Breaking news, the importance of weight training for athletes has been on a rise. The potential of athletes to maximize performance can be achieved by supplementing their programs with weight training.  Boxers mind set as always been that weight training will make them slower, bigger, and so on. Let me just tell you that resistance training can only make you better if you follow a few basic facts. So here we go, pay attention:

What is muscle contraction? Just think that every movement your body makes is a result of a muscular contraction.  If you want to get faster and more powerful results you will have to increase the size of the functional unit of muscle tissue. For those of you concerned with getting big, that is hard work and over time, and usually happens after a great deal of effort in attaining maximum muscle mass. Not in this classroom, we are not teaching you to go on a food rampage and weights so let’s get that out of our systems.
Boxers focus on neural training and myosfibril & hypertrophy . There is no reason for you as boxers to train as bodybuilders, so if you have that bodybuilder trainer, please be aware of the difference in training.  Boxers don’t get significant gains in muscle mass, they gain and increase flexibility by doing full range movements during weight training.
Just because there are people that complain about being inflexible when weight training does not mean that much, after all there are people who never held a weight and are inflexible. If you discipline yourself to a stretching routine while weight training you will increase your flexibility, you can take my word on that.
For your general knowledge, boxers don’t focus on being flexible; being excessive in flexibility may be detrimental to force production. The magic sentence is high reps and light weights, the opposite of a weight training discipline, a boxer needs to practice it on occasions and all will be fine.

Think about it this way, jumping rope, running, hitting the heavy bag and so on is all about performing muscular endurance, and when you weight train you should be in a different mindset, this will allow you to develop multiple motor qualities required to become fit. Strength, speed and endurance are in that category, and if you follow a program you will get there.
Your goal to improve your absolute strength is through the training with heavy weights, to increase your speed-strength by moving moderate weights at rapid speeds. The stimulation of fast-twitch muscle fiber will achieve the increase of absolute strength, and speed strength.

Please keep in mind that if you use light weights and high reps you will end up recruiting slow twitch fibers, opposite of what we want to achieve in our weight training.

Force Production by Muscles

1) Motor unit recruitment.                                                                              

All muscle fibers are grouped together as motor units. A motor unit is a nerve and all the muscle fibers innervated by the nerve. All the muscle fibers in a motor unit are the same type. If the fibers are slow twitch in a motor unit the unit is considered a low threshold unit. This unit requires light tension for recruitment. When the fibers are fast within the unit it is considered a high threshold unit. Heavy tension is required for the recruitment of high threshold Motor unit’s. When a motor unit is sufficiently activated the entire pool of fibers contract. If the message from the nerve is too weak nothing happens. This is called the all or none principle. Increasing the number of units recruited greatly increases strength. Beginners usually have little success in recruiting numerous motor units. Advanced athletes have the capabilities of recruiting multiple motor units, which increases force production.                                                            

2) Rate coding.
The firing rate of motor units usually increases with training. This is called rate coding. When a muscle fiber is stimulated it twitches. With increasing nervous system stimulation the twitches begin to overlap. When this happens rate coding is in action, which causes increased force production. When intensity levels are between 50-80% of 1RM increased motor unit recruitment is the main contributor to strength increase. When the intensity level reaches between 80-100% of 1RM in a given movement, the main contributor to increasing force production is the increased firing rate of motor units.             

3) Intramuscular Coordination.
This refers to the body’s ability to maximize the synergist effects that varying muscles display in order to perform a movement
                 

Absolute Strength                                                                                                     

The maximum force an athlete can exert with his or her whole body, or part of the body, irrespective of body size or muscle size. no visible increase in power takes place without a substantial gain in absolute strength. Absolute strength forms the foundation for increasing speed-strength

Speed Strength
Strength divided by time, or force x distance divided by time.  Another way to define speed strength is by the speed of muscle contraction. I would describe it in 2 parts.                                                                               
1) Starting Strength. The ability to turn on as many muscle fibers as possible at the beginning of a movement. (Examples: The snap in throwing a quick knockout punch or the quick release of a NFL ball in a long pass). 
2) Explosive Strength. The application of peak amounts of strength for short periods of time, usually periodically, such as in running, sprinting or quick punching combination. 
Remember that each fighter is different. Many strength coaches fail to appreciate this. The same program will not serve well to every individual fighter. So first understand your weakness and your strengths and work within that frame work. So work on making your weaker point stronger while not compromising on speed.                                                                                                                                                                      

Be well and train proper if you want to achieve your goals, boxing is a mindset that improves your way of life, it did for me.

