Boxers have to show up for practice regularly and on time. They must live within the constraints of a team. They must be dedicated and budget their time for workouts, not just within the time block of a practice but outside of practice as well. There is little idle time in the life of boxer.

Success in boxing is inconsistent with smoking, drinking, taking drugs, and eating badly. Time that may otherwise have been spent partying or looking for trouble is redirected toward rest, conditioning, and health-consciousness.

Boxers must learn to listen to their coaches and to the more experienced boxers around them. They must learn humility. The must adjust their lifestyles and eating habits. They must learn to endure and push past the aches and pains of constant conditioning. Ultimately, they must summon the courage to step into a ring in front of hundreds of people and perform a difficult skill with poise and control.

Boxing commands good sportsmanship. At a boxing event, you will see boxers compete with great intensity for the several minutes of a bout, only to see them fall into an embrace at the final bell. It is an embrace that signals a boxer’s immense respect for his opponent, a respect you will not see in other sports. There is no trash-talking or posturing. Each boxer knows the pain of preparing and the courage necessary to get in the ring. They respect each other for being there, no matter the outcome of the bout.

Boxing is a sport where a bandage, an extra pound of weight, a single judge’s vote, the lack of a defined waistband, or the spitting out of a mouthpiece can disqualify you after months of hard preparation. The rules are established for safety and fairness, and they are strictly enforced. Boxers with the most checkered of legal backgrounds discover they must learn the rules and abide by them.

Boxers have more self-confidence and less need to prove themselves by reacting physically when confronted or insulted. Boxers with histories of anger management issues and schoolyard fights can be seen counseling younger boxers about how they must not resort to fighting to settle disputes. Some athletes who take up boxing have come from backgrounds where they lacked respect from parents, from peers, and sometimes from society itself. Some have experienced racism, physical abuse, or other traumatic things. But as they learn to box, they discover their own courage and earn the respect of others. The result is a positive self-image.

Amateur boxers are among the best conditioned athletes alive. To box adequately, they must do running, sprinting, heavy bag work, burnouts, ring work, sparring, medicine ball work, weightlifting, and hundreds of crunches.