The level of your sparring partners?

[Gato2012]

I spar with some kid Raul Maldonado, hes my head sparring partner. His record is lke 25-15 give or take a few wins or losses. Hes a jr.olympic champ, 3 time silver mittons champ, and finished second in golden gloves last year. Hes 19 years old and fights at 125. Im 18 and fight 132. We match up well and really make each other work. By the way, 25-15 aint a bad amateur record at all.

There is also some kid Manuel at my gym who is 8-0 and fights at 141. Hes a brawler and lets his punches off real good. We dont spar ofter because we get too serious so the trainers dont like us sparring lol. Hes a good fighter, but hes easy to hit i dont see how hes 8-0 to be honest.

Then sometimes i spar with other random people, none of whom are anything special. My trainer is Ray Oliveira, former pro who beat Vince Phillips and Vivian Harris, we spar sometimes. Ive also sparred numerous rounds with two undefeated pros. both 2-0 right now. Jose Colon and Jose Peralta. Colon fought on ESPN a while ago. Ive done lots of sparring with them, not since they turned pro thought. Peralta has been training in Georgia. I have sparred pros Eddie Bishop and Paul Delgado as well.

[msagrain]

I try to spar people alot better than me because thas how get better.

[sukhenkoy]

I spar with some kid Raul Maldonado, hes my head sparring partner. His record is lke 25-15 give or take a few wins or losses. Hes a jr.olympic champ, 3 time silver mittons champ, and finished second in golden gloves last year. Hes 19 years old and fights at 125. Im 18 and fight 132. We match up well and really make each other work. By the way, 25-15 aint a bad amateur record at all.

There is also some kid Manuel at my gym who is 8-0 and fights at 141. Hes a brawler and lets his punches off real good. We dont spar ofter because we get too serious so the trainers dont like us sparring lol. Hes a good fighter, but hes easy to hit i dont see how hes 8-0 to be honest.

Then sometimes i spar with other random people, none of whom are anything special. My trainer is Ray Oliveira, former pro who beat Vince Phillips and Vivian Harris, we spar sometimes. Ive also sparred numerous rounds with two undefeated pros. both 2-0 right now. Jose Colon and Jose Peralta. Colon fought on ESPN a while ago. Ive done lots of sparring with them, not since they turned pro thought. Peralta has been training in Georgia. I have sparred pros Eddie Bishop and Paul Delgado as well.

Maybe he won his fights by knockout.

[!! Shawn]

i honestly think the level of sparring partners makes all the diffrence,

you see people post vids on here that make you think looks so slow and and no effort at all and they tap each other and then they tell you that the guy thier sparring is world amature champion this or whatever....its rubbish

gyms that spar good and hard are always the best and always devolep the best fighters, ive seen you spar before and it looks intense and godd sparring which is what you want,
some gym dont prepare thier fighters for what is to come.

slightly off topic but anyway...

From my experience it is very rare to see experienced amateurs wailing on each other in sparing. You see, once you have gotten over being green, and trying to knock your sparing partners heads off, you will realize what sparring is all about.

It is about learning angles, working on combination, counter-punching, defense... it is not about beating the **** out of each other. Save that for the fight. Especially when you have high level amateur fighters that fight once every two weeks or so, the sparring is light, and hight paced. You won't see power, you will see speed, and touching.

Going hard and risking a broken nose, or a rib injury, or a head injury or a hand injury, or a black eye is not worth it.

As the saying goes, train smart, fight hard.

With that said, my sparring partner, Is in the hospital after passing out a few days after the national golden gloves. I haven't talked to him yet, but rumor has it that he has swelling of the brain. Possibly bleeding. His career might be over.

Let that serve as a reminder to all of you, even the best fighters can suffer potentially life threatening brain injuries in boxing. Spar smart, not hard.

[Gato2012]

From my experience it is very rare to see experienced amateurs wailing on each other in sparing. You see, once you have gotten over being green, and trying to knock your sparing partners heads off, you will realize what sparring is all about.

It is about learning angles, working on combination, counter-punching, defense... it is not about beating the **** out of each other. Save that for the fight. Especially when you have high level amateur fighters that fight once every two weeks or so, the sparring is light, and hight paced. You won't see power, you will see speed, and touching.

Going hard and risking a broken nose, or a rib injury, or a head injury or a hand injury, or a black eye is not worth it.

As the saying goes, train smart, fight hard.

With that said, my sparring partner, Is in the hospital after passing out a few days after the national golden gloves. I haven't talked to him yet, but rumor has it that he has swelling of the brain. Possibly bleeding. His career might be over.

Let that serve as a reminder to all of you, even the best fighters can suffer potentially life threatening brain injuries in boxing. Spar smart, not hard.

You know what we go by in my gym? You hold back in the gym then you will hold back in the ring. We spar real hard at my gym. Ray Oliveira is no joke, he makes us. I think that saying is true though i really do. You spar soft,then you get in the ring and your like what the ***? All the things you worked on taking it easy you cant do against your intense opponent trying his best.

[!! Shawn]

You know what we go by in my gym? You hold back in the gym then you will hold back in the ring. We spar real hard at my gym. Ray Oliveira is no joke, he makes us. I think that saying is true though i really do. You spar soft,then you get in the ring and your like what the ***? All the things you worked on taking it easy you cant do against your intense opponent trying his best.

