Fitness: Boxing vs Other Sports

Watching Andy Murray's excellent win last night (big congrats to him, wish he'd done it quicker I was knackered this morning!) and I was massively impressed with the fitness levels out there. Murray has played 6 matches in 12 days to win the US Open, Djokovic played a semi and then the final on consecutive days yet the standard of tennis, as well as the physicality of the game (speed, athleticism, power shots on show) were exceptional. 

Conversely you have football, my top sport, where for me the players are soft by comparison. If they were asked to play 6 times in 12 days there's be outrage, despite a match only being 90mins and having the team element which means you get more breathers (average player runs 10k per game, I do 15k 4 times a week for fun). Plus a team sport gives you places to hide which I think makes it less mentally draining. 

So where does boxing fit in all this? I've always considered it to be perhaps the hardest of sports, the loneliness of it, the intensity of the training, the potential for serious injury. Now I'm not as sure - the physical endurance required on the tennis circuit is close, and it has the lonely competitor factor, and they're much more active than modern fighters who train for possibly 20 weeks a year? And how does boxing compare against other sports - we've seen the behind the scenes dedication required to become a top Olympian this summer - Bolt, Phelps, Hoy, Farah, Wiggins - are they at a higher level physically and mentally than the average fighter?

Be interested to here some opinions on where (modern) pro boxing stands.

We get guys coming into the gym that are "fit". Maybe they do other sports, maybe they lift a lot of weights and are muscular. Regardless of what they do and how fit they are, by the end of the training session they're lying on the canvas blowing out their arses

Being muscular doesn't make you fit, it requires more oxygen to keep muscles working properly which is why sprinters are muscular but long distance guys are like whippets, and why overly muscular boxers like Haye have poor engines.

Great post!

Boxing is the ultimate in sports training. More to come after lunch!

Interesting article, Sugar Boy. Have to admit I'm pretty useless at work today as well thanks to Murray making it a bit harder for himself than he need have last night.

I've tried to come to some kind of conclusion on this matter before, and I think that any fan of just about all of the sports you've mentioned could formulate a decent argument as to why their own favourite discipline is the toughest of the lot. But the more time that passes, the more I find myself thinking that it's really just swings and roundabouts, with no real way to say which one outdoes the other; some boxers will be fitter than tennis players, some not so, some will be fitter than triathletes, some not so, some will be fitter than rugby players, cyclists and footballers, some not so.

Besides, the lines between being insanely fit and being 'healthy' per sé can be blurred now and then; Rafael Nadal, to win the Australian Open in 2009, played eleven hours of tennis within a forty-eight hour span, against top opposition, in the middle of a Melbourne summer. A super-human feat, and a scary demonstration of endurance and cardio-vascular fitness, and yet his body still betrays him in so many others ways, and has done right throughout his career.

I think the fact that some boxers can go so long without fighting means that, now and then, they may lag behind a few of the aforementioned athlets, but at the same time I believe that the training itself may well be the most gruelling on offer, firstly as it's crammed in to such a (relatively) short time span. For year-round training you can reach a happy medium, but when you're training to peak for a certain moment, there's no coasting which can be afforded.

Moreover, certain styles of fighters are going to need to be in finer fettle than others to succeed. As anyone who's ever been near a ring will tell you, getting leaned on by the bigger man doesn't makehalf make the work harder. What if you're a fighter who needs to get around the ring, rather than hold the centre of it? What if you prefer sheer volume of punches over quality? Just too many variables to give a definitive answer either way, I think.

To succeed in boxing you need to be in top shape, much as you do in other sports - probably best and fairest to leave it at that.

I think you're right about how soft footballers are. Fit, yes, but also pathetic prima-donnas.

Think you're a little harsh though when comparing against tennis and saying team sports have more breathers. Not to detract anything from tennis but they stop for a sit down and a banana every few games and in between sets have a proper sit down and rest. Plus the amount of energy expended taking all that time to dawdle around, then bounce the ball 10 times, then serve is rest time every bit as much as a team player when not caught up in the action.

