Why are 8 week training camps standard? When did 8 week camps become the standard?

[Motorcity Cobra]

Just curious

[Jewish-Reptile]

Is eight weeks enough ? That's a better question.

[Motorcity Cobra]

Is eight weeks enough ? That's a better question.

Yea. Every fighter isn't the same. But everyone seems to stick to the 8 weeks.

[New England]

some of the top of the line trainers can only spare that amount of time in a 1 on 1 setting. you're expected to show up in decent shape and near weight, and then you spar and you work on things for the fight. you might work wiht an assistant, like marvin somodio does with roach, during the first part of camp while you get in shape and shake everything out.


lots of fighters go the 10-12 week rout. that's enough time to get on weight, spar the 100+ rounds you need to get ready for a fight on TV against a top competitor. these are professional athletes who have for the most part been boxing since they were kids, and they don't need a trainer looking over their shoulders 24/7.


the reason they don't go longer than that is because it will lead to injuries. most of your favorite athletes have nagging injuries that they train and play through. the big ones in boxing are overuse injuries of the legs in older fighters, and injuries to the hands in everybody.

[Jewish-Reptile]

Yea. Every fighter isn't the same. But everyone seems to stick to the 8 weeks.

Fitness and fine tuning the sparring for the intangiables you're likely to come up against. Day in day out doing the repetitive necessary fine sculpting to harness the requirements needed for what you're going to be up against, I'd say the fitness is likely the core of the length, a lot of the top guys if not most come in in good shape already, look at Floyd and Wlad they live the life and don't rely on salt water.

15 3 minute rounds by the end of camp so you feel 12 is a walk.

[Jewish-Reptile]

Yea. Every fighter isn't the same. But everyone seems to stick to the 8 weeks.

Wlad took longer camps than eight as New England says 10-12 weeks is the the norm for the elite top level guys.

[-Kev-]

With the frequency of fighters missing weight nowadays (or at least becoming more public), fighters needing more time of their camp to make weight, and fighters having little time to actually work on gameplans, I think 8 weeks is actually not enough for most fighters. For fighters who went in the gym near their weight class, like Mayweather, JMM, Pacquiao, they had the luxury of using their 8 week training camps to focus on how they were going to beat their opponent on Saturday rather than how they're going to beat the scale on Friday.

Other fighters, JCC Jr being a prime example, probably have limited time training for their opponent and have to focus almost 100% on making weight, with some superficial "training" for the fight. This is why Nacho will be of little to no use to Jr, Jr is just hiring a high profile trainer and it will be good maybe for his psyche and for Nacho's bank account and nothing else.

[Motorcity Cobra]

some of the top of the line trainers can only spare that amount of time in a 1 on 1 setting. you're expected to show up in decent shape and near weight, and then you spar and you work on things for the fight. you might work wiht an assistant, like marvin somodio does with roach, during the first part of camp while you get in shape and shake everything out.


lots of fighters go the 10-12 week rout. that's enough time to get on weight, spar the 100+ rounds you need to get ready for a fight on TV against a top competitor. these are professional athletes who have for the most part been boxing since they were kids, and they don't need a trainer looking over their shoulders 24/7.


the reason they don't go longer than that is because it will lead to injuries. most of your favorite athletes have nagging injuries that they train and play through. the big ones in boxing are overuse injuries of the legs in older fighters, and injuries to the hands in everybody.

Do you follow MMA? How long are those camps? I notice a lot of those fighters get injured in camp

[New England]

Do you follow MMA? How long are those camps? I notice a lot of those fighters get injured in camp

not like i used to, but 8-12 weeks is pretty standard.

[boliodogs]

I don't know that it is standard. Any boxer can train as long as he wants. If it is the standard it might be that 8 weeks of hard training has proven to be enough time for a reasonable fit boxer to get in top shape. Much longer than 8 weeks of hard training might be over training and cause a boxer to go stale mentally and physically. If a boxer comes to camp fat or out of shape he would need more than 8 weeks to be at his best.