This is a sport where if you are not ready for the attack, the opponent can and will, surely knock you down. Just like this dialog from a boxing movie 'Rocky' starring Sylvester Stallone; Mickey: Your nose is broken. Rocky: How does it look? Mickey: Ah, it's an improvement. Yes, this is what is the quintessential sport boxing we are talking about here. The likes of Mike Tyson and Cassius Clay aka Muhammad Ali, they have been there done that. These boxers slogged and slogged hard to get to the top. Proper Gear It is extremely significant that you have a good pair of gloves at your disposal at the onset when you want to learn boxing. Apart from that, you would need hand wraps, mouth piece, headgear and shoes. Basic Techniques You would most probably begin with learning what is, in boxing jargon, called a jab. Here is what you do.

• Get in a boxing stance with your lead foot forward.
• With the weight on your toes, take a step forward, and simultaneously throw a straight punch using your lead hand.
• Get your fist back in its original position and repeat.

Once you get the jab, it will serve as a pathway for learning other techniques involved in boxing. One of them is footwork and the other is blocking. Footwork for most part would be taken care of while jabbing, but still you would need to work on that. Blocking will help you know how to block those power packed blows from an opponent. There too, you have to analyze the situation and then block. In addition to this, you also need to attack. So, for attacking, you need to create opportunities to throw that lethal punch. A good punching bag will do the needful for you. Along with this, you need to be mentally prepared to take hard blows as well. That will be developed as you train more and more. Another factor when you are in a ring is preemption. Somewhere down the line, you would be required to anticipate a punch, where in you will need to attack before that. Again, this would be a result of your hard training and love for the sport. There are some more techniques, but they are better left for the trainer to explain and teach! Fitness and Nutrition Imagine you have a great potential, have all the punches, blocks and preemptive methods in your kitty. But you blow it off in just the 3^rd round. Reason? Lack of stamina and requisite endurance. So the point is to be fit as a fiddle and concentrate on maintaining perfect health. This is done by proper nutrition or eating habits, rigorous boxing workouts, and stamina building exercises. For instance eating carbohydrates before training and proteins after training. Running or any other cardiovascular exercise is excellent for improving stamina. Without this, all your mind-boggling boxing skills can go for a toss. Sparring Sparring, in short is fighting it out like an actual boxing contest with a partner. But this a bit of an advanced stage. Sparring gives you a real feel of being in the ring. Fine, you can punch the punching bag to a lump, but are not so good in front of an opponent. The solution for this is sparring. Sans sparring, you would not get any idea about how to go about defending, clinching, and distancing. Last but not the least, you would need a truckload of patience, ye fellas, because boxing is not child's play. It is a sport where you should be ready to take blows in the same spirit as you are to throw punches. It is all a part of the game.