i was born into fire, a mouth piece some gloves and that was it...i got hit hard it hurt it pissed me off i hit back. i learned very little, except that i am blessed with a hard head, a decent chin and much stupidity... you should take time to learn balance, move the feet (this needs to be first imho) and then how to hit, don't worry about how cool it looks to hold your hands on your waist and slip punches, keep a good conventional guard. also spend 5 min a day slipping left and right and bobing and weaving,add that altogeher and then add someone throwing at you to give you a more alive feel. practice all your skills in an ALIVE manner as you will not be doing them statically in the ring, but also work into sparring. it is to learn not just get beat on or beat on someone.work your skills in a progressively harder traing environment, do wall drills, hit the trainer while he only defends, work only your defense, spar ligthly and in the manner of Bruce Lee's brother..SLOW LEE... yes slow work timing then get fast or faster... and always work fundamentals of hitting, balance and movement.