TopHat24/7 wrote:I think you're right about how soft footballers are. Fit, yes, but also pathetic prima-donnas.

Whilst I agree with the latter,I think we forget how intensive football at the top level is. That said, I have always found it a bit strange that players seem to cramp so easily when playing longer than 90 minutes.

You running 15k is totally different to a footballer running 10k. They'll do the 10k in short burst which is much tougher than a steady jog.

It is impossible to put a measure on fitness, as different sports require different skill sets. Ask Usain Bolt to run 10 x 200m and I am sure he will do it fine, ask him to run 10 mile and I am sure he will struggle, doesnt mean Mo Farah is fitter than him though.

In my experience the toughest training I have completed is sprint training. A session that looks something like 4 x 300m, 4 x 150m and 2 x 100m with some p-metrics at the end leaves you feeling half dead.

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trottb wrote:

TopHat24/7 wrote:I think you're right about how soft footballers are. Fit, yes, but also pathetic prima-donnas.

Whilst I agree with the latter,I think we forget how intensive football at the top level is. That said, I have always found it a bit strange that players seem to cramp so easily when playing longer than 90 minutes.

I'm not saying it isn't, which is why they are all in general fit (save some fat Brazillians which seem to get in United's team [you know who you are, Anderson....Da Silvas...]) but 3 games in 1 week shouldn't be such a problem. Especially as training is only a few hours a day and less intense than, say, boxing training.

Can you imagine Rooney or Lampard turning up to training and SAF/RDM saying "right, quick warm-up, 7 mile road run, see you back here in an hour or so"??.

Lumbering_Jack wrote:You running 15k is totally different to a footballer running 10k. They'll do the 10k in short burst which is much tougher than a steady jog.

I know that, I've played football to a pretty decent standard all my life save the last 2 years (own business & baby prohibiting!). I'm not knocking footballers per se, there are mitigating factors - its basically 10k of intensive interval training with a bit of physical jostling thrown in, and the season is 9 months without a break so you can appreciate the cumulative effect playing lots of games close up will have. But I think they are certainly (generally) mentally weaker in their attitude - pulling out due to minor niggles, the resentment toward fixture congestion etc. and I wouldn't say the sport is any harder than most others - I've not played much tennis but I was in a squash league for 5 years at uni and 45 minutes of that is harder than a half of football I'd say.

How about Rugby league players? I have always thought that they are supremely fit.

rugby is indeed a very fit sport - certain positions more than others and tennis players are regarded as very fit athletes. things like cycling require a high resistance to lactic acid.

to say footballers run 10k is misleading by the author. im sure you're aware that running 15k is far easier than running 10k in a football match - sprinting, jumping, tackling, falling, changing direction are incredibly hard to keep up.

i could run for say...30 mins without trouble and i'd be more tired after 10 minutes of football easily.

what you have to consider however is the incredible amount of punishment boxers put their bodies through - both with training, sparring, fighting and of course making weight.

You're right sweetie......Boxing is hard hard work.....

Couldn't believe how even after.. road work..weights and sparring I got tired so early in my first fight!!!

god knows how people used to go 15 in this business.....

Boxers to me are the fittest guys on the planet..

Elite Boxers and MMA fighters. Rugby league. Australian rules soccer.................... Decathletes!!

OasisBFC wrote: to say footballers run 10k is misleading by the author. im sure you're aware that running 15k is far easier than running 10k in a football match - sprinting, jumping, tackling, falling, changing direction are incredibly hard to keep up.

Agree and already addressed that matter in a subsequent post:

Sugar Boy Sweetie wrote:

Lumbering_Jack wrote:You running 15k is totally different to a footballer running 10k. They'll do the 10k in short burst which is much tougher than a steady jog.

