Do gymnasts make good boxers

[Hyper Knuckles]

Gymnastics is a sport that builds power in the legs, tweaks reaction time, balance and coordination. Those guys also have insane cardio. Is this good cross training for boxing?

[JibbaJabber]

i don't know but the chicks could make good **** stars..

[Sugarj]

In a lot of ways I suppose that a decent gymnast would be able to make the transition to professional boxer. Balance, athleticism, full body strength, coordination, agility are fantastic attributes for a professional boxer.

You say that they have 'insane cardio'. Don't get me wrong, a world class gymnast is a seriously terrific athlete who will be trained well in an aerobic and anaerobic sense. But never think that a gymnastic Olympic routine remotely scratches the surface fitness/cardio wise to a tough 12 round boxing match.

A boxing match can drag you to the pinnacle of human exhaustion, even for elite boxers. I don't think that there is a tougher sport out there, mentally and physically.

But as good cross training, yes......absolutely; as long as boxing training, roadwork, floorwork is seen as priority.

[IronBoxer]

Absolutely, gymnasts are the strongest athletes in the world with the highest strength to bodyweight ratio of any athlete. But first theyw ould ahve to develop their boxing skills.

[Sugarj]

Absolutely, gymnasts are the strongest athletes in the world with the highest strength to bodyweight ratio of any athlete. But first theyw ould ahve to develop their boxing skills.

And their 'ring' fitness.......

[rockymarciano1]

depends what style an athlete coming from another sport will adopt. basket ball players have an obvious advantage with height and reach. people like bermane stiverne came to boxing from American football and turned out to be sucessful. the most surprising sport that makes good boxers is tap dancing/balet, juan Manuel Marquez hired a balet coach and chuck walker (an amatuer boxer in America who I saw some 70s footage of and thought his footwork and defensive skills were sublime) was a tap dancer. my point is that alot of those who have talent don't have the ambition and alot of those who have the ambition dont have the talent, you could have the most physically gifted athlite in the world but unless he has the ability to adapt to boxing it's unlikely he'll succeed.

[Hyper Knuckles]

depends what style an athlete coming from another sport will adopt. basket ball players have an obvious advantage with height and reach. people like bermane stiverne came to boxing from American football and turned out to be sucessful. the most surprising sport that makes good boxers is tap dancing/balet, juan Manuel Marquez hired a balet coach and chuck walker (an amatuer boxer in America who I saw some 70s footage of and thought his footwork and defensive skills were sublime) was a tap dancer. my point is that alot of those who have talent don't have the ambition and alot of those who have the ambition dont have the talent, you could have the most physically gifted athlite in the world but unless he has the ability to adapt to boxing it's unlikely he'll succeed.

I've also heard of dancing/ballet helping out fighters. I know a friend who does mma, tells me his mom signed him up for ballet classes as a kid and it's greatly improved his balance ever since. He's able to go toe to toe with bigger guys relying soley on technique and knock them out. Amazing what good footwork can do for you..

[Ray Corso]

I have no idea about a marriage between the sports, I can tell you that Ray Leonard could have been a gymnast easily. He was at a gym I trained fighters at New Haven (Pop Lovell BC) for his 3rd or 4th fight that was at the N.H Col. and watched him tumble on matts and cartwheel all over the place. The guy was an excellant athlete and it certainly helped him in his coordinationg boxing skills that was evident as he matured as a fighter. Ray