Since you’re reading this article you’re probably considering trying boxing. No matter if you want to lose weight, to get into shape, or just to have some fun, I think boxing is the right choice for you.
That’s why I am going to give you all the possible reasons and benefits from starting boxing which will make you choose it over other sports. So let’s dive into them:
If you want to start boxing any time soon, make sure to check out my article How to Find a Good Boxing Gym – The Ultimate Guide.
1. Fat loss
The boxing workout is great for fat loss. Almost every boxing exercise will make you sweat. No matter if you’re doing heavy bag work, mitt work, jumping rope, sparring, push-ups or even shadowboxing, you’re going to burn calories.
You can lose 3-4 pounds in a single workout if it’s intense enough. Which is much more than a regular workout in the gym, even if you do mainly cardio exercises.
2. Self-defense
There are many sports that can help you defend yourself. But I think boxing is the most effective one, especially when facing more than one attacker. Because when fighting with multiple attackers, the last thing you want is to get the fight to the ground. Because if someone of your opponents manages to take you down the others can start kicking you or just smash you.
So combat sports such as wrestling or BJJ are ineffective in such situations. Even kickboxing can be ineffective because your opponents can catch some of your kicks and take you down. On the other hand, boxing teaches you how to defend yourself in a standup position using only your hands, head movement and footwork.
And if don’t really want to hurt your attacker, you can defend yourself by simply blocking the shots and using your footwork to create a distance until the aggressor exhaust himself.
3. Improving reflexes
Boxing requires good reflexes and timing. You need those skills no matter if you’re trying to land shots or trying to block or slip punches.
At first, you’re probably won’t have great reflexes but you will improve them over time. The speed bag and the sparring are the best way to do that. You will see the difference after just a few workouts.
If you want to improve your boxing skills, I highly recommend checking out this: Boxing Workout routine – free pdf file (more than 50 drills)
4. Increasing your strength
Although it’s not necessary to be strong to be a good boxer, you will probably gain some strength while training for boxing.
Especially when doing exercises such as weighted shadowboxing, push-ups, pull-ups or medicine ball throwing.
5. Physical toughness
Every time after we finished with the sparring, our coach always told us to do abs conditioning. And that was simply punching each other in the abs, (with roughly 60% power) for 30 seconds.
Such exercises make you physically tougher and more durable.
6. Speed
You’re not going to improve only your hand speed if you start boxing. You’re going to be much faster also with your footwork and with your head movement. To improve their speed, boxers do exercises such as sprinting, footwork drills, speed bag work, and double-end bag work.
7. Coordination and body awareness
By training for boxing, you’re going to improve your eye-hand coordination and your body awareness (understanding of where the limbs are in the space). And that can be really helpful not only in other sports but also in your daily life.
The best boxing exercises to improve your coordination are shadowboxing, jumping rope, footwork drills and speed bag work.
8. You’ll start feeling more confident
The ultimate goal of the combat sports/martial arts is not having to use them. After you gain some experience in boxing and you become aware that you can hurt other people, you will become much more confident but you will also try to resolve conflicts peacefully.
Also, you’ll start feeling and looking better because you’re working out regularly which will also boost your confidence.
9. Everybody can do boxing
It’s never too late or too early to start boxing, no matter how old or young you are. Also, you can box regardless of your physical shape, how tall or how short you are.
There’s a lady, named Terri Moss who was 34 years old, overweight and depressed before starting boxing. Her goal was just to lose weight but after a few time she fell in love with the sport and not only she lost weight but after several years, she became a world champion at age of 42.
And even if you’re much older, than her you can still start boxing. I remember a guy in the gym who was 45-46 and trained with father who was 71. Obviously, you can’t compete, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it to get into shape.
Many people think that they just don’t belong to that sport, but that can’t be further from the truth. Boxing is for everybody who wants to train and improve himself. If you can make a fist, to get your hands up and to move, you can box.
10. Boxing is a fun sport
Almost everything related to boxing is really fun. Sparring are fun, heavy bag and speed bag work are fun, jumping rope etc. Some people (like myself), even enjoy talking about boxing (actually that was the reason I created this website). I know many people who came to the gym for the first time, who said that that was the funniest workout they’ve ever done.
11. Knowledge
Imagine how much boxing knowledge you will gain after only several weeks of training. That will help you to recognize the different styles and techniques when watching boxing. Thus you’ll understand what actually happens in the fights and it will be much more entertaining to watch boxing. And you can impress your friends, while watching boxing matches together, with your knowledge.
That will be appreciated the most from boxing fans who never have an opportunity to box before. That was my case – I was a big fan of the sport for many years but never trained in a gym.
Actually, I was thinking I understand boxing only by watching it on TV or watching boxing breakdowns on YouTube. But after I started boxing and got involved in real boxing fights, then my boxing knowledge has increased the most because I saw the sport from a first-person view.
