BoxRec

("Brothers" in the fraternal sense, not in the black dude way.)

Does anyone have an opinion on whether young boys should spar their brothers? I don't want to cause any bad feelings for the kids. My beginners' class has twin boys, with the younger (by minutes) being quite noticebly bigger and stronger than than the older one.

Oh, and I know this should go in the training forum, but I'm hoping to get opinions asap.

If one of them if left handed you have hit the jackpot...

And encourage them too spar a lot.

Brothers are very competitive (I know, I have four) and will burn themselves out if you put them against each other IMO.

Sparring is practice. No problem.

Tactical sparring, not regular sparring.

Thanks for the input. I'm still on the fence about it.

It's not that unusual for brothers to spar in my experience. I'd let them have a go, if it doesn't work out you can always stop it. I'm sure it's probably on the brother's minds as well that they may be sparring together.

I think brothers sparring is a good thing, my 2 brothers and myself box and used to spar regulary, its defos more competitive and we would regulary have the whole gym stopping and watching but at the end of the day we would never take it too far.

I remember watching my two brothers doing a exhibition on a show at it ended up as good as any of the fights that night. Gave my mum kittens right enough haha.

I used to spar my brother and we went at it fiercely, to the full entertainment of the coach

There is a story surrounding the Klitschkos that in one sparring session that got very competitive and out of hand that Vitali ended up with a broken leg.

My brothers and I did a lot of touch sparring/technical sparring, call it what you will, but we never sparred hard and I'm glad that was the case. Knowing what we're like, it would have unquestionably led to significant ill-feeling one way or another.

depends very much on the specific situation.
are they equals or is one dominating too much.
if so, is he responsible enough to hold back
when needed.

IMO it must be monitored. with competition,
as you often find with brothers, it can have
some dangerous element. after all "sparring"
can turn into something quite different. pro
boxers might see sparring a 50 dollar club
fighter differently and put much less effort
into it than a younger brother trying to beat
his taller rival.

brothers or not, everyone needs to be mentally prepared for everything they do to
get the most out of it. you spar to sharpen skills. too often coaches just let boxers
beat the living crap out of each other and i never saw what that accomplishes.
a good coach is part psychologist. you don't have to get involved in their personal
lives but make sure they know what to expect and why they are doing it and how to
do it. also, you don't coach little league baseball by whipping fastballs at little kids'
heads. you throw underhand and let them practice in slow motion and then work
up to fast balls and curves. i don't even think young kids should spar for at least 6
months until you have taught them how to throw the punches and protect themselves,
how to move, how to set up punches and finish combinations, and the fitness level to
actually work a full round or two, and have them work drills with each other before
they actually start light supervised sparring.

IRLangmaid25 wrote:There is a story surrounding the Klitschkos that in one sparring session that got very competitive and out of hand that Vitali ended up with a broken leg.

Did they bang shins like the Scottish battlers Ricky Burns and Ronnie Clark?

only with no gloves or gum shield. on a serious note i think it would depend on the lads, only you and your gut feel will know.

palooka wrote:

IRLangmaid25 wrote:There is a story surrounding the Klitschkos that in one sparring session that got very competitive and out of hand that Vitali ended up with a broken leg.

Did they bang shins like the Scottish battlers Ricky Burns and Ronnie Clark?

they were both kickboxers

It was a little unfunny joke sugar; the Klitsko spar must have been very full on to end in broken bones.

palooka wrote:It was a little unfunny joke sugar; the Klitsko spar must have been very full on to end in broken bones.

sorry, my asburgers must be kicking in

sucracristo wrote:

palooka wrote:It was a little unfunny joke sugar; the Klitsko spar must have been very full on to end in broken bones.

sorry, my asburgers must be kicking in

Its not that, you have to have read a Ronnie Clark thread to get the implication.