Countering

[JUHL]

move your head, dont announce your punches, throw feints.....

[matty_mop]

use speed instead of power to make your hands come back quicker and if not just trade, get them into a corner and force them to work and get tired instead of letting them counter.

[britnostalgic]

Also... You've just got to be more deviant... I like to drop the left arm a little, to expose the chin... they normally get suckered into throwing the right hand, I move my body from the hips sharply to the right and down slightly, their punch should connect, but bounce of your your shoulder... as soon as you feel their glove, you know they are slightly off balance and moving forward... this'll give you the momentum to spin from the hip delivering a deadly right hand to the lower body. I've got this wrong a few times, and it hurts if you do. When you get this right, you'll see the guy either drop like a sack of spuds or see first hand his energy levels completley drain.

Practice the moves you pick up and use sparring as a way to perfect them, forget trying to knock each others head off... learn control, practice makes perfect. Also learn to jab and move, jab and move as well using the double jab. Jab head body, body head. I always hook low to the body the first couple of rounds, but I work everything off the jab.

Also if you're agressive, when his punches come raining in, you can hold your gloves up, and parry his shots with slight left and right movements... then catch him on the way out. Never let him throw punches and walk back out without not throwing a few of your own, just throw anything as he tries to escape.

You've gotta keep moving that head also, in fact this is probably too much for you to take in all at once...

I'm no expert, and am yet to compete in the ring, but these are just basics that work for me when sparring.