The Boxing Guide: Does Strength Matter In Boxing?

If you are a beginner in boxing, there will be times when you wonder: “Does strength matter in boxing?”. Of course, having powerful punches has an advantage in this sport, but is it sufficient for you to achieve victories? To clarify these questions, we decided to write this article to give readers a complete perspective on the strength of boxing and its role.

What Exactly Is Strength In Boxing?

Strength in boxing can be understood as the maximum weight your punch produces. In other words, great power can help you make a significant impact on your opponent in each hit.

There are many interpretations of power in boxing, and most boxing experts consider it the power of a punch. Therefore, people often find ways to practice and improve their punching strength.

Almost all professional boxers are equipped with their sensors to calculate specific parameters, such as diagonal punch, straight punch, or hook. For semi-professional punches, they typically use stationary sensors to compute their punching power.

What Is The Difference Between Explosive And Power?

You don’t need too much power to win, but the explosion in each match is very crucial to have the edge in your attacking situations. As such, the strength and the explosive in competition are a little different. What is the relationship between them?

As defined above, power is the maximum force you can produce in one punch. It depends on many factors, including the muscles, the punch direction, and the fighter’s physical strength.

In contrast, the explosive means the maximum power your punches generate over a given amount of time.

Let’s discover the reason for this discrepancy! You should note that most boxers can only be excellent at one of the two parameters above, good strength or good explosions. A strong punch will consume more energy and put great pressure on your corn plant. Therefore, it will be difficult for you to unleash many punches with similar power in a short amount of time.

Boxing athletes often tend to choose one type of indicator to pursue. Specifically, tall boxers usually do not have the advantage of speed, so they will focus on improving each punch’s strength. In contrast, shorter boxers may choose to concentrate on improving their explosions.

So, how are they related? The two have a mutual support relationship. Specifically, the explosive is a combination of two factors: power and speed. Therefore, you can completely improve your explosion by increasing the power of each punch. Conversely, performing punching speed exercises can also help you enhance both strength and explosion.

Does Strength Matter In Boxing?

Unlike wrestling, force is not a deciding factor for the athlete to achieve the victories. If your stamina and fighting skills outperform your opponents, you don’t need to have great strength to win.

However, no one can deny the important role of energy in boxing. Here are some of the certain benefits and drawbacks of having power over your opponent.

Strength In Close-range Combat Tactics

One of the factors that affect the importance of strength is the strategy of the game.

The majority of tall boxers often choose fighting tactics at close range and with less movement. They are usually slower and do not have the endurance of shorter fighters. Therefore, their strategy will largely depend on the force. 

Imagine if an opponent locked the ball, you would need to use a lot of might to get out of there. Of course, a guy with a lot of strength would have an advantage in such situations.

On the other hand, the choice of fighting at close range limits their ability to move and their technique. In other words, the player’s power was more useful to them instead of dodging movements.

Strength In Distance Maintenance Tactics

Strength doesn’t play a big role with boxers choosing their fighting strategy based on technique and their ability to move smartly.

Specifically, this tactic allows the fighter to move widely and maintain distance with the opponent with foot movements and tactical shots. Most attack situations will be guerrilla type. That is, you will move wider and take advantage of the opponent’s loopholes to strike in bursts. In this case, the explosive stat is the most important element to win the enemy.

Muhammad Ali is a great example of this playing style. In the match against Sonny Liston, who was rated a lot stronger, Ali used a very effective strategy of keeping distance and moving wide. He disabled Liston’s powers and defeated this opponent after four rounds.

In short, we can conclude that strength is only really important when the strategy you choose is directly related to it. However, whatever your fighting style is, try to power up your punches because there will inevitably be situations where you can make use of it.

Strengths And Endurance – Which Is The Deciding Factor?

Most beginners like to run, move and put their strength into the early game. However, their stamina was only able to maintain in the first one to two rounds. Then, they easily get tired and exhausted. In the final, these punches are almost unable to protect themselves, and they are easily knocked out at sensitive times of each round. Even if not injured, the referee still reserves the right to stop the game if they are no longer able to move.

Boxing matches usually last in time. Specifically, there are a total of 12 matches, and each round lasts 3 minutes. Therefore, this sport requires so tremendous endurance that many experts call each match a marathon. Athletes must ensure fitness and alertness throughout the game if they do not want to be defeated unexpectedly.

In other words, if you do not have good stamina, you will lose. On the contrary, your strength is only a support factor, not essential.

If you are strong but have poor stamina, you may have one or two good sets, but you will most likely get tired. And when you start to feel exhausted, it’s getting more and more difficult to defend yourself against your opponent’s punches. Even if the shots don’t hurt you, the referee can stop the game just because you are not protecting yourself.

A prime example of this situation is the historic match between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather. As you know, Conor dominated the game for the most part. However, Conor began to breathe harder and exhausted at the last moment. He was put under great pressure by Floyd, which gradually got worse. In the end, the referee stopped the game because Conor was unable to continue playing after Floyd’s punch. As a result, we have to admit that endurance is always a decisive factor in a boxing match.

>Read more: Why is boxing called the sweet science?

Conclusion

The above is our full view and relevant knowledge of strength and its importance in boxing. Indeed, its necessity will depend on your strategy and playing style. 

If you are an agile fighter who prefers to use distance strategy, strength may not be of the decisive role. On the contrary, it will be essential for big fists who tend to use the fighting style at close range. We hope this article will help you answer the question “Does strength matter in boxing?”. 

Good luck!