Great fighters that sparred little

[ironalex]

Mike Tyson for instance found it very difficult to get sparring partners as did ray Mancini (read his book earlier and if you haven’t u should defintely check it). Just wondering who else? And how they replicated it with little sparring?

[Taha93]

Muhammad Ali sparred 5 to 6 rounds and progress as the fight draw nearer.

[Taha93]

Now money is more and fight is less which is good for fighters perspective. It's never good to put your body at that risk 2 - 3 fights is enough in a year

[abracada]

Mike Tyson for instance found it very difficult to get sparring partners as did ray Mancini (read his book earlier and if you haven’t u should defintely check it). Just wondering who else? And how they replicated it with little sparring?

Also sparring risks injury

[TonyGe]

Wilfred Benitez once he became famous hated training so it's a good bet he didn't spar much. Just guessing on this.

[OCPancho]

Mike Tyson for instance found it very difficult to get sparring partners as did ray Mancini (read his book earlier and if you haven’t u should defintely check it). Just wondering who else? And how they replicated it with little sparring?

Huh?
He had plenty of partners starting from Clark, James Broad, McCall, Page and company.

Sugar Ray Robinson did not spar much afaik.
He fought every few weeks. Hell, 3 weeks in between fights with Jake .

[Redd Foxx]

If you're looking to it as some sort of justification as to why not sparring is ok, don't. Light sparring is one of the best things you can do to prepare. Nothing hones your distance, footwork, breathing, like sparring. Nothing.
You don't have to go hard. Guys that go hard get injured.

I think the trend is going toward a lot of light sparring. In MMA, that's half of what these guys do is sparring. Just gotta avoid working with guys who have something to prove.

[TheReadyTimeBoy]

Well the way I learnt to fight was tons of hard sparring, usually with guys who outweighed me. I wouldn't exactly recommend that though.

I think light, technical and conditioned sparring 2-3 times per week is ideal. With 1 hard spar every week or two

[Eff Pandas]

It seems like more fighters are sparring less these days. Idk who's sparring the least doe. I've heard of several MMA guys who claim to not spar at all these days cuz they believe it only insures they aren't at their absolute best on fight night through the damage they take in sparring. They go through the motions to get their timing, but no or lil hard sparring.

Ultimately with this CTE sh^t I think its a good move & I suspect virtual reality sparring will become a thing in the near future when that technology becomes more advanced. It would still be good to get some real sparring so a real fight doesn't overwhelm you, but if you do a lil hard sparring & a lot of VR sparring that might prolong careers & more importantly allow fighters to leave the sport with less damage & better brain health.

[OctoberRed]

Rocky Balboa, due to age, did not spar at all for the Tarver fight.