Getting over punch shyness?

[rmz]

So I've been boxing for about a year now, but haven't sparred that much. However when I get in the ring I still find myself being fairly gun shy. Any tips on how to get over it?

[Equilibrium]

I don't have any tips but just tell yourself "Lets roll".

[KostyaTszyu44]

So I've been boxing for about a year now, but haven't sparred that much. However when I get in the ring I still find myself being fairly gun shy. Any tips on how to get over it?

some useful things are:

doing drills such as defensive drills (or whatever sparring drills you do at your gym) in ring with you just defending and your opponent throwing punches at a controlled pace and power, which you can just defend, and then swap over with you attacking and them defending

sparring at a controlled pace with you and your opponent pulling back the power

and as you feel more comfortable, you can increase the intensity of these drills and sparring sessions until you are less gunshy and more comfortable with the notion of getting hit and hitting other people


but the most important thing to remember is: in boxing, getting punched is part of the sport, even if you have defence as good as floyd or sweet pea, you will eventually take the odd hard shot, so you have to say to yourself "getting hit hard isnt a big deal, its part of the sport. all boxers get hit. im not scared" that helps a lot

but yeah controlled drills and sparring will help you heaps

[rmz]

Thanks for the tip, I actually like the ideas you suggested. I usually run defensive drills with my coach on the mitts, but I think if I was to sparr with someone and just have them throw controlled punches at me while I practice blocking and slipping them, that would probably help a lot.

[peewee1460]

spar as often as you can. you'll either overcome your shyness or quit.

[Paardekopski]

yeah, when I started out, I hated being punched straight on the nose, even moreso than hooks. The first uppercut made me sit down, and I had a headache when I got home. But after a while you start to realise you're not made of glass, you can take it. I made it my goal to try to hit my sparring partner once clean, even if it was only once. I get hit 40 times, they get hit once. It didn't matter, I was proud if I accomplished that. After a while try to hit 2 clean shots in a round, and so on..Still, if I spar my coach I'm lucky to hit him a couple of times (and I suspect he opens up deliberately, haha), but with the other guys it's a good spar. Also you probably will get the occasional nosebleed and black eye, but at the same time you'll notice it hardly hurts if you're enjoying the sparring session. The worst was getting hit in the solar plexus, and maybe the ruptured eardrum from a hook (which didn't hurt btw, just deaf for two weeks on one ear). Long story short, don't be afraid to get hit, cause you will, but you won't be knocked out, and it won't hurt really.
Also, in my gym, if you really don't want to get hit hard, you can say so to the other guy, and you'll both be sparring just on technique, no power...

[Mikeski]

Every time I get hit, I just try to hit the guy harder, also be aware if your gonna be hitting him harder and you get hit hard and you get angry after and start throwing punches back wildly remember its gonna be a bad idea, just remember its all about control.

[Mafcherano]

Stay away from punches and when you do get them, don;t be such a ***** and hit em back! When people fight me they have to aware of the wounded tiger. That's why most of them just take an ass whooping!