Guide

In 1890 the London dentist Woolf Krause shaped the first dental protection for his boxing patients, a strip of gutta-percha laid over the incisors. The principle has not changed: a material that softens with heat and takes the imprint of the teeth. This guide gives the exact temperature and immersion time, the four mistakes that ruin a fit, the real difference between single and double, what to do with braces, and the care routine that decides how long it lasts.

The Kronk Gym in Detroit was