I feel that is irresponsible. I do not feel it to be true at all. I do not have any trouble going hard in a real fight. I have always had a problem with gym wars. Most of the brain damage you accumulate over the course of a boxing career comes from sparring.

Also, sparring light has the added benefit of teaching you to relax in the ring. Obviously, you are still going to get hit, but there is no sense in trying to take each others heads off.

[Dye]

I've sparred a few pros, A few good Amatuers.

[Domey]

I've sparred with a former 3 time world champion, and trained with him for years. He no longer fights.

I've also sparred many national champions and nationally ranked champions, along with actual fights against them as well. Few are pro now.

Good sparring makes a big difference, but now days I just end up sparring with the green guys and getting them some work, while working on my stamina and defense. Not much around up here anymore.

I still spar with a pro who is 180-190, but he really doesnt fight anymore. Me being 130 and him so heavy it allows me to really work and throw some good solid punches without having to worry to much about hurting him. However I have done it before =)


La Maravilla -- Jose Colon? Is that Nester Colon? I forget his nick name, but if thats who you are talking about I've sparred with him before. Ray Olivera sounds real familar, pretty sure I know him, and I'm sure I've foughten some of his guys. I fight now at 130 but years ago I use to fight at 112, 115, and 119.

[Pork Chop]

I feel that is irresponsible. I do not feel it to be true at all. I do not have any trouble going hard in a real fight. I have always had a problem with gym wars. Most of the brain damage you accumulate over the course of a boxing career comes from sparring.

Also, sparring light has the added benefit of teaching you to relax in the ring. Obviously, you are still going to get hit, but there is no sense in trying to take each others heads off.

Just wanted to add I agree with you.
When I was living in fort worth, I had a buddy/training partner who was a heavy like me, but he was really getting pushed by one of the trainers there.
Every sparring session was like a smoker.
I stopped working with the guy coz he'd "accidentally" drop elbows whenever I slipped a punch; though for the most part I held my own.

The guy fought a couple amateur fights - scored a KO or two right off the bat.
Before his 3rd amateur fight he was already starting to stutter & his memory had gone to total cr@p.
He went pro and I think has fought a few times.
I really hope he's scaled it back some if he ever wants to have longevity in the sport.

We've got a similar situation in Muay Thai, which is what I spend most my time on these days. If you spar all out with kicks & knees; you're going to get so ****** up it'll cut into your training time. At the best camps in Thailand the guys spar light. When they go fight, they're relaxed, composed, and fight with beautiful technique. When "farlang" (americans & other westerners) fight; it's typically a brawl. The thais also fight every 2 to 4 weeks, so hard sparring makes very little sense.

The US is considered bottom of the barrel in muay thai but you see tons of ****ing it out in a lot of the gyms (especially those not run by thais) and in actual fights, even guys with 10+ fights still look straight up brawling - some never learn to settle down & pick their shots.

I've always accepted that boxers can afford to go a little harder than muay thai folks - mostly because while the brain trauma is greater, you've got a lower incidence of broken bones from not having kicks landing or being blocked.

I do think it's true that you've only got one brain & should take care of it well. Someone posted a report on another site on the relation between concussions & pugilistic dementia and it was scary. Even a few concussions can hurt you long term.
Look at Kronk gym, a place legendary for how hard the sparring is, and how many of their guys are mush-mouths by the end of their career (I have a really hard time understanding Hearns these days).

I personally get tired of gym wars. A lot of times, especially with smaller guys who feel they have to "go harder so (I) feel it"; it's pretty much a no-brainer that turning up the heat means I can hurt them. Other factors in the gym include stuff like one guy wearing 12s while the other guy's being nice & wearing 16s. I'm just kinda burnt out on the thing. I'd rather save it for the competition where it actually counts.

When I do get the rare pleasure of getting to work with heavyweights & cruisers, it actually works out a lot better. We tend to be more respectful and be of comparable speed so it's rare that i get in a situation where I really need to turn up the intensity.

I was watching Jesse Reid's training video the other day. That guy's coached a lot of champs in amateur and professionals. He agrees with lighter sparring & working proper technique as well. His guys were definitely not going blood and guts in the vid.

I think if you can improve your padwork to include more dynamic & interactive situations instead of just holding the same combos over & over, you can also take up some of the slack of reduced sparring intensity.

just my $.02

[Gato2012]

I've sparred with a former 3 time world champion, and trained with him for years. He no longer fights.

I've also sparred many national champions and nationally ranked champions, along with actual fights against them as well. Few are pro now.

Good sparring makes a big difference, but now days I just end up sparring with the green guys and getting them some work, while working on my stamina and defense. Not much around up here anymore.

I still spar with a pro who is 180-190, but he really doesnt fight anymore. Me being 130 and him so heavy it allows me to really work and throw some good solid punches without having to worry to much about hurting him. However I have done it before =)


La Maravilla -- Jose Colon? Is that Nester Colon? I forget his nick name, but if thats who you are talking about I've sparred with him before. Ray Olivera sounds real familar, pretty sure I know him, and I'm sure I've foughten some of his guys. I fight now at 130 but years ago I use to fight at 112, 115, and 119.

nah it is just Jose, he doesnt have a nickname. Ray Oliveira was a pro. He fought Vernon Forrest, Ricky Hatton, Vince Phillips, Ben Tackie, Vivian Harris, Emmanuel Augustus. He beat Harris and Phillips and gave Tackie hell and lost a close fight. He just started training last summer.