Aleksandr Usik spoke about the differences between amateur and professional boxing

Ukrainian boxing star Alexander Usyk has spoken about the main shortcomings of boxing schools from the former Soviet Union in professional boxing. This was reported by Zamin.uz.

According to him, the difference between amateur and professional boxing lies not only in the number of rounds, but also in the overall philosophy of the fight and the athlete's preparation style. Usyk emphasized that in our region, boxing has long been built on a system focused solely on scoring points.

In amateur boxing, an athlete believes that the main goal is to land more precise punches over three rounds, accumulate points, and ultimately win by the judges' decision. However, in the professional ring, the situation is completely different: there, maintaining intensity over twelve rounds, increasing punch power, and having the ability to break down an opponent both mentally and physically are of key importance.

In his view, representatives of American and British boxing schools aim to throw every punch as hard as possible, with the intent to defeat the opponent. They may move less in the ring, but they strive to make each attack heavy and impactful.

Usyk explained this with muscle memory: a fighter accustomed to constantly delivering strong punches eventually becomes a truly powerful puncher over time. Therefore, graduates of the former Soviet boxing schools need to shift away from just scoring points in order to adapt to professional boxing—they must prepare for long bouts and powerful punches.

This process requires not only athletes, but also coaches, to reconsider their methods. Achieving high results in professional boxing with old approaches is difficult, as every stage there is a separate test.

One.uz considers these analytical thoughts important for the sports community.