12. Boxing boosts your stamina
Having a good stamina is crucial when it comes to boxing. The pros have to box for 12 rounds, 3 minutes each. That’s 36 minutes of throwing punches, defending and moving (and even grappling in the clinches). Also, take into account that they are in a stressful situation so they gas out even quicker.
That’s why boxers focus so much on their cardio by doing exercises such as running, sprinting, swimming, jumping rope, etc.
13. When doing boxing you train like a real athlete
Boxing is about attacking and defending at the same time. That’s really hard and requires different skills and abilities. That’s why boxers do so many exercises for conditioning (push-ups, sit-ups, running, swimming, jumping rope, etc).
When training for boxing, you do all these drills so you can feel the intensity of a real athlete workout.
14. You can choose your level
It’s not necessary for all people who start boxing to become pros or even compare in amateur bouts. You can decide if you’re going to box just to get into shape, to lose some weight, for fun or for a living. You can choose your level of involvement – do you want to train 2-3 times per week or you want to train almost every day and someday maybe even to compete?
15. Opportunity for starting a career
If you think you can do it, and you find out that you’re talented, there’s a chance to start a career in boxing and make good money. As you see from the example above, it’s not 100% necessary to be very young to start a successful career.
But if you really want to become a boxer I recommend starting as an amateur by finding a real boxing gym who has an amateur team. If you aren’t sure how to find a good boxing gym, read my guide here:
16. Making money
If aren’t talented enough to start a boxing career or you don’t want to but you have experience and knowledge, you can still make some money from boxing by betting.
Although I don’t like and don’t recommend gambling, boxing is actually a good sport to bet on, compared to other popular combat sports such as Muay Thai, kickboxing, or MMA. Because in boxing, where only punching is allowed, chances to happen something crazy are much smaller, which means that the risk is smaller.
Meanwhile, for example, in MMA /kickboxing your favorite can get submitted or knocked out for a split of the second by a head kick, even he is winning the fight. So it isn’t so risky to bet on boxing of course as long as you understand the game and know the fighters.
17. Training other people
After you gain some experience in boxing and start to understand pretty well, but you can’t or won’t compete, you can become a boxing coach.
There are plenty of gyms, looking for trainers. Of course, there are special skills required to be a good coach. You need to be patient, to be able to communicate with different people etc.
Some people are very skilled and smart boxers but they just aren’t good trainers. While others are better in explaining things and teaching others than doing it. If you think you’re the second type, you may have future as a boxing coach (which is an actually a fun and a high-paying job).
18. Anti-anger therapy
After a long day at work, there wasn’t better anti-anger therapy for me than hitting the heavy bag with full power. You can try basketball, tennis or running, but you will never find a better sport for stress relief than boxing.
The stress, the anger, and all the negative emotions literally disappear after several rounds on the heavy bag or after a sparring session. You’ll become much calmer and friendly with everyone around you after a hard sparring or a hard and sweaty workout. That’s why, unlike most people think, most of the boxers are actually nonviolent people.
19. Background for other sports
Boxing is one of the best backgrounds for MMA. But boxing training can help you also in many non-fighting related sports.
For example, the footwork in boxing is very similar to the footwork in fencing – in both sports, you need to step with your front foot first when going forward and with your back foot first when going back. The only difference is that, unlike in boxing, in fencing, there are not lateral movements.
Boxing also improves your rhythm, which can be helpful if you want to start dancing for example. Or the ability to generate huge power in your arms can be useful in sports such as baseball or even golf.
20. Boxers are cool
The boxers, the MMA fighters, the kickboxers are the modern gladiators. That’s why they are so admired. After you mention that you box, everybody will start showing more interest in you and start asking some (most of the times stupid) questions.
Also, imagine how hard you’ll be able to hit those punching power machines if you worked on your punching power on the heavy bag. Everyone in the bar would be impressed 🙂
21. Earn respect
Boxers are admired but they’re also respected. After they know you box, your coworkers/classmates or even your boss, will think twice next time, before saying something provoking or irritating to you.
22. Boxing teaches you to respect others
Chances are you won’t win every sparring. Sometimes you will get outclassed. But that’s completely ok. That will teach you that different people have different talents and skills. So you’ll start respecting their personalities, their styles much more. That way boxing teaches you humility.
23. Find new friends
I found many friends in the boxing gym, (especially after hard sparring where we were beating ourselves up). And we’re still keeping in touch with the most of them.
Also, I had a really hard time finding people who are passionate about boxing like me in daily life. Most of my friends or coworkers weren’t interested in boxing at all, so there was no one with whom I can discuss the last fights, to speak about cool boxing techniques I saw, etc.
But that changed when I actually stopped just watching boxing and started training. I found pals, with whom I can speak about boxing, box and go to boxing events.
24. Mental strength
Imagine a boxer who wants to revenge a devastating knockout loss. He is probably full of fear but he is going to fight anyway. That boxer is taking a huge risk – if he loses again, he will be devastated. But if he wins, chances are he will feel awesome.
