have to much fear of punches. what to do?

[rmz]

Not to be rude or anything, but if you have a fear of getting hit, boxing is probably not the sport for you.

No one likes to get hit(Anyone sane anyways), and working on your defense can help. But to be fearful of it can play a serious mind game.

Face your fear, that you are going to get hit and that's all there is to it, or perhaps pick up another sport... Or help others train.

Not to be rude or anything, but that's a terrible answer. Just about every new guy I've seen in the gym is scared to get hit. I think most people are apprehensive about getting hit, but once they spar a few times, they get over it.

For me, I was naturally gun-shy for a while, but fortunately I've gotten over it. What I'd recommend is that you work on coming forward. I found that being gun-shy, I'd stay back a lot and wait. What would happen is that I'd be waiting and when the punches came, I'd turn, back up or hit the ropes and cover up.

What would be better is just keep coming forward, will yourself to keep coming forward, whether you get hit or not. Don't be reckless, but be willing to come forward. If you focus on keep coming forward, you will see that you won't even feel the punches as you come in. Just try to keep your hands up and work on slipping when you come in as well. You'll quickly see that the punches don't really hurt.

[cez]

ok, thanks for the answers, they really helped me a lot i really love boxing and i am training as much as i can. in the next time i will spar more and try to overcome this fear, because i want also to fight in the future. it will be also a reason to be proud of myself when i ovecome it. once again thanks for the suggestions.

i wrote this thread in hurry and this is the reason why my english was so faulty.

[boxing_great]

just make sure ur sparring opponents or potential opponent never find this out...

[rochemback]

Yes, that's a good plan to spar more. Also don't feel bad about being nervous or even a bit scared before that, accept it as a normal feeling that everyone (trust me, everyone!) has and use it for your benefit as motivation.

Mike Tyson, in his prime undoubtedly one of the biggest beasts and most feared opponents of all time on how he felt before a fight:

While I'm in the dressing room five minutes before I come out, I'm breaking my gloves down, I m pushing the leather to the back of my gloves, so my knuckle could pierce through. When I come out I have supreme confidence. I'm scared to death. I'm afraid. I'm afraid of everything. I'm afraid of losing. I'm afraid of being humiliated. But I'm confident. The closer I get to the ring the more confident I get. The closer, the more confident. The closer the more confident I get. All during training I've been afraid of this man. I think this man might be capable of beating me. I've dreamed of him beating me. For that I've always stayed afraid of him. The closer I get to the ring the more confident I get. Once I'm in the ring I'm a god. No one could beat me. I walk around the ring but I never take my eyes off my opponent. Even if he's ready and pumping, and can't wait to get his hands on me. I keep my eyes on him. I keep my eyes on him. Then once I see a ch ink in his armor, boom, one of his eyes may move, and then I know I have him. Then once he comes to the center of the ring he looks at me with his piercing look as if he's not afraid. But he already made that mistake when he looked down for that one tenth of a second. I know I have him. He'll fight hard for the first two or three rounds, but I know I broke his spirit. During the fight I'm supremely confident. I'm making him miss and I'm countering. I'm hitting him to the body, I'm punching him real hard. And I'm punching him and I'm punching him and I know he's gonna take my punches. He goes down, he's out. I'm victorious. Mike Tyson, greatest fighter that ever lived.

And the man who made him the youngest heavyweight champion ever, legendary trainer Cus d'Amato has quite a few inspirational quotes on fear, here are my favourites:

Don't worry about being scared going into a fight. It's when you ain't scared that's the time to worry. Fear is the friend of every good and reasonable athlete."

and

Fear is like a fire. If you control it, as we do when we heat our houses, it is a friend. When you don't, it consumes you and everything you do and everything around you.

Good luck and when you overcome this you will have learned something about yourself that can guide you in far more places than only the boxing ring!

[Soju]

I didn't see anyone else ask this so, how long have you been training cez?

You can't be afraid to take punches if your hero is Gatti

[Mares]

just make sure ur sparring opponents or potential opponent never find this out...

would u enjoy to sparr him?

[Joachim]

youll get over the fear in time, its natural but youll get used to it. The most important part is always keeping your eyes on your opponent and not turning your face away.

[Suckmedry]

ok, thanks for the answers, they really helped me a lot i really love boxing and i am training as much as i can. in the next time i will spar more and try to overcome this fear, because i want also to fight in the future. it will be also a reason to be proud of myself when i ovecome it. once again thanks for the suggestions.

i wrote this thread in hurry and this is the reason why my english was so faulty.

It's not as easy as that. If you go straight into normal sparring with this fear and end up getting hit more, your confidence will go way down and you will be very gunshy.

The way to overcome it is to build confidence, doing light sparring, or light defence work (partner throwing punches at you, you block, parry, slip etc) with the intensity building over several weeks to the point where you are confident and comfortable.


This is very important to overcome as a fear of getting hit creates all sorts of bad habits too, like turning your head away from punches, being too passive and tentative etc

[cez]

@ CounterPuncha: thanx, i will try it this way. you are right with the bad habits, i am really turning my body or head away form the punches.

@ Soju: i am 18, training now for 5-6 months really hard. in february there are sparring fights against some fighters from others clubs who also have not many experience in terms of fighting. i thought maybe i can fight there too, just for testing myself. my trainer said that he will look especially at me at the sparrings in the club and say if i am ready to fight. yeah Gatti... he was a god of boxing ^^.. not comarable to me

@ Joachim: yeah i will try to do so thankx

@ rochamback: thanx, thats pure motivation i really appreciate it. i have also the same thoughts that it also helps me in future life. thanx

[OaktownGhost]

Not to be rude or anything, but if you have a fear of getting hit, boxing is probably not the sport for you.

No one likes to get hit(Anyone sane anyways), and working on your defense can help. But to be fearful of it can play a serious mind game.

Face your fear, that you are going to get hit and that's all there is to it, or perhaps pick up another sport... Or help others train.

I disagree. When I started sparring I hate an intense fear of gettin hit. I hated it because I wanted to box so bad. Eventually the fear faded, as I got more motivated, and developed as a better fighter. You know what? I dont mind getting hit anymore, and I actually enjoy it sometimes, yet I agree with your statement. Boxing may not be the sport for you TS, but you are posting here and looking for advice so it is obvious that you want to box.

do floor drills with other boxers and let them tap your face. the fear will decrease when you get in the ring, as you would be accustomed to it after getting hit