Do you ever see world class boxers drill?

[biscuitsbrah]

Sorry about the title, of course they are always drilling. I meant specifically partner drills. I always see videos of sparring, bagwork, pad work, double end bag, speed bag, mitts, footwork and head movement drills with their trainer etc. But I rarely ever see them doing partner drills of any sort.

So here’s my unpopular opinion: I feel like if you have a good trainer on the mitts you don’t need to do partner drills in boxing.

Edit: Not talking about world class amateurs. I understand they do a lot of drills

 

[Dexter]

It depends on the country. Our top amateurs always do partner drills, Cubans too. For the regular guys as my coach jokes:” Why do we need bags if we have partners?”

 

[zapataxiv]

You don’t really see pros shirting does that mean you shouldn’t take a shit?
That’s a bit blunt but your question is missing the context of what partner drills are used for.. and what’s going on each fighters camp. Comparing it to the 24/7s etc is a focused production not really a 100% accurate representation of what’s going on in camp.

 

[StopDucking]

 

[Lucas Coradini]

^ Never saw that Canelo clip. Nice! It cant get any more world class than that

 

[zapataxiv]

I don’t know if canelo counts as a top level pro he’s only beaten guys like kovalev, golovkin and Jacobs

/sarcasm

 

[Reyesnuthugr]

It will just be your loss, no big deal

 

[ARIZE]

I can also speak for Europe and the Balkans, they do partner drills that will usually lead to sparring. And the guys that are good at it, and can have a good "connection" with the fighter are valuable to the gym. Some times it's other pro fighter sharing the gym, but it can also be just journey men, or old timers...

And the mitts wont work your own defense as a partner drill does.

 

[zapataxiv]

I can also speak for Europe and the Balkans, they do partner drills that will usually lead to sparring. And the guys that are good at it, and can have a good "connection" with the fighter are valuable to the gym. Some times it's other pro fighter sharing the gym, but it can also be just journey men, or old timers...

And the mitts wont work your own defense as a partner drill does.

Partner drill also work a lot more on the “intangibles” like building up a proper sense of distance compared to mitts where the distance is less of a part of the excersie but more just something that incidentally gets built up through error correction by the coach. Or I other words the nature of partner drills is a lot more work on building up a sense of the right distance.

 

[right hand lead]

I cant say about boxers, but i been in world class level gyms in MmA and i see alot of partner striking drills lol

 

[ARIZE]

@zapataxiv

I agree. In fact, in my opinion, partner drills and mitt work are completely different exercises. I am not against mitt work, because i believe they work good for hand-eye coordination, but i prefer partner drills (for boxing). In MT it's a bit different, because you can't go full power on your partner, so mitt/pao work is necessary.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

Nice find. That seems like an awesome drill but let’s be real that same drill can get accomplished with a body shield and some mitts.
Any more clips?

 

[biscuitsbrah]

Partner drill also work a lot more on the “intangibles” like building up a proper sense of distance compared to mitts where the distance is less of a part of the excersie but more just something that incidentally gets built up through error correction by the coach. Or I other words the nature of partner drills is a lot more work on building up a sense of the right distance.

At the highest levels that can all be accomplished through sparring though

 

[zapataxiv]

At the highest levels that can all be accomplished through sparring though

Not really. That’s the kind of outlook that gets dudes concussed and worn out from gym wars. And it is something Sin has touched on, many times in this forum in regards to Eastern Europe and Cubans who come to the states to train. It’s that lack of overt attention to minute details that leaks into the students.
There is also key differences in partnered drills and sparring. Think about it. What separates them?

Nice find. That seems like an awesome drill but let’s be real that same drill can get accomplished with a body shield and some mitts.
Any more clips?

Do you think it would be better with mitts because you could rip harder?

 

[j123]

I prefer drilling over mitt work. I've mentioned it before, but drilling when done right, will be like sparring itself.

Mitts/pads I don't like, if you don't have your coach or a long time trusted partner holding it, its going to be a wasted session. Mitts/pads will never mimic partner drills imo, it could come close with creativity but it still won't mimic it like a drill/spar will.

The thing is they're high ranked pros, why release real footage of how they practice when it could be used as a resource against them? Sure, there's "open training" where they showcase some material, but its just a peak of what they do, plus exaggerated to get the opposition to get spooked.

Personally:

• Mitts/pads are for accuracy, speed, HIIT style conditioning, and confidence building
• drills are for technique, details, and ingraining habits in a slightly less damaging way than sparring

 

[Dexter]

Brothers, here we have a slight misunderstanding caused by the difference in terminology. In Eastern Bloc, we do not have such a thing as “partner drills” (or rather, it means completely different things, it's pair exercises without gloves).