Its enough to say that the origins of the sport of boxing has its in forms of hand to hand combat derived from the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Records of Classical boxing activity disappeared after the fall of the Roman Empire. The sport would later resurface in England during the early 18th century in the form of bare-knuckle boxing sometimes referred to as prizefighting. Though the start of fist fighting in England coincided with the arrival of the Romans. It was not until the early part of the eighteenth century that boxing became popular as at the British isle. The typical early boxing matches were fought bare knuckles and were no holds barred contests that included wrestling. A circle of spectators formed the “ring”. There was no referee, no rounds, and no time limit. It was a brutal affair with the object to fight until one man was finished, unable to continue he would give up. Bouts routinely lasted for hours and NO tactic was forbidden including, gouging, choking, throwing, and kicking. For many decades no consideration was given to the weight of opponents and there was no official recognition of champions or challengers.

Fisticuffs as a sport began primarily amongst the working class in the British Isles sometimes as a way to settle a dispute. But as the bare knuckle fights gained in popularity the upper classes and even royalty took notice. Wealthy patrons sponsored fighters with cash prizes, built small arenas, and opened schools were the “noble art of self defense” was taught. The ring soon became a square permanently enclosed with wooden rails or a heavy rope.

Boxing as we know it really got on the way with the acknowledgement of Jame Figgs as the first British heavyweight king in 1719. James Figgs who built his Amphitheatre and became the first recognized “boxing champion” was largely responsible for the popularity of the sport, as he traveled around England giving sparring exhibitions. Figg died in 1740 and George Taylor one of his pupils succeeded his championship. Jack Broughton, who is the father of “boxing rules”, succeeded Taylor. In 1734 he invented the boxing gloves, which at the time was used only in sparring Exhibitions and formed the first boxing code, which forbid eye gouging and hitting a fallen opponent when he was down, but left wide latitude for wrestling and rough and tumble fighting

. “Broughton’s Rules” governed boxing from 1734 until 1838, under the reformed named “London Prize Ring Rules”, which stated that a round ended when one fighter went down or his knee touched the ground. Broughton also introduced the idea of blocking and some defense to the sport.

When Broughton passed out of the picture, boxing suffered because it had lost the man who was recognized as “The Father of the English School of Boxing.” Shortly after the death of Broughton “crookedness” crept into the sport. It became known as the period of “the Double Crosses.” The popularity of the sport waned until the appearance of Daniel Mendoza.

Daniel Mendoza, a Spanish-English Jew, was the first prominent Jewish boxer and 16th champion of England, reigning from 1719 to 1795. He was very intelligent and made many contributions to the development of boxing as an art form. Prior to Mendoza success in pugilism relied primarily on brute strength and endurance, rather than scientific finesse. Mendoza devised a system of guarding, sidestepping, and effective use of a straight left jab. His new tactics were extremely successful and he captured the imagination of the British public with his skill. Relying on superior agility and speed he won the British Championship in 1791. His concentration on defense revolutionized boxing.

The next major figure is Tom Cribb who was one of England’s most celebrated champions and won national prominence from his pugilistic feats. He was born on July 8, 1781. He won the British Championship in 1807 by defeating Jim Belcher in 41 rounds. When he defeated Belcher again in 31 rounds in 1809 he was awarded a championship belt.

For many years after prize fighting flourished in England the white man reigned supreme, and it was seldom that a principal with black skin dare fortune in the ring. The first black pugilist of renown was Bill Richmond, the son of a Georgia born slave who drifted North as the property of John Charlton, and the first to cross the Atlantic and display in British Rings the boxing he had learned while fighting on plantations in the south. During 1777, while New York was held by British troops, Richmond by whipping in succession three British soldiers in a tavern attracted the attention of General Earl Percy, who afterwards became the Duke of Northumberland. The British General took Richmond to his homeland, and under his patronage the Negro, who was only a middleweight, defeated several top heavyweights. With a number of victories under his belt, and receiving fame as “the Black Terror”, Richmond challenged top British fighter Tom Cribb but was knocked out by Cribb in 1805.

