Boxing technique and tactics

The boxing.

Boxing is a combat sport, which has two modalities, amateur

boxing and professional boxing, in both modalities there are
elements that are common, the blows are the same, the
objective point is the same (Head, Trunk), the objective The goal
of the boxer in both modalities is to obtain victory by defeating
the rival with the rational use of force, technique and tactical
actions. The differences between amateur and professional
boxing occur in the way the fight is conducted, there are
differences in technical and tactical elements and there are
differences in the regulations. Amateur boxing could be
compared to the 800-meter race, while professional fighting
would be compared to the 10,000-meter race.

Amateur boxing is characterized by being agile, fast boxing and

with a high hitting frequency since the fight lasts 3 rounds, the
amateur boxer fights with a high guard and is highly mobile
within the fight.

The fundamental characteristic of professional boxing is that it

is a semi-distance sport, where the boxer must learn to manage
time and regulate his strength. For the duration of a fight, the
boxer is characterized by proposing tactical actions that seek to
weaken the rival. , reduce his strength to prepare him for the
ko. It is a boxing where the fighter can organize a fight plan that
provides benefits in those fights that are defined in the final
rounds.

Generally all sports have an instinctive, natural physical and

psychological component (running, throwing, jumping), this
instinctive component, in the case of boxing, if not channeled
correctly is very dangerous (failures in the attitude and
performance of novices). Boxing movements must be technical
movements that must be trained on a daily basis. Boxing
technique may well be common to all boxers without leaving
aside the fact that each boxer has particularities that make him
unique, so tactical actions as well as technique form in each
boxer a style that distinguishes him. , the style and way of
fighting or conducting a fight must be in harmony with the
physical conditions of the boxer, height, strength, as well as
they must be in harmony with the character.

All boxing blows have fundamentals and mechanical

relationships that must be known by trainers and boxers.

We well know that physics relates mass and velocity in the

following equation:

E=1/2mV²+1/2mW²

where V is the linear velocity of the blow and w corresponds

to the angular velocity.

The energy of the blow is proportional to the mass that the

boxer transfers, by the square of the linear velocity and the
angular velocity of the blow, it is inferred that boxers with the
same weight, if they make the correct transfer of mass and are
fast, achieve hits with greater power than its rivals.

Boxing has several weight divisions that allow homogenization

and avoid physical inequalities between contenders. In boxing,
three workloads are used: One's own weight, the weight of the
opponent and the weight of the arm that we project. It is evident
that when throwing a straight blow with the leading hand the
speed is great but the mass transferred is limited, hence a large
mass transfer is necessary that, correctly accelerated, gives the
blow power and effectiveness, as is the case when throws a
straight punch with the back arm.

When executing the blow, if you want to obtain great final

power, the boxer is required to transfer the entire mass of his
body to the blow. This means that a large number of muscular
systems are involved in the final power of the blow, such as the
muscles of the foot, leg, back, shoulders and arm. Heavyweights
are famous for effectively loading their punches, hence the
drama of this division, where a single punch can define a fight.
Without overlooking that in the small weight divisions there are
fighters capable of causing dramatic KOs thanks to the ability
they have to transfer their muscle mass and provide enormous
acceleration to the blow.

As we can infer, the speed of the hit added to the transfer of

mass, plus the execution technique are the key elements of an
effective hit. As we have said, boxing is a sport where you
compete in different weight divisions, so in a fight theoretically
the muscular strength is comparable between the contenders,
so great technique and speed can make the difference. For
example: Two fighters compete at 72 kg, and one of them can
throw the blow at 10 meters per second, while the second can
throw the blow at 8 meters per second, this implies that the
fastest fighter could hit with an energy of 3600 joules , the
second boxer hits with an energy of 2304 joules. Theoretically,
the faster boxer has greater punching power.

Technique and tactics in boxing.

In competition at the national level or in the international field,
the athletic development of the sport is high, and given the
influence of sports sciences, the sporting level is approaching
among the competitors, making it increasingly difficult to obtain
victory, which is why This is why coaches seek to optimize the
sporting performance of boxers, working on fundamental
aspects, technical and tactical strategy. We are looking for a
boxer with harmonious movements, blows that observe a perfect
kinematic movement, we want the boxer to have tactical
thinking that allows him to conduct the fight in a favorable
terrain and dynamics, tactical thinking that allows him to solve
the problems posed by the boxer. rival and even allows him to
predict the opponent's next move to anticipate the moment of
attacking or defending. Coaches define a strategy that allows
them to amplify their team's chances of winning.
The concept of technique and tactics are often treated as if they
were the same thing, although it is true that they are concepts
that are closely related, they have elements that make them
very different.
 Boxing techniques are the set of means of attack and defense
that, as a result of systematic practice, become habits of the
boxer. These techniques include the following aspects:
 Ability to move quickly and lightly within the ring.
 Master attacks that are carried out surprisingly and quickly.
 Master the means of defense.
 Master the counterattack.

