How important is quality sparring?

[Master]

Early on Nigel Benn did not spar but after his first defeat he learnt that sparring was essential for timing, tactics and working on combo's.

[DaxxKahn]

sparring is very very important, it does not matter how much natural talent you have without sparring you are in trouble.

It is one thing to be able to move and adjust but another when actuual punches are coming at you,

EG- Southpaws

Orthodox Fighters have trouble with southpaws due to the fact everything is coming at them in different angles then used to, they also have trouble in learning to keepo their lead foot in the right place, jabs are not the key to fighting southpaws lead rights are but if you are not used to throwing lead rights you are going to have trouble all night

practice it with a moving target that is throwing back at you then that is a different experience all together

anyone who thinks sparring is not important is not someone I would listen to

[Master]

Ali said he practiced his defence technique sparring and having Holmes sparring with him to get in condition must have helped against Foreman.

[JazMerkin]

The Maccarinelli/Afolabi fight is a perfect example. People wrote Ola off as a tomato-can before he got in the ring, ignoring that he has sparred with the Klitschko's, James Toney & Tomasz Adamek. This makes someone a better fighter, pretty much all the best fighters in the post-war era have had themselves quality sparring partners. I do think Warren is acknowledgin this though, as he has been trying to get DeGale in with the likes of Mayweather & Jermain Taylor

[Chris Nagel]

EG- Southpaws

Orthodox Fighters have trouble with southpaws due to the fact everything is coming at them in different angles then used to, they also have trouble in learning to keepo their lead foot in the right place, jabs are not the key to fighting southpaws lead rights are but if you are not used to throwing lead rights you are going to have trouble all night

practice it with a moving target that is throwing back at you then that is a different experience all together

Sparring with southpaws is the best preparation for fighting southpaws bar none.

[Taeth]

I am going to go against the grain and I will say doing padwork with somebody who knows what they are doing is the most key. Padwork IMO works you the hardest, sharpens everything, and with an intelligent trainer you pick up exactly how to handle certain situations. Roach, The Mayweathers' all have great padwork skills and I think that is key. It teaches you the basics.

[JazMerkin]

I am going to go against the grain and I will say doing padwork with somebody who knows what they are doing is the most key. Padwork IMO works you the hardest, sharpens everything, and with an intelligent trainer you pick up exactly how to handle certain situations. Roach, The Mayweathers' all have great padwork skills and I think that is key. It teaches you the basics.

Except all those guys all have tough sparring, Pacquiao gets guys who will get a grand if they can knock him down so they're trying to take his head off. Mayweather meanwhile has five sparring partners & basically does a 15 round fight, with a new guy coming in every 3 rounds. Padwork is great, but you get guys who're great on pads but struggle in sparring you see that in any gym

[Youngblood]

I am going to go against the grain and I will say doing padwork with somebody who knows what they are doing is the most key. Padwork IMO works you the hardest, sharpens everything, and with an intelligent trainer you pick up exactly how to handle certain situations. Roach, The Mayweathers' all have great padwork skills and I think that is key. It teaches you the basics.

Except all those guys all have tough sparring, Pacquiao gets guys who will get a grand if they can knock him down so they're trying to take his head off. Mayweather meanwhile has five sparring partners & basically does a 15 round fight, with a new guy coming in every 3 rounds. Padwork is great, but you get guys who're great on pads but struggle in sparring you see that in any gym

That's the thing. Pad work is great. So is shadow boxing, and many forms of training, but it is only part of the process. Those techniques from the pads, shadow boxing get taken to the next level, sparring, to get honed and perfected, practiced and engrained. Again and again.To get built into our wiring; our muscle memory, our neurons. Become reflex rather then thought.

Then the next step is the ring for the real deal. And if done properly, the process of development, a person won't be thinking so much when in there about the many combos and situations they'll encounter. They will simply be doing, as all the thought put into those moves is now little more then practiced fluid motion and reflex. Scenarios playing that are already mapped out in our body and brain.