Ask most people what is the toughest sport and they will tell you “it depends.” There’s a case to be made for Brazilian jiu-jitsu because of the physical demands and the endurance, but there’s also the mental side of the equation as well. An athlete that is an expert in track and field will tell you that that is the most difficult sport, but there is a major case to be made for one sport above all others: boxing. Why is boxing, hands down, the toughest sport out there?
The Real Risk of Injury
With so many contact sports out there, there is always a risk of injury but not necessarily in the same way as boxing is. If you look at a sport like football, there’s a significant amount of tackling but with the appropriate headgear. Look to the other side of the pond and a sport like rugby, which has minimal protective gear, can result in a huge amount of concussions, cuts, and bruises, at the very least.
In terms of boxing, second per second, the volume of physical contact is way much more than other sports out there. There’s plenty of protective gear that can minimize risks, like Hayabusa fight gear, but looking at the sheer volume of physical contact and boxing literally outweighs the rest. The volume of weight behind a punch that’s intended to knock the other fighter out is something that lay people should avoid at all costs.
The Mental Workout
Any professional sportsperson will talk about the pressures heaped upon them in terms of physical preparation and dealing with criticism inside the sport and outside, but with boxing there’s an extra angle to consider. Because an athlete needs to have that mental endurance to last the full 12 rounds and studying the opponent’s technique while also ensuring that they stay composed under the very unique pressure of someone threatening to kill you with their eyes is a lot to contend with.
There are a ton of mental battles at play. Before you even throw a punch there is the intimidation factor. You either need to intimidate them or not kowtow to their intimidations. But there is also the chess-like component of boxing that forces each fighter to anticipate the next person’s move, avoid and provide a counterattack while also looking at wearing them out. This all needs to be done in a split second or less. Because boxing is not just about throwing your weight behind a punch but about those mind games that the greats did so well, it is something that we can only stand back and admire. It’s easy to think of boxers as meatheads but the numerous mental skills at play should not be overlooked.
The Lack of a Team
A boxer will have a support network but comparing it to something like soccer, there is no support system; it is all down to them at the end of the day to take responsibility for their successes and failures in the ring. This means having complete intuition of oneself. Understanding your weaknesses and strengths while ensuring those weaknesses are not exploited will invariably pile on the pressure. A boxer can spend months undergoing grueling training camps that push them to their limits only to find themselves completely overwhelmed by the situation when they get into the ring.
Because a fighter is purely responsible for themselves when they strip away all of the window dressing, this can make it one of the toughest challenges of an athlete’s life. If a boxer loses, they have to take responsibility for every single thing that went wrong and they cannot blame their training regime or other external circumstances. It’s a sport that forces people to grow up quickly and develop emotional resilience. One defeat can have an impact on a fighter’s mental state and hinder their confidence. There is, literally and figuratively, nowhere to hide.
The Weight Management
The most taxing elements on a fighter’s body might not necessarily be to do with enduring injuries but actually maintaining a specific weight class. Many boxers need to ensure that they are at the upper reaches of their weight class so they can have an advantage over their opponent and have more strength behind those punches, but if they then end up being overweight they will not be part of that weight class and therefore will need to get back down ready for the weighing. This means having a greater understanding of one’s body and recognizing how easy or difficult it can be to undergo weight cutting.
Couple this with the intense training regime that requires a significant amount of protein and calories in order to develop muscle and strength and there is a major battle on your hands. Fighters who train themselves to the bone but then are attempting to lose weight can invariably fatigue themselves. Therefore having the right degree of nutrition in combination with intense training can be almost too much to bear. It’s not just the physical components, but the mental exhaustion that can occur with having to put your body through so much and then have a strict diet that may not give you that sense of satiety.
The Adaptation to Opponents
Unlike sports like martial arts where you can utilize gravity to use an opponent’s strength or weight against them, a great boxer needs to change their fighting style and strategies to take advantage of their strengths and develop new skills, while also exploiting opponents’ weaknesses.
The analytical side of the equation can be, as already mentioned, an overlooked aspect of the sport. There is a lot of mental skill involved but you have to adapt to an opponent’s fighting style throughout the match, but also undertake a vast amount of research at the outset to preempt what the opponent will throw at you.
Boxing is, hands down, the toughest sport due to numerous risks, but as it is the toughest one out there, it also can result in far more development not just physically but in terms of respect, confidence, discipline, and determination.