Dumb-Assed Sparring Partner

[Joe Frazier]

Apparently I never guard the appropriate side of my face for long enough and fail to read what punches are coming to me often enough for me to dedicate my guard to that punch...or the anticipation of it.

I have every respect for the rotation of trainers I work with but I know the guy I usually work with wouldn't have pulled this on me.

He placed me in a ring for 4 rounds with a guy double the size of me and told me to guard light jabbing to my head - I was cool with this as I was lucky to be working with one of the more experienced lads...but this guy went all out for a knockout after 2 rounds of sparring with him. He caught me heavy on my right and I staggered - then he went all out on me.

I don't want to sound like I can't take heat - but when I was told I was be receiving light jabs after a workout then that's what I expect to be getting. The trainer wasn't impressed either but in my opinion he should have known better in the first place.

I jerked my hip when I was awkwardly trying to avoid his heavier punches when he went at me and it twinged while I was running the next day - So now I'm really angry at this guy because it's putting me on hold.

Any thoughts?

[zeitgeist]

Did you have any headgear on? What are the sizes of your and his gloves? If he wants to go all out make him wear 18oz or 20oz gloves. And tell him you get to wear 10 or 12oz gloves. And that he gets to wear no headgear.

[Joe Frazier]

I was wearing headgear and he wasn't. As far as I know we were both wearing 14oz gloves - I know I was but I don't know what he was wearing.

My point was that I expected him to do what the trainer said - work around my head and force me to jab until the end of the session, then him and my trainer would give me feedback and something to work on.

Instead I get slammed by some Foreman s***.

[zeitgeist]

Did you talk to the trainer about this? If he's twice your size he should have been wearing bigger gloves. IMO the trainer should've ticked him off once he knew something was off at the beginning of the 2nd round. How heavy is he? How heavy are you?

[RightCross94]

Man it's boxing, getting a rough time in sparring is part of the sport. Even top fighters have days in sparring where they get outhustled or knocked around. Train hard, fight easy.

[BG_Knocc_Out]

**** like this happens to me all the time because I train at a lame ass MMA-Boxing hybrid gym, where the MMA fighters out number the boxers. MMA dudes don't even know how to spar, they think it's going all out and trying to win a ****ing sparring match. It's more about practicing your technique full-on. I'm sick of my gym, I rarely go in. It's a shame I'm not able to reach a farther gym, because I feel I have potential, but this potential will be thrown away.

[Joe Frazier]

I maintain my weight at 150-155lbs - I can honestly say this guy must have been around 180lbs+ and with a far greater reach than me.

Don't get me wrong my trainer was none too happy with what he did - but he didn't go as far as to admit to me that he made a crummy decision which ended up with me getting hurt when I wasn't ready.

The guy I was sparring with claimed I was in the wrong sport if I was going to freak out over some heat being turned on to me in sparring. It's not my problem if this guy can't follow basic commands.

[RightCross94]

I maintain my weight at 150-155lbs - I can honestly say this guy must have been around 180lbs+ and with a far greater reach than me.

Don't get me wrong my trainer was none too happy with what he did - but he didn't go as far as to admit to me that he made a crummy decision which ended up with me getting hurt when I wasn't ready.

The guy I was sparring with claimed I was in the wrong sport if I was going to freak out over some heat being turned on to me in sparring. It's not my problem if this guy can't follow basic commands.

Well no offence dude but he's right. Fair enough if he was told to work with you he should have. But you shouldnt make such a big deal out of it. Man on my 2nd day of being in a new gym i sparred the coaches son who is a very good fighter and weighed like 75kg (165lbs) to my 44kg (100 or so lbs). He didn't go hard obviously but he still hit me a ****load and i was battered as hell afterwards. But i came back and kept training and that's what you gotta do. And that's nothign to what my friend has been through. He's 66kg so when he spars the coaches son the coaches son used to put a nasty whooping on him. Not malicious but pretty hard. And he sparred other dudes older than him who he used to go toe to toe with. And guess what, it helps you, makes you tough as hell and when my friend had his first fight recently he looked like he had already had 7 or 8. And as soon as i started with that new gym and did tough sparring with bigger older dudes i won 3 fights in a row in like 3 months, went from being **** to being decent.

So i know im ranting but this **** helps you man. I mean as long as you ain't so battered you have bad headaches or broken nose etc you will be fine.

[Joe Frazier]

Well no offence dude but he's right. Fair enough if he was told to work with you he should have. But you shouldnt make such a big deal out of it. Man on my 2nd day of being in a new gym i sparred the coaches son who is a very good fighter and weighed like 75kg (165lbs) to my 44kg (100 or so lbs). He didn't go hard obviously but he still hit me a ****load and i was battered as hell afterwards. But i came back and kept training and that's what you gotta do. And that's nothign to what my friend has been through. He's 66kg so when he spars the coaches son the coaches son used to put a nasty whooping on him. Not malicious but pretty hard. And he sparred other dudes older than him who he used to go toe to toe with. And guess what, it helps you, makes you tough as hell and when my friend had his first fight recently he looked like he had already had 7 or 8. And as soon as i started with that new gym and did tough sparring with bigger older dudes i won 3 fights in a row in like 3 months, went from being **** to being decent.

So i know im ranting but this **** helps you man. I mean as long as you ain't so battered you have bad headaches or broken nose etc you will be fine.

I know in the long run it builds up toughness.

All I'm saying is he was told to light spar and work on my guard - he did it fine until something snapped and he went at me like I had just slapped his mother.

When I'm paying through the teeth to be trained to a standard set by the trainers - in all honestly I expect it to happen...not for some hothead to injure me and hamper my progress. If I had been ready for him to come at me hard I would have been able to evade him better and lay some on him. I was focusing on his hands and the pattern of his jabs - and he was supposed to be limited to throwing jabs. Then he starts throwing hooks and hitting me with hard body shots.

If I was doing some regular sparring with him then fine. Not when I'm supposed to be doing a specific task and so is he and he decided to ruin it for both of us.

[lanzarote]

I would have clearly stated & requested the ground rules before starting.

Then if the dumb ass had gone all out to knock the crap outa me when i was expecting a light jab practicing session i would have called a quick time out to question wtf he was doing.

Then draw a quick line under it and move on making a mental note that next time i am in the ring with the sparing idiot to always expect the unexpected.

The End.