlessly around the ring, dashing here and there and making the entire fight more of a dance than a boxing round. It’s a thousand times easier to stand in the center and pivot to face those opponents who [...]

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