That is the way a person can become mentally strong – by directly facing your fears.
I am not saying you’re going to be in a similar situation, but sometimes even the simple sparring with someone stronger or better than you can be an opportunity to overcome your fear and become mentally stronger.
25. Core stability
Boxing requires good stance. By practicing boxing long enough, that will strengthen your core muscles, which will help you improve your posture for a healthy back.
26. Discipline
Boxing teaches discipline. If you want to progress in this sport, you need to be consistent, to never give up, (no matter how exhausting and hard the exercises are), to listen to your coach and to respect your training partners. There aren’t many sports that teach you such discipline.
27. It’s a great hobby
If you don’t know what to do with your free time, maybe boxing is the hobby you need. Also, I think that it’s a great family sport. Especially for fathers and sons who want to get closer with each other (I noticed many father and sons who train together when I visited different boxing gyms).
28. Boxing teaches you to withstand pain
After several sparring sessions, you will realize that you ain’t made from glass and you’re able to withstand much more pain than you think. And it’s not only the physical pain caused by the punches and the exhausting exercises. You will also experience mental pain. Your brain will often tell you that you can’t do it and you need to rest. These are the moments when you need to keep going – that way the champions are made.
29. Boxing teaches you how to lose like a sportsman
Often you will get outboxed in sparring. That’s completely normal and it happens even to the world champions. Yes, they win in the ring, but I guarantee that sometimes they get beat up in sparring, where there are no cameras. But no matter if they win or lose, in the ring or in the gym, the real champions always show respect to their opponent.
And that is what boxing teaches you – to be humble and respectful no matter if you win or lose. That’s why you touch gloves with your sparring partner before and after every sparring session. And that’s really important not only in sport but also in different situations in your life.
30. It teaches you to be patient
Nobody becomes good in boxing overnight. Chances are you will need some time before you start getting good. This sport can be really frustrating before you start moving smoothly, throwing punches with proper technique, start seeing the shots coming to your face etc. It will take many hours of shadowboxing, sparring and working on the heavy bag. But if you’re consistent and patient enough, it will happen.
It will also take some time before coaches start noticing you and start paying more attention to you. They probably have seen hundreds of people who start boxing and quit after several weeks. So they will want to see if you’re serious and paying more attention to you, and showing you advanced techniques (not just the basic ones) isn’t a waste of time.
31. It teaches you self-control
There is one more type of patience, that you will need in boxing, and that’s a patience in the ring. As you gain some experience you will become much more patient, you will learn how to control yourself. You’ll stop rushing things during a fight (which often cost the inexperienced fighters a loss).
32. You will know your limits
If you never pushed yourself to your limits you will never know them. That’s the case with many untrained people. They don’t know what they can do and what they can’t, simply because they live in their comfort zone. On the other hand, athletes such as the boxers know exactly what they can and how they can do it. And that knowledge is very important (especially when you’re in extreme situations).
33. Deal with fear
Every boxer feels afraid before entering in the ring. Even Myke Tyson said, that before his fights, he was really afraid of losing, of being hurt badly, of being humiliated, etc. But that didn’t stop him from fighting like a champ.
Feeling that way is understandable – you need to fight with someone who is trained to hurt other people. So to be good at boxing you need to learn how to control your fear. As many coaches say, fear is like fire – it can warm you, but if you let it go out of control it will burn you.
That means that, when it’s controlled, the fear is actually a good thing. When you’re afraid that will keep you aware of the skill set of your opponents and you will never underestimate them.
34. Boxing teaches you to appreciate the safety
You will never take the safety for granted after you find yourself in a dangerous situation. And to be in the ring with someone who tries to punch you in the face is definitely such a situation. After you box for a while, the daily problems you worried about may no longer seem like a big deal.
35. It teaches you not to give up easily
In boxing, there aren’t easy wins. Even the quickest knockouts are a product of endless hours spent in the gym.
But the close fights are the ones that really test you and teach you not to quit. No matter if they’re losing boxers never stop to believe they can win (which sometimes can be really hard). They believe in their coaches, in the hours of training and preparation, in their game plan. But most importantly, they never stop to believe in themselves and in their ability to execute the gameplan and to change the outcome of the fight.
36. You can train boxing everywhere without any equipment
Unlike many other sports, you can train for boxing everywhere. You can shadowbox at home or at any place (as long as you have privacy) and you can do conditioning exercises such as push-ups or sprints almost anywhere.
Also, after you’re done with the hard work and you’re exhausted, you can still get inspiration for new techniques, tactics, and exercises by watching videos on YouTube.
37. Boxing will make you live healthier
Chances are you won’t eat junk foods, drink alcohol or take drugs if you’re going to have a sparring session on the next day. Because if you aren’t in a good shape, you may get beaten up.
You will start eating healthier, sleep more and train more. I remember how I went running late at night to improve my cardio, so I can perform better in my next sparring session. That way boxing puts a positive pressure on you and makes you live healthier.