Technique.
When studying the concept of sports technique, it is necessary
to examine some definitions expressed by sports science
scholars. Lev Matveev defines sports technique as the means to
liberate the sports fight, Zech, Matin, Pietka-Spitz, Ter
Owannesjan and Weineck among others, understand technique
as the set of processes generally developed by practice to resolve
more rationally and economically. a specific motor problem.
The technique of a sport modality corresponds to a certain ideal
motor type, which, while retaining its fundamental
characteristics, can undergo a modification that corresponds to
individual peculiarities, thus constituting the personal style
(Jurgen Weineck). In everyday language, in our environment we
conceive technique as synonymous with the sporting foundation
or gesture.
From this it follows that the technique implies the complete
mastery of efficient and effective motor structures that allow
achieving the highest performance in the most difficult
conditions of competition. Another concept to take into account
is that, in high performance, when it is impossible to continue
increasing the stress levels of the loads by increasing their
volume or intensity, the intensification of the technical
requirement is the resource that makes it possible. the elevation
of sports performance.

The importance of sports technique has several possible

approaches, among them its high interdependence, on the one
hand with the qualities or physical factors of performance, and
on the other with sports tactics, understood as the rational use
of forces at the service of the art of fighting sports fight. With
respect to both technique and physical qualities, they grow in
parallel in the athlete's training process, but it is obvious that in
the face of a defective technique, poorly acquired or poorly
applied, no matter how high the state of sports fitness is,
physiologically speaking, Achievements will be limited if the
necessary technical adjustment has not occurred. The potential
of a boxer is many but technique is decisive when it comes to
achieving victory.
Furthermore, and in a deeper analysis, the technique is
determined by some physical qualities that matter more than
others, being sensitivity, which depends on the analyzers or
proprioceptors; flexibility, extensive permissiveness of broad
movements and coordination, as well as the ordering aptitude of
self-oriented and self-regulated movements, which
fundamentally influence motor learning, motor control and
motor reaction and readaptation; which are the successive and
necessary steps to expand the kinetic background or motor
experience, which, through multilateral training, will determine
to the last consequences the achievement of highly significant
technical achievements. At levels of increasing importance we
find speed, power, strength and endurance, which in turn end
in derived qualities.
The relationship with tactics is summarized in the concept of
offensive or defensive strategy, whose essential task is to
achieve the proposed objective (the victory by the definition of
the judges or the KO sentence), in which they appear as a
cardinal point of technical use. , the degree of intellectuality and
the level of abstraction that presuppose the attitude, thinking
and technical commitment of the athlete.

Let's imagine a boxer, who is strong, resistant but with poor

technique and tactical thinking, such a boxer would have
problems managing his athletic abilities, he could win by
the law of the strongest, but equally, it could happen that
in the most important competition of career, ended up
losing to a fighter with better technical and tactical skills.
A boxer must use his strength to weaken his rivals, the
stamina to resist the adversary's aggression, the technique
to execute effective movements and blows that are
economical from a physical point of view, the tactical
thinking to conduct the fight along the most favorable
path. to victory.

Technique trainability.

It has a direct relationship with motor functions whose potential

depends on the coordination abilities (which have a genetic
component and another component that depends on the timely
use of their development in the sensitive phases of the athlete's
life, which coincide with the stage of greatest development. of
the central nervous system).
Multilateral training and the expansion of motor experience is
the most significant educational factor in subsequent technical
consolidation, since every new movement that is learned is
consolidated, it is consolidated based on previous motor traces
consolidated previously.
It can be proposed, then, that technical instruction would go
through a first stage of tendency towards multilateral,
polyvalent development; a second for general preparation of the
chosen sports technique, and a third for special preparation or
specialization, in which they become specific for the sport of
boxing.
Hotz and Weinck (1983) decompose the technical instruction
process into four phases instead of three, as follows:

Information and apprehension phase.

The boxer becomes aware of the movements and execution of

blows that must be learned and creates the necessary bases for
the conception of the action project. At this point the boxer
receives information from his trainer and is helped by previous
motor experiences, his motor level and his ability to observe.

Rustic coordination base.

