It’s very common to wear contacts if you have poor vision, but is it allowed in boxing? In this article, I’ll touch on different aspects of this topic and tell you exactly what you can do if you don’t have a clear vision.
So, Can Boxers Wear Contacts?
Boxers are not allowed to wear contacts and boxing authorities completely banned them because their displacement may cause funny visions and serious eye injury in extreme cases. Contact lenses are prone to movements and can easily move around in the eyes, even with a little sparring.
Let’s learn a little more about the rules and what’re the alternatives available for you:
Why Are Contacts Banned in Boxing?
You could wear contacts while training, maybe during drills, but it’s not allowed in boxing and most, if not, all amateur and professional boxing promotions forbid contact lenses because they can be easily displaced from their place, even with a little sparring.
After your Jaw-line and chin area, your eyes balls, and the area around them on your face is one of the main targets for almost every punch that’s being thrown at you.
When a solid punch lands on your face, Most of the time, lenses just move around in the eyes, but sometimes a well-placed hit can make a lens pop out of your eyes, especially when you’re opponent doesn’t want to hold back any of his punching power.
In mild cases, contacts just move to the side of your eyes and your vision goes funny, but a harder punch may force the lenses to go behind your eyeballs. Although this is rare but definitely not a fun thing to try.
Imagine, during a boxing match, you just got a hit on your face and you’re constantly requesting the referee to pause the fight so you can adjust your lenses. 🙂 That’s why contact lenses don’t seem to be a good option and are banned in boxing.
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What Are the Alternatives of Contacts for Boxers?
Here’s some of the most common and recommended ways that are relatively safer and you can try as an alternative for wearing contact lenses in boxing:
1. Use Sports Glasses
You can use prescription glasses that are specially designed for sports use as great alternatives to contact lenses, and ideally, those glasses that are certified to be safe whilst boxing.
In a heavy martial art like boxing where you’re most likely to get many hits on the face, you can’t even think about ordinary glasses because they can easily break into pieces.
Sports glasses come with a polycarbonate frame that can handle the impact of punches without breaking. Also, the lenses are made from unbreakable glass which eliminates the risk of damaging your eyes.
Due to their specialized nature, sports glasses are definitely going to cost you a little more as compared to normal eyewear.
2. Lasik Corrective Eye Surgery
Although Lasik eye surgery is quite expensive but is one of the best options if you really want to box without wearing any contacts or specs.
With the constantly improving medical field, people are able to get their complete and correct vision back through these kinds of eye surgeries. All you need to decide is, do you want your wallet to take the hit or your specks!
3. Training Eyesight Without Contacts
One of the major issues with contact lenses that I think of is, you become almost half-blind after removing the lenses. That’s why practicing without wearing contacts is a great way, especially If you don’t want to get a laser treatment.
Here’s How You Should Train Yourself:
These are some of the training you can try (in the given order) that will surely boost your confidence and help you to adapt to the situation according to your poor eyesight condition.
Let see:
1. Engage with a Punching Bag
This is the first thing you should start practicing with because the bag is not going to fight back. A lot of bag work not only allows you to adapt to the poor vision but also improvises your fighting techniques as per your new circumstances.
2. Try Shadowboxing
Shadowboxing is another great opportunity for you to practice your boxing skills without relying completely on your eyesight. It helps you to train your muscle memory and makes you feel confident in terms of your standing position and the way you throw the punch.
Just focus your attention on the feel of your body and it will do the rest.
3. Practice with a Sparring Partner
Before starting sparring, explain to your partner that you’re trying to train without contacts. Tell them to go slow and easy on you until you start feeling confident.
You should practice each of your techniques separately and gradually increase the pace by adding them all together into an actual fight.
Along with all this training, you can also include some other things like:
Instead of wearing contact lenses all the time, you can shift to specs and use them in essential situations only like driving. If you travel to the gym by public transport, you can take the contacts out as early as possible before your training. So that your eyes will get enough time to adjust.
Definitely, you still going to have a little disadvantage when sparring against your opponent in a real match, but lots of boxers are able to pull this off and you can too. Remember, It will take time to adjust your moves and techniques, so don’t just give up.
Have faith in yourself and keep adding your efforts.
Final Thoughts
Although you can wear lenses while training but not during sparring unless you’re going to wear a bulky head gauge. But:
If you want to get into professional boxing with poor vision, the best advice I can give you is to start training yourself without wearing contact lenses. If your eyesight is too poor for that, you can go with other options like sports glasses or eye surgery.
If you find this article helpful, do share it with your friends and family. Keep up the great work and focus on your training, Cheers Priya!
