Talking about the history of this sport, Individual names of popular boxers always stand out. If you’re wondering do they deserve complete credit for their excellent careers? What about their mates that help them throughout their games? Let see:
So, Is Boxing a Team Sport or an Individual Sport?
Boxing is a solo sport conducted with a group of teammates that work together to help one key person to win the match. Boxer stays active in the fight while other members are passive managing various responsibilities including injury handling, preparation, guidance, and mental support.
In this article, I’ll explain you exactly why teamwork is very important in boxing and how the boxer’s solo performance get lessened if key team members failed to perform:
What is the Importance of Team in Boxing?
With all respect to the hard work and determination of boxers, here’re some other members of the team that offers a significant contribution to the victory:
1. Key Role of Trainers
No one can deny the importance of a trainer especially in a combat sport like boxing where you need to play physical as well as mental games. From the starting phase of the boxers up to the end of the match, the trainer plays a vital role in the boxer’s victory.
You might hear many professional boxers do not even bother to admit that they were completely dependent on their coach to prepare them both physically and mentally.
Boxers get to learn much more things from a trainer than mere boxing techniques and standard rules. They help boxers to design and execute their physical training routine as well as their diet plans, after all, that’s what their job is, right? a big NO!
A good boxing trainer help boxers to build their mindset and attitude towards the game. They break down the sweet science of boxing for you and teach you how to stay calm and make your way during the fight.
Even During the Boxing Match:
The trainer guides the boxer by giving insights on how he should approach the fight and deal with his opponent which might be not possible for the boxer by himself.
Throughout the entire match, the trainer is continuously assisting the boxer, creating various strategies, and giving him the courage to knock their opponent down. When the boxer is almost there to give up, the trainer is the one that helps build confidence in them.
In addition to this, some trainers also perform the role of manager and promoter who take care of various tasks like setting up matches, planning schedules, managing boxing equipment, and finances aspect of boxers.
Basically, a trainer has huge importance in boxing and definitely deserves partial credit for the overall success of the boxer.
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2. What Does a Cutman Do?
A cutman, also known as a cornerman, is a person who stands in the corner of the boxing ring and looks out for the boxer during the entire match.
During highly-intensive boxing matches, boxers are more likely to get physical damage and might need to deal with swelling or cutting skin. In most cases, boxers are heavily dependent on the cutman to deal with all the situations.
In-between the round breaks, the cutman’s task is to apply some vaseline around the boxer’s eyes as well as the whole face to prevent the boxer’s skin from cutting and tearing out due to solid punch with the opponent’s gloves.
Along with this: Cutman is also supposed to handle serious situations like broken nose and bleeding. It’s all up to the cutman to arrange the cartilage and stop the bleeding while giving courage to the boxer to continue the fight even after getting injured.
The cutman is the one who prevents and treats all the damage by taking various majors like applying the ice-cold steel bar on the skin, cutting the swollen eye, etc.
A good cutman understands the boxer’s psychology and knows how to convince him about his physical condition without panicking on the field.
In short, when it comes to physical damage control, almost all the boxers completely rely on their cutman. If the cutman fails to perform, the overall performance of the boxer will be lessened. That’s why the cutman is also one of the important team members that contribute to the final winning.
3. Importance of Sparring Partners
No doubt, sparring is one of the important aspects of the boxer’s training routine that allows boxers to enhance their skills and practice various techniques they are learning throughout the process.
It is the point where boxers can try out different punching combinations and defense strategies and test what actually works for them and what does not. This not only helps boxers to improve their accuracy of punches but also boosts their confidence level.
In professional boxing, having a sparring partner is becoming more important day by day. The sparring partner is nothing but another boxer whose current skills are at an almost similar level or just slightly ahead of a boxer.
The most important task of the sparring partner is to provide the best quality sparring and test him through various attacking combinations without completely overwhelming him. Fighting with a sparring partner help boxers to get mentally prepared for their final match.
They never try to beat the boxer in order to show off how stronger they are or how well they know the game of boxing. They are supposed to push the boxer out of their comfort zone by making them work harder to bring the best out of their training sessions.
Sparring is all about applying the techniques and strategies and not about winning the matches. This allows boxers to tell their sparring partner to attack or defense in a certain way to practice the specific aspect of their skill set.
Final Thoughts
Although, boxing is considered as a solo sport because the boxer is the one that enters the ring and fights for the championship. But their team is also contributing to their journey and definitely deserves a little credit for the victory.
You need to understand, I am not at all denying all the hard work that boxers put into their matches and how they are the most important factor that decides the overall results of the fight, but No matter how well the boxer is even if cutman failed to treat him during the fight, how he’s going to continue the fight further!
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