Ringside Boxing, Author at Ringside Boxing Blog

5 Effective Ways to Encourage and Motivate Young Fighters

A coach provides feedback to a boxer during mitt-work. — Keeping a fighter encouraged and motivated is critical to their successful development.

When a fighter first starts training, it can be hard to contain their fire and passion. It’s all you can do to keep up with them as they eat up everything you throw down.

But then, sometimes, you can’t seem to connect. You can’t get them to see the value of a particular exercise. Or you can’t get them to understand why they need to “fix” they way they throw their cross.

In those situations, you need to find a way to break through and get on the same page. Read on to learn about some of the tactics that might help motivate your fighters.

5 Ways to Improve Hand Speed

Fighter hits the speed bag to develop fast hands — A fighter trains hand speed by hitting the speed bag.

They say, “Speed Kills”. People get excited about punch power. But fighters who can throw more punches than their opponent usually win the day.

You don’t need some innate, natural-born talent to have fast hands. As with every other aspect of boxing, you develop fast hands through deliberate training. It takes time.

And like many other aspects of boxing training, you need to train your mind as well as your body.

We gathered together five of the most fundamental exercises for improving hand speed. Read on to learn more.

7 of the Greatest Mexican and Mexican-American Boxers

When Andy Ruiz, Jr. got the TKO against Anthony Joshua back in June, he made history. He became the first boxer of Mexican descent to win a world heavyweight championship in boxing.

But Ruiz is just the latest in a long line of history-making boxers from Mexico.

In honor of Mexican Independence Day we wanted to highlight some of the greatest Mexican and Mexican-American boxers to step into the ring. Continue reading “7 of the Greatest Mexican and Mexican-American Boxers”

Focus on Fighting Styles, Part 1: The Swarmer

Once you’ve gotten past the basics and begin sparring, you may notice that the art of boxing is more than just standing toe-to-toe trading punches.

A fighter should enter the ring with an overall strategy and specific tactics to make that strategy happen. How you box in the ring, though, doesn’t just begin from a blank slate. You have to understand fighting styles, the kind that you use and the kind that your opponent will use.

There are many different fighting styles out there, but typically, most fighting styles fall into one of five categories: The Swarmer, The Brawler, The Out-Fighter, The Boxer-Puncher, and the Counterpuncher.

In our post today, we’ll focus on the Swarmer style. Over the next few months, we’ll dive into each of the other four to give you a feel for the main fighting styles you might choose or see in the ring. Continue reading “Focus on Fighting Styles, Part 1: The Swarmer”

Fight Preview: Andy Ruiz, Jr vs. Anthony Joshua – The Rematch

This guest blog comes from the folks at Tauro Sports. They reached out and said they wanted to do a profile of this rematch for our blog. See if they think history will repeat, or if the former champ will take back his belts.

Andy ‘the Destroyer’ Ruiz shocked the world a few months back when he dropped Anthony Joshua in the 7th round.

But, Andy Ruiz is locked into a rematch with Anthony Joshua due to a contractual clause on the part of AJ. The boxing odds heavily favor Anthony Joshua in the second iteration of this fight, and most experts and pundits think that Joshua, being the great – former– champion that he is, will adjust and destroy ‘the Destroyer’ when they face-off once more. Continue reading “Fight Preview: Andy Ruiz, Jr vs. Anthony Joshua – The Rematch”

Core Strength Training – Boxing from Your Center

Preparing for core strength training Core strength is the unsung hero of a fighter’s physical development. It is the link in the chain that transfers strength and power from the legs to the arms and fists.

It is the central platform that provides stability to a fighter’s defensive movements.

It is the engine that powers a fighter through round after round of constant motion.

In every aspect of the game the success of a boxer relies on core strength.

Read on to learn how core strength fuels your in-ring performance. You can also see what kinds of exercises will help you build your core for maximum benefit in the ring. Continue reading “Core Strength Training – Boxing from Your Center”

Shadowboxing Fundamentals – 6 Tips for Improving your Training

For new fighters, shadowboxing looks kind of silly. You don’t hit anything, you make weird sounds, and you seem to be bouncing around at random. Shadowboxing with black hand wraps in the ring.

But if they really paid attention to a fighter who takes shadowboxing seriously, they’d see a fighter that is focused. They’d see a fighter that moves with purpose and precision. They’d see a fighter honing their technique like a pro.

Shadowboxing forms one of the foundations of boxing training. Everything you want to do in the ring, you’ll perfect, by yourself, punching the air. Continue reading “Shadowboxing Fundamentals – 6 Tips for Improving your Training”

Bagwork Fundamentals – 6 Important Tips when Hitting the Bag

We asked our friends at FighterCulture.com to write up their thoughts on some of the fundamentals of bagwork for us. This is a pretty good outline on some of the key concepts to making sure you’re getting the most out of your Heavy Bag work.

Hitting the heavy bag, commonly referred to as bagwork, is one of the most essential drills in combat sports like boxing, Muay Thai, or MMA. However, using the punching bag properly is a skill on its own.

man hitting heavy bag during bagwork training

In this article, we are going to talk about bagwork fundamentals and will give you some tips on how to utilize the punching bag the best way possible. Continue reading “Bagwork Fundamentals – 6 Important Tips when Hitting the Bag”

Conditioning Fundamentals for Boxing and Martial Arts

female shadow boxing in ring

Before a match, we often compare fighters based on their power and their reach. We tend to break opponents down based on how hard they hit.

What often gets left out of that discussion, because it’s hard to quantify, is a fighter’s overall level of conditioning. And a fighter’s level of physical endurance is often a more critical indicator of success than any other factor.

But it doesn’t matter how hard you punch, if you can’t last long enough into the fight to land it. Continue reading “Conditioning Fundamentals for Boxing and Martial Arts”

Picking the Best Shin Guards for MMA and Muay Thai

shin strike against thai pads with shin guards on

After gloves and hand-wraps, shin guards are the most important piece of protective gear for MMA and Muay Thai fighters.

You use these to protect your shins, ankles, and feet during training. In sparring you’ll also be using them to protect your partner. So it’s important to pick a pair that are right for your needs. Continue reading “Picking the Best Shin Guards for MMA and Muay Thai”