How to Tire Your Opponent Out in a Boxing Match

One of the most important skills for a boxer to develop is their ability to sap their opponent’s strength through the course of the match, but how do you make someone as well-conditioned as a boxer tire out? Well, there are a lot of ways, but in this article, I’m sharing tips and some of my favorite ways to grind an opponent down and gas them out.

4 Ways To Tire Out Your Opponent

A Consistent Body Attack

Every good coach talks about the importance of ‘digging to the body’ but they are often kind of vague about what that actually means. Basically, the idea is that by constantly hitting certain points on an opponent’s body, namely their liver, solar plexus, and serratus muscles (located on the upper chest to the side and below the pectorals) you will severely limit their ability to generate power to the upper body and disrupt their breathing, stressing their cardio far faster than normal.

Pro Tip: One great way to set up a good shot to the solar plexus is to feint a jab while stepping back. When your opponent chases which they almost always will, lower your level and throw a hard straight directly at their center mass.

Constant Pressure

When you’re in the ring, you’ll want to walk forward and put constant pressure on your opponent. Follow your opponent around the ring and stay close – but not close enough to get hit. Keep a reasonable distance but not far enough that you can’t land a punch. Take advantage of any time you see your opponent back up – step forward and jab. Keep on jabbing and make your opponent uncomfortable.

Cut Off the Ring

Cutting off the space of your opponent gives him very little room to run and evade from your attacks. One way to do this is to move sideways, keeping your opponent in front of you. Doing so prevents him from running around you so he can only move backward into the ropes. He’ll also feel the pressure because he can’t get around you, which is definitely what you’re looking for.

Attack the Arms

This is a favorite trick of Canelo Alvarez that was a key part of his victory against Callum Smith. When you continually target the shoulder of a fighter, you will damage that muscle and make it increasingly uncomfortable to throw punches. However, note that this does not score points, so this strategy is best used as a supplement to a more conventional body attack or when you know you cannot win on points due to a gap in skill, reach, or speed and need a knockout to be victorious.

Sapping Their Strength

All of the best fighters in history have been masters of grinding their opponents down and sapping their strength and ability to fight back, from vicious punchers like Mike Tyson to calculated boxers like Sugar Ray Leonard, they all know that to win a fight you have to break your opponent down. So remember to dig deep and work those body punches!

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