Sparring with girls

[Ray Corso]

If you spar with an inexperienced male you pull your shots so whats the deal about a female? To the poster ....your to inexperienced to pull your shots and if your trainer allows an "open session" with novice people can be a detriment to the safety of members.
Also for you there is NO difference between Tyson and Laila, they'd both handle you easily hahahaha!!!!

ttub222 really? 5 /3 minute rounds of "busting up"???? hahahaha!!!! Ray.

[DosRounds]

There's a girl in my gym who would beat up most guys. When I'm sparring with her I don't feel bad if I hit her because if I don't I'd be a punching bag but make sure I don't hit at full power. If it's an inexperienced woman or a new guy then I take it easy .

[SBleeder]

I'll spar with girls. I move around with them, let them work on their rhythm and technique and gently tap them when they make a mistake. I do this for a few rounds to let them get accustomed to that pace. After they start feeling relaxed a little bit, I nail 'em with a left to the body and a snapping right hand to the skull. Never underestimate your opponent.

[HtotheZ]

If you spar with an inexperienced male you pull your shots so whats the deal about a female? To the poster ....your to inexperienced to pull your shots and if your trainer allows an "open session" with novice people can be a detriment to the safety of members.

I'm definitely not doing any open sessions nor am I allowed yet haha

You have a good point though

[Cardinal Buck]

An excellent way to pick up women is by beating the shi t out of them in the gym.

[KO KOZUMA]

I'm a girl.

Here's how I see it- there are two types of women at a boxing gym. Those there for cardio and to blow of steam, and those there to learn how to box. Sometimes they don't know which they are until they spar.

I'm there to learn how to box. I spar about 4-5 times a week, mostly with guys, and mostly with pros. There's only 1 woman who will get in the ring with me now, and she is much smaller- but fast, so it's good work for both of us. I have to tone down my power punches but I don't hold back on fast jabs and hooks. I wish more women would work with me.

The pros I spar with say I'm really good work for them, I come on fast and strong, I can last a 15 min round, and I don't stop if I get hit. I learn all the time and am always working on something new that surprises them. They could take me down so easily if they wanted to.. but they let me work. They show me when I've left something open, and if I do it too much, they punish me for it. That's how you learn.

They now regularly use me for round robin- I stay in the ring and they alternate new guys for 3 mins of sparring with me, I go a good 10 rounds. I read each of them, and box accordingly. I know if I hit them really hard with a surprise shot, they are likely to charge right in blindly. I know who is being timid because I'm a girl and I goad them into boxing with counter punches and faints until they are so frustrated they start boxing with me. I figure if I can land it on their nose, I can land it on the headgear just as easily and usually go for that.

I hug each guy at the end and thank them for working with me. The new guys usually ask me for tips an pointer and if we can spar again.

I see lots of women think they want to spar, and learn quickly that they do not. That's fine. If you are going in with a woman for their first time, just take it easy, light jabs, hit the headgear, move a lot, no need to walk in and take them down. If you end up with an opponent of equal ability, then she deserves to be treated as such and you should give her honest work.

I'm getting ready for an amateur fight- what good would it do if no one would spar with me for real? The woman I am going to fight will sure as hell be wanting to knock me out- and I don't want competition to be a wake up call, so I really appreciate the boys that box honestly with me!!!

[stefl14]

If they are experienced there is no issue with adding a little power in my opinion, provided they are of similar ability and weight. You can tone down punches a little, but those of you who know boxing will realise that punching power mostly reflects technique (ie the weight you get behind a punch) and the speed of the punch. If a woman is of equal weight, which is not rare for some of the lighter guys, then she should in theory be facing women who can punch almost as hard as a guy, since they can get the same weight behind a punch and not that much less speed. Sometimes this isn't the case because the talent pool isn't as large in women's boxing obviously but since it could happen it's important to give real work. It can only be helpful to add a little power if the woman in question has a lot of experience and is skilled since sparring with better people is the best way to improve. It all depends on the opponent imo. I've had almost 60 bouts and will spar with anyone, you just have to box to the level of the opponent to make sure they will learn. If everybody is sensible then anyone can spar anyone. I'm 147-154 now but when I was 15 and like 120 I used to spar with sensible heavies and you could get good work quite easily if they were experienced and moderated their power a lot. More styles, more learning.

[- Ram Raid -]

I've sparred with a few women but never whilst boxing training.

In my mid teens there were a few women at the Muay Thai gym I used to train at. One in particular was a buxom milf and would delight in getting you in a clinch and pulling your face into her breasts whilst giggling. . . That was good fun for a young lad.

In my mid twenties I did a bit of MMA, but it was very middleclass and pedestrian. What they were doing was more like dance choreography. Anyway, there was a girl there who was 19, bags of attitude and a determination to prove that she was equal to any man in there.

There was also quite a few married men in their thirties that obviously didn't get out much and would indulge her misplaced belief by rolling around the floor with her, puffing and panting, acting like she was giving them a hard time. It was pretty pathetic.

I felt it was dangerous as well, 'cause she had the kind of personality that if she was on a night out and a man did or said something that she didn't like she'd be likely to crack him thinking that she could handle herself.

I only sparred with her twice. I approached it like this. "By accident of birth you're never gonna be as strong or durable as me, but there's no reason why you can't become as technically proficient." I turned it into a purely technical excercise. I blocked, parried and countered every thing she tried. She reverted to kicks to the b*ll*cks. I blocked those as well. She wouldn't come near me after that.

[Trigger unhappy]

I use hit girls in the face and I was pretty good at pulling my punches back. Body shots were a little harder.

[Barn]

It absolutely terrified me.

I used to just move around and defend throwing light punches, trying to not-hit and not get hit.

I did this after I made a Muay-Thai female fighter who was reasonably experienced tear up (borderline crying). I went in light to work on technique as I was just back from a long lay-off due to my wrist break. This woman in here late 20's comes attacking throwing combos as hard as she can. I try and take it for a bit and hope that she realises I ain't here to war. But, this girl was trying to prove something to me or the gym or whatever so when she came in for another assault I jabbed her right in the nose and she walked right into it and then threw a moderate right instinctively after it landed. It stopped her dead and she looked like she was about to cry and then moved away for the rest of the round, not wishing to engage. I felt quite crap but in reality I shouldn't have because she had it coming.

I think women are just naturally less tough than men. If a woman spars me and can give it as well as she can take it but also respects the unwritten laws of sparring then I haven't got a problem. I've only sparred three females in my life though and none of them have met this criteria so I'm always tentative when I'm sparring them.