The first experiences of practical execution, such as verbal

instructions, represent the main information in this phase. At
the end of this stage, the problem domain is in a rough phase;
the phenomena related to this level are: excessive and partially
erratic effort; The abruptness in temporal development;
Clumsiness in the execution of movements; insufficient range of
movements; false motor cadence (very fast or very slow); the
lack of rhythm and sequence and the lack of motor precision.

Fine coordination phase.

The phenomena that characterize this stage are: adequate
energy cost, necessary force expenditure, amplitude and
rational motor rhythms, and more fluid movements. The
increase in motor precision is here globally linked to a
constantly improved understanding of verbal or other
information. In this phase the boxer achieves perfection in his
movements.

Consolidation, improvement and variable availability

phase.

In this phase we find the successful coordination of movements,

even in difficult or unusual conditions. Automation allows the
athlete to focus attention on the critical points of motor
development, and precisely the phenomenon that characterizes
this stage is the constant and harmonious fluidity of the
movements. This is a phase in which the boxer reaches
technical mastery.
To further expand the concept of technical learning, some
psychological and other neurophysiological bases are
established. Within the psychological ones, it is considered that
a motor act has a premotor phase during which the action is
prepared by establishing a program (in cybernetic language); a
motor phase, in which the program is carried out and the
project anticipated by the mind is experienced and experienced;
and a postmotor phase in which it is appreciated by a
comparison between what was planned and what was executed.
The neurophysiological bases recognize memorization processes
as a center of motor learning. This takes place in steps of coded
information, which consist of mechanisms for apprehension,
treatment and storage of information, through perceptual,
cognitive and mnemonic processes respectively. According to
numerous investigations, these processes are linked to the
metabolic reactions of neurons, which produce permanent
chain modifications of the synaptic and intersynaptic
membranes through a differential permeability of excitatory
flows.
The limitations of technical learning, on the other hand, can be:
lack of information, lack of motivation or lack of condition. But
it is a constant that, in the development of technique, the
degree of difficulty must always be increasing; That is to say:
once an achievement is consolidated, a gesture automated, a
finer, more demanding, more complex stage must be sought and
in conditions of greater difficulty, so that it is transmitted in
efficiency in the sporting performance.
We can summarize in conclusion that automation based on
repetition is the cornerstone of technical learning, but we must
always create new sensations and variations to prevent there
being a disconnection of the circuits and positive automation
becoming a stereotype or an reflex action. The planning of
technical work and the teaching of technique is essential to
avoid falling into mechanized automation.
In other words, in the apprehension phase the boxer is informed
by his trainer about the type of offensive or defensive
movements he must learn, the trainer demonstrates, the boxer
observes and, helped by previous experiences, "learns"; In the
rustic coordination phase, the boxer executes the movements in
a clumsy manner, without sequence and harmony, his
movements are unnecessarily intense and abrupt. In the fine
coordination phase, the boxer understands the kinematics of
the movement, the movements are harmonious and fluid,
energy expenditure is efficient, there is precision in the
movements; In the consolidation phase, the movements are
executed harmoniously and perfectly at competition speeds,
even in difficult and tired moments.

Teaching technique in the boxer.

The boxer must have a three-dimensional image of the

movement to be executed, a defensive or offensive movement, or
the execution of a blow, this image must reach the deep parts of
the brain. To achieve this, teaching must be based on stimulus
and understanding. The stimulus provokes a reaction, giving
the brain enough information to reflect on the movement.
The trainer must participate at the beginning and at the end of
each learning process, at the beginning provoking different
stimuli, and at the end giving the theory necessary for
understanding. The systematic repetition of this process with a
progression in variety, difficulty, and in The number of
repetitions will lead us to automation of processes and
movements.
The key in the process of teaching technique is: the coach
explains the movements, the boxer executes them, the coach
corrects, the boxer observes, listens, repeats; The coach teaches
new movements, increasing their difficulty, the boxer executes,
observes, repeats, repeats until the movement is fixed and
executed with mastery, the movements are recorded in the
brain, memorized in the muscle and activated in an analogous
way. how the movement of the heart is repeated (the heart
works and I don't have to think about it).

Methods to teach technique in boxing.

Teaching technique in boxing is a pedagogical process that is

not achieved in a day; learning a technical process by a boxer
can require several weeks, months and even years to make the
technique become a motor habit. , which is consolidated in the
central nervous system until the technical element is mastered
with perfection and mastery. It requires great patience on the
part of the coach and getting the boxer to repeat and repeat the
technical element until he can execute the technical element
skillfully even in the midst of difficult situations and extreme
fatigue.
In amateur world boxing, even in professional boxing, boxing
schools are used as a means to teach boxing technique and
tactics.

