BOXING SKILLS 101 -

ELITE BOXING SKILLS: By Brian W. Zelley, B. Com, CA

The road to an Olympic medal is paved with years of training to fine tune the skills that must be present.

Many boxers in the past have travelled the road of acquiring a broad range of ring skills,
travelled the road to compete against quality opponents and still fall short
of being selected for a National team to compete in a major International tournament
for a variety of reasons that go beyond skill and ability such as injury or a brief fall from
dedicated training or sometimes the luck or bad luck of a draw or an elinination tournament
like the Canadian Senior/Elte National Box-Off "dance" that is played out. Sometimes for the
non-super heavyweights
it could be a sudden change in weight that eliminates a candidate from viable competition.

Some of the team members may not have perfection in all of the skills, but often this is made-up with
dedication and determination and the ability to fight through and over the many barriers.

THE IDEAL BOXER for OLYMPIC SUCCESS

.Demonstration of all the required boxing skills - adequate stance, adequate footwork and movement,
the proper use of all the punches and the ability to throw them in a variety of combinations, wide range of defensive skills,
and if possible the efficient and effective use of special techniques such as feinting, the ability to go at a rapid pace for three rounds, and the ability to fight effectively against a wide range of skilled boxers, and the ability to change strategy during a bout or a combination.

WHEN TO START

The time to start working on the elite boxing skills is day one. Often, due to limited coaching staff,
or coaches that may not have mastered the ability to demonstrate all boxing skills, or other reasons,
boxers are being rushed into using skills before the basic requirements are mastered.

AN EXAMPLE:

In 1985, although I was no longer an official coach and serving as an official in British Columbia, I still
visited a local club where I had been coaching. Boxers were preparing for a Diamond Belt Tournament
and I agreed to work with one boxer that did not have all of the ring skills necessary. After two weeks, the boxer
had fine tuned his footwork and movement, eliminated all of the awkward punches and was ready to fight
with just the basics - straight punches with emphasis of the jab, blocking skills without resorting to
ineffective footwork and avoiding the use of hooks and uppercuts. He stuck to basics and won his fight
and was singled out for the news story in the local newspaper with the headlines
- " xxxxxx In Ring Shocker At Diamond Belt Meet"
"Victoria boxer xxxx pulled off a big surprise Saturday night when he defeated Vancouver's yyyyyyyy..."

",,,,,yyyyy couldn't come up with the punching power nor the speed to overcome
the developing skills of xxxxx" - Times=Colonist, Monday January 21, 1985.