The next top black fighter of mention is Tom Molineaux, a heavyweight weighing 185 pounds, enjoyed great success in the British prize ring and twice challenged Tom Cribb, losing in consecutive years in 1810 and 1811. In the first match Molineaux was carried out of the ring in the 33rd round and in the second in Cribb knocked him out in 11 rounds. He was the first American to challenge for the British title.

The first “American Champion” was Tom Hyer, whose father Jacob Hyer participated in the first public boxing match under the English prize ring rules in America. The first American championship match was between Tom Hyer and “Yankee” Sullivan for a $5,000 side bet and the championship of America. It took place on Feb 7, 1849, with Hyer the victor in 16 rounds.

The first “World’s Championship took place at Farnsborough, England on April 17, 1860 between the British Champion Tom Sayers and the American champion John C. Heenan. It was the first real “sporting event” to attract celebrity from all parts of England and France, there were members of British parliament present at the match, officers from the Navy and Army, and literary giants such as William Thackeray and Charles Dickens. Special correspondents from America such as the “Police Gazette”, “Leslie’s weekly” and other American newspapers covered it.

The battle was a grueling encounter that lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes. After 37 rounds Sayers began to tire and Heenan rushed Sayers to the ropes. Heenan forced Sayers neck over the top strand of rope and pressed down on his throat with his arms. The partisan of Sayers supporters went wild and stormed the ring and cut the rope. The referee fled the ring and the bout was eventually declared a draw to the dismay of the American Heenan who thought he was winning. Sayers soon retired and Heenan was recognized as “World Boxing Champion.”

Britain’s 1861 “anti-prize fight” act made it a felony to so much as transport persons to the scene of a protected prizefight. Since this meant that anyone from railroad engineers to men who booked boats on the Thames river could face long jail terms, it ended boxing in the United Kingdom for some time.

Most leading British fighters including Jem Mace, emigrated to the United States or Australia, where Larry Foley became Mace’s most successful student. It was Foley who established boxing, first bare-knuckle then Queensbury rules in Australia. Foley’s own star pupil was the “Black Prince” Peter Jackson. In the U.S. British fighters such as Mike McCoole, Tom Allen and Joe Goss helped to establish boxing firmly in America.

In England, prize ring devotee John Sholto Douglas, the ninth Marquees of Queensbury, agreed to sponsor a set of rules, written by Arthur Graham Chambers, to cover gloved contests. These new rules were first put into practice in 1867 in the first “Queensbury Amateur Tournament” and since no prize money was involved it was not subject to the “anti-prize fight” statute. Soon after “tournaments” offering cash prizes for contestants sprang up in the 1870′s.

By the time John L. Sullivan rose to prominence boxing was the most popular sport in the free world. Sullivan, “The Boston Strong Boy” won the World Heavyweight Championship, at least in American eyes, on a 9th round knockout of Paddy Ryan on Feb 7, 1882 in Mississippi City, MS. On May 14, 1883 he faced the British champion Charley Mitchell in New York, at Madison Square Garden and stopped him in the third. The police stopped the fight to keep the battered Mitchell from absorbing more punishment. Even though the victory was convincing and earned Sullivan universal recognition as “World Champion” it had surprised Sullivan’s followers when Mitchell was able to knock down the powerful American in the first round.

Sullivan reigned as bare knuckle heavyweight champion for ten long years and became America’s first true sports hero. Sullivan often remarked, “I can lick any son of a bitch in the house.” America was proud of him and a famous saying of the day was, “I shook the hand, that shook the hand of the mighty John L.” He reportedly earned over $900,000 in his career as a prizefighter, sparring exhibitions and on stage.

James J. Corbett, know as “Gentleman Jim”, upset Sullivan for the World Heavyweight Championship on Sept 7, 1892 in New Orleans, La. The bout was fought under the “Marquis of Queensbury Rules” which stated that bouts must be fought with gloves, a round was to last 3 minutes in length, and it forbid the use of wrestling. Corbett showed that innovative footwork and boxing skills could overcome the raw power and strength of Sullivan when he knocked out the defending champion in the 21st round. Thus began the modern era of boxing.