How to Gain Confidence in the Ring?

Here's my opinion, take it for what it's worth. If these guys you are sparring are not helping you with your confidence, then your trainer has issues. I'm not going to say he/she is out to lunch with their methods, cause everyone trains differently, but if you have no confidence, you're not going to get anymore by getting beaten up every time you go through a sparring session, especially with people in weight classes above yours. If all they are doing is brawling and coming at you crazy, it's going to be tough for you to learn your technique to a level where you can be confident.

That said, not all the blame lies with your trainer. No matter how big the guy or gal is in the ring with you, if you have good technique you can still put up a good fight and maybe even prevail. Remember, the science of boxing is hitting without getting hit, and being smaller you are generally naturally quicker - so hit and then get out of the way. If you aren't throwing good punches, it is only going to fuel your opponent - so your trainer is right there, commit to the ones you do throw and then use some defence to get out of danger and into a new position to hit again.

Personally, I'd run you through a lot of technical and conditional sparring and not even put you in an open sparring situation (which is what it sounds like you are doing) until you were confident enough in your ability to do so and as a trainer I could see you were at a suitable level. 9 months should be plenty of time to get to that level - so your trainer must see something in you to put you in that situation. I'd suggest talking to him and seeing if he could match you against some guys your own weight for starters and then possibly having him limit what your opponent can throw back at you (conditional sparring) until you are confident you can put up a fight.

ive noticed this with a few guys i train with .. that they will have all the confidence on the bags and know what to do but as soon as they get in for a spar and the pressure is on all they know goes out the window..

but i suppose it does take time to relax and get to grips when your fighting a bigger guy and a brawler at that..

but why not use ya brain and watch them spar others watch what they do and how they react and get a game plan in your head on how to actualy get past there size and there techniqe ..then put the pressure on and put your game plan into affect then when u start landing the good punches u will gain more confidence .. i mean if your a good boxer u should be able to step into any ring and fight anyone and still hold your own coz everyone has there weekness

Hey there furyboy -

Don't know if you'll read this, or if this is of any use to you anymore, but...admin is absolutely right. Use the advantage of speed and movement to evade and frustrate your opponent.

I have been in the exact same boat for a while now. My coach has consistantly put me in the ring with bigger and more experienced guys. I'm a boxer, i'm not a fighter. Any one of these guys would probablty tear me to pieces...if they got a hold of me.

For about the first two months, all i did was run. They'd advance, firing shots, and i would just move. Use a lot of lateral movements (left to right) and feints. When at range, keep them guessing; if they're even half way decent fighters, they'll try to cut the ring off on you. Become proficient at switching directions, circle right, when they go to cut you off, quickly switch to your left. When your opponent starts to close in, through a feint, and keep moving.

Do this for a minute or so, and your opponent will (nine times out of ten) get frustrated. A frustrated opponent is a typically a sloppy opponent. They'll throw wide shots, they'll reach for you, leaving themselves off-balance and vulnerable. So...once you're comfortable being evasive and moving, start incorporating counterpunches into the equation. When they start reaching for you, capitalize and make them think twice about getting aggressive on you.

I've found that once you stung a big guy with a good shot, they start to second guess themselves, and that gives you an opportunity to start pressing your own attack.

Hope that helps...

Good luck

"Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up."

Muhammad Ali
The Greatest