1. Boxing school.
It is a methodological element where the coach teaches boxing
technique, without gloves.
The coach organizes the group of boxers in such a way that all
the boxers can observe it, the coach, for example, explains how
to execute the straight punch with the back hand, the students
have to imitate it, the teacher corrects the errors made by the
students to achieve an acceptable execution in accordance with
the technical level and experience of the boxer.
In the boxing school the boxer comes into contact with the
technical element, the movements are executed slowly, so that
the boxer executes the movement and learns it.
In the boxing school, the coach can be helped by other boxers
who, having knowledge of the technique that is intended to be
taught, execute the movements so that their teammates can
observe them while the coach explains and corrects them. The
trainer can also use images and videos that explain and
motivate learning.

Directed combat school.

The combat school is a methodological element in which the
process of teaching boxing technique and tactics continues.
In the directed combat school, you work in pairs and with
gloves.
If in the boxing school the technique of executing the straight
punch with the back hand was worked on, in the combat school
the process continues. One of the boxers executes the straight
punch with the back hand while the other boxer executes a
defense to this punch.
Combat school is not a sparring (training match), so the coach
must require that the blows be executed at moderate speed and
power. In combat school, the aim is to create an imprint on the
nervous system. central and through respectability ensure that
the technical process becomes a motor habit.

Free combat school.

In the free combat school, the technical and tactical elements
are worked on, seeking to achieve perfection. It is similar to
sparring, but it is done at a lower intensity.

Conditional combat school.

 It is used for the development of tactical thinking and technical
improvement.
In this job, the coach keeps the fight under his control and sets
objectives for each person, for example:
The coach asks one of the boxers to fight using only his leading
hand, while the second boxer is asked to defend himself against
these punches and counterpunches.

Work with pets (Manillas).

Handles or mascots are a universal element used for many
purposes by all trainers in the world.
In working with the handles many objectives can be
consolidated, namely:
 Technical improvement.
 Development of tactical thinking.
 Development of reaction speed.
 Development of boxing-specific power.
 Development of specific resistance for boxing.

Training match (sparring).

Sparring is the closest thing to competitive combat; it is used to
refine technique, tactics, and specific athletic condition.
Sparring is the ideal means to measure the specific athletic and
technical level of the boxer. It is in sparring where a forecast
can be established of what the boxer's performance will be in
the competition.

Tactic.
Tactics are a process in which all the physical, technical and
psychological capabilities of the boxer are combined to respond
immediately to all the dissimilar and unforeseen situations that
may occur during a fight.
Tactics, by integrating all of the boxer's abilities, enhance his
chances of winning as it allows the boxer to rationalize his
athletic and technical conditions by leading the fight along a
path that allows him to take advantage of his rival's mistakes
and deficiencies.

Tactic Features:
 It is determined from the actions of the opponent.
 It is applied by the boxer in opposition conditions.
 The boxer executes a tactical action to attack or evade the
opponent's attack.
 A tactical action aims to achieve partial objectives based on the
problems posed by the opponent.
 It requires logical actions with great immediacy.
Example of tactical actions:
 Fake an attack to the body with the leading hand, to carry out
an attack to the head with the back hand.
 Knowing that your opponent always ends the attack with a left
cross blow, leaving himself exposed with his guard down, lean
back to avoid the cross blow and counterpunch with a delayed
direct blow.
 Knowing that your opponent is shorter and very strong in the
attack in the medium and short zone, fight him at long
distance, basing the defense on leg movement, and
counterpunch with long distance blows.
The mastery of a boxer is determined by the number of tactical
actions he can execute during a fight. The tactical arsenal
allows the boxer to manage his forces with great efficiency, and
have an immediate response to each problem that arises.
The technique is responsible for the execution of movements
and blows with high levels of precision, speed, energy efficiency;
Tactics presuppose the intelligent part of the combat, it is the
intelligent way of conducting a combat on the path to success,
tactics aim to give an intelligent and immediate response to
each attack of the rival, tactics pose difficulties to the rival with
the purpose of taking advantage its deficiencies and errors.
A strong boxer can obtain a victory by knockout in the last
second of the fight, his punch being his tactical resource, but a
boxer with a wide tactical arsenal can obtain victories
repeatedly in the international field by making his fighting style
and his sporting achievements bear a signature and a personal
seal.
Finally, it can be assured that if a boxer is strong, resistant
and fast, he is a great boxer, but if his boxer is strong,
resistant, fast and also has a great tactical arsenal, we are
in the presence of an outstanding boxer.