Breaking my boxing virginity and its effectiveness

My first real experience of boxing was 3 years ago.

I was quite fat and very much out of shape.
I took up boxing for a couple of reasons. One, because i had low self-esteem and they figured that it would be a good idea to take it up. Two, because i wanted to get into shape. The last one ill let you guys know is because i would regularly get into fights with me against 2 to 3 guys and get my butt whooped and i want to learn how to box.

So i found a gym and talked to the coach there. He told me to put on some gloves, some headgear and just get into the ring.
Its pretty obvious that i got into my first sparring session. I like to think that i held my own, however, i did get knocked down twice and i pretty sure i didnt land a single punch cleanly. What shocked me though was my defense. I had done quite well in that department.
From that day onwards, i would go back, work on the basics of defence, offence for about a month. While continually testing them out in the ring as well.

My question is this.

Were any of you just...THRUST into boxing so fast like i was? It did work well for me but has it failed before? I am sure it has.

Who did your coach put you in with?! :o
That guy was not suppossed to knock you down...sparring is just practice..not an actual fight and the only time i would think it would be okay to have a "gym war" would be if they were both experienced Boxers. it seems you just got thrown in there as a boxing bag for this otehr guy :-\ not good.
I Personally wasn't put in a ring that fast..all these insurance problems which restricted our sparring. after about half a year they got it all sorted out and we got some sparring. Evan so i only sparred someone who had just as much experience as me. Not someone who would knock me down twice. i dont think throwing a kid into a boxing ring to get a ass whoopin when hes new to the sport...is right..They should teach you basics first and make sure you have got those basics down correctly.
How are you fairing out now? :)

Wow,really?
Thats nuts man
Even my main boxer choked at hearing that

I see you are Australian too :) I wonder if this is a cultural thing partly? Not that all gyms are like this in Australia but perhaps it's more common than other places since Australian guys are expected to be so blokey?

My first kickboxing gym was similar to this for any guy who said he wanted to be competitive.

As a girl I didn't get thrown in the same way the guys did though. When I ultimately did begin sparring in that gym the safety standards were never good. I was routinely kicked in the head by a guy 20 kg heavier than me without wearing headgear and went home with headaches. I hope it hasn't/doesn't affect my mental capacity too much!

I do think that I had a developmental advantage over the guys by training more including drills for partnerwork before starting sparring. The guys were understandably more nervous and less able to relax enough to learn easily. They also dropped out more especially after their first competitive fight (if they got that far) because their opponents had been developed more before competing and wiped them out.

That gym has been closed for a while now for good reason!!

Hold on. First i need to clarify that, i was knocked down by the WEAKEST punches...purely due to stamina and the fact that falling to the ground after being hit in the face was a purely instinctive sort of thing.
I was never knocked OUT, just plopped on my bum.

Trust me, it was a sparring session, i wasnt seriously hurt, but i knew that i had been boxing thats all.
I guess it is a cultural thing. I mean, thats how we did things at that gym at the time. You get into an argument. You get into the ring, spar with that person and you had to learn that by being in there you were to benifit off each other and so you respected the other person and laughed with them at the end of it.
I far fine now, and it hasn't affected me negatively at all. Infact, i think it was good for me. I learnt in that one session, that the only way to stay "safe", was to stay in the thick of the punches and keep facing foward.

I think that perhaps this method should be replicated, but safely treated, like how i was.

Wish i could relive that moment. It was great

No matter what you were knocked down by, I didn't get any punches in the face like that until MONTHS after i'd been training. And only when I was good and ready and confident to go in and spa with someone with the intent on throwing propper head punches with the aim to connect.

I think some trainers are just iresponsible and just like to have a bit of power over the new kid. Which sux and gives boxing a bad name.

My trainer is great and realises not everyone that starts boxing wants to get beat in the face the first time, or even the 20th time... Even then, the sparring session has to be purely productive with a LOT of loose drilling and working on specific things.. If you want to go at it freely then that's fine, but if one of the more experienced guys started knocking down a new guy, they'd be kicked out of the gym...
I have absolutely no doubt my gym is not even 10% as hard as some of the other gyms out there,,,, but i've learnt a sh!tload training there under a good trainer and have always had fun there which is the main thing, even if someone is trying to take your head off...
I'm in Australia too so it's not like their isn't other gyms out there if you don't like the way your trainer works things..