I know that, I've played football to a pretty decent standard all my life save the last 2 years (own business & baby prohibiting!). I'm not knocking footballers per se, there are mitigating factors - its basically 10k of intensive interval training with a bit of physical jostling thrown in, and the season is 9 months without a break so you can appreciate the cumulative effect playing lots of games close up will have. But I think they are certainly (generally) mentally weaker in their attitude - pulling out due to minor niggles, the resentment toward fixture congestion etc. and I wouldn't say the sport is any harder than most others.

Plenty of mentally weak Boxers too.....

Not sure you can reach the top in soccer these days without being tough mentally...

Think Boxers are physically harder.......but not sure they are mentally stronger per se...

It's far too broad a scope to generalise between different sports but road cyclists, rowers, long distance runners and squash players are the ones that stand out as being supremely fit with incredible body physiology.

Certainly have a point there Ghosty..

However I suppose at the end of the day it's hard to judge as each sport brings it's own pressures....

horses for courses

its much harder to push yourself through when your nackered when someone is punching you in the face.

i would go as far to say boxing is THE toughest sport (although i do beleive that) but you certainly get punished more when you do succumb to physical angish.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Plenty of mentally weak Boxers too.....

Not sure you can reach the top in soccer these days without being tough mentally...
...

Really? Rooney's form seems to dip dramatically when he has off field issues (see the last world cup) thers also countless cases of players asking not to play cause "their heads not right" being a prima donna seems to be the opposite of mentally strong, then there's the like of Joey Barton....

Fitness can be many things, as a previous poster has alluded to both Usain Bolt and Mo Farrah are very fit guys but in different ways, different sports require different types of fitness so the realityy is you are never comparing like for like when comparing fitness levels of different sports.

I remember a few years back in a magazine there was some sort of fitness challenge and from memory it involved Ricky hatton, David Coulthard (ex F1 driver), a cyclist and a few others, various tests were carried out, stamina, speed, strength etc and the winner was suprisingly David Coulthard, i for one was surprised but suppose it shows the level of fitness these guys need to withstand the g force's etc..

I think if if Usain Bolt had someone chasing him down the track with a knife he would be a little more knacked when he crossed the line. Most sports don't have the to deal with the fear that boxers face in the ring which will sap your energy in no time if you let it.

Cross country skiers are the fittest in terms of cardiovascular.

Triathletes are unreal. Absolutely freakish powers of endurance and CV fitness.

alma wrote:

seanmichaels wrote:Cross country skiers are the fittest in terms of cardiovascular.

That makes sense. What about tri-athletes?

Resting heart rate of 28 - 40 beats per min. I think the docs would switch me off if mine got that low.

Being hit must take it out of you. Have been nursing 2 cracked ribs for the last 5 weeks. Still need assistance getting out of bed somedays. How froch allegedly fought with cracked ribs I don't know

seanmichaels wrote:

alma wrote:

seanmichaels wrote:Cross country skiers are the fittest in terms of cardiovascular.

That makes sense. What about tri-athletes?

Resting heart rate of 28 - 40 beats per min. I think the docs would switch me off if mine got that low.

Being hit must take it out of you. Have been nursing 2 cracked ribs for the last 5 weeks. Still need assistance getting out of bed somedays. How froch allegedly fought with cracked ribs I don't know

He's lying, no way you could fight with cracked ribs.

I've a resting heart rate of 50bpm and a friend who sits around 60. He still quite comfortably beats me when we run/cycle/sprint.

Funnily enough the Mrs has a heart rate of 42... I do give her lots of exercise though

Toughest training for me is sprint training. I cant compare to a marathon as the furthest i've ran is about 10 mile but the run felt like a walk in the park. Likewise I have cycled 100+ miles and it is a doddle compared to sprinting...

Agree with Sean on ski-ing, very tough indeed.

At least your Mrs has a heart!!

footballers may feign injury to get advantage.....(.Luis santana..Max schmelling..yung kil chung)...

But you have to be strong mentally....

Football is a harder egg to break..huge competition..

Better not to generalise...