"Partner drills" are called "conditional sparring" or "sparring drills" as opposed to "free sparring".
And these exercises are carried out precisely in the form that lead to free sparring, a kind of imitation. All strikes are performed at full speed, at full strength and exactly where you will hit in a real fight, both partners move arbitrarily, apply all types of defense, etc.
For example, one of the basic types, for newbies: we move freely, my partner throws single jabs|crosses, I defend with slips, ducks, blocks, sholder roll. And when I feel that distance is OK, stars are in correct places, Mars in the moon phase , I catch the punch in my open right glove and answer with 1-1-2 to the head, in response he hits with left or right straight, i slip left or right and continue my attack with straights moving by opposite legs, finally he check is my defense in place with control jab or I fall back with a jab myself. And the more advanced the fighter, the more attack / counterattack options “wrap up” on this basic combination. That is, after a left slip, I can continue not with a straight, but with a left hook to the body OR with the right overhand, my partner can now throw not a single, but double hits, etc. I think you understand the idea.
These exercises are close to sparring, but there is no such strong psychological pressure as in real sparring. So you can try different techniques, new moves. But you get hit, feel pain, etc. And if you can't do the studied combination in such a variant, you will not be able to do it in real fight.
I apologize for the boring wall of text .

 

[j123]

Brothers, here we have a slight misunderstanding caused by the difference in terminology. In Eastern Bloc, we do not have such a thing as “partner drills” (or rather, it means completely different things, it's pair exercises without gloves).



"Partner drills" are called "conditional sparring" or "sparring drills" as opposed to "free sparring".
And these exercises are carried out precisely in the form that lead to free sparring, a kind of imitation. All strikes are performed at full speed, at full strength and exactly where you will hit in a real fight, both partners move arbitrarily, apply all types of defense, etc.
For example, one of the basic types, for newbies: we move freely, my partner throws single jabs|crosses, I defend with slips, ducks, blocks, sholder roll. And when I feel that distance is OK, stars are in correct places, Mars in the moon phase , I catch the punch in my open right glove and answer with 1-1-2 to the head, in response he hits with left or right straight, i slip left or right and continue my attack with straights moving by opposite legs, finally he check is my defense in place with control jab or I fall back with a jab myself. And the more advanced the fighter, the more attack / counterattack options “wrap up” on this basic combination. That is, after a left slip, I can continue not with a straight, but with a left hook to the body OR with the right overhand, my partner can now throw not a single, but double hits, etc. I think you understand the idea.
These exercises are close to sparring, but there is no such strong psychological pressure as in real sparring. So you can try different techniques, new moves. But you get hit, feel pain, etc. And if you can't do the studied combination in such a variant, you will not be able to do it in real fight.
I apologize for the boring wall of text .

This is how I was always taught drilling. There's drills that are mitt like, and others where its spar like. The latter would be scenarios like: I'm working defense, my partner is on full offense. My only allowed skillset would be countering with a combination (not initiating it, just retaliating), movement, parring, sometimes I'm allowed to catch -> dump depending on our agreement or if my scheduled opponent is knowing to be a taller kicker.

In MMA people have a misunderstanding of terms I tend to see across the board. When a pro says they "don't spar anymore", what they mean is, they don't have gym war concussion sparring. Back in the day, thats how all sparring was done and was labelled as such. They still do spar like drills and even regular thai style spars. So guys who hear pros say this and end up omitting all live training from striking end up eating the short stick.

 

[tekkenfan]

Sorry about the title, of course they are always drilling. I meant specifically partner drills. I always see videos of sparring, bagwork, pad work, double end bag, speed bag, mitts, footwork and head movement drills with their trainer etc. But I rarely ever see them doing partner drills of any sort.

So here’s my unpopular opinion: I feel like if you have a good trainer on the mitts you don’t need to do partner drills in boxing.

Edit: Not talking about world class amateurs. I understand they do a lot of drills

yes my coaches son fought 4 world champions and 2 of our guys fought for world titles do tons of sparring drills standing close tons of things depending on what range they are at

 

[spacetime]

At the highest levels that can all be accomplished through sparring though

Why learn the hard way? If your partner drill different types of styles, you have a sense of it before you face style X for real and you're out of your comfort zone. Mitts can't hit you.

 

[Sinister]

Oh man, the old "mitts are all you need" argument rearing its ugly head again.

Theres so many "great mitt men/pad men" in boxing, and almost none of them have built a fighter from the ground up. Hey here's a famous "padman" with Teofimo Lopez!!



Dope, better run right out and start tip tapping some big dude who never fought's hands up. O wait tho...that dude didnt teach Teofimo how to fight. Matter of fact, hes never taught anyone how to fight. Hmm, there must be a reason this kind of thing is so highly visible though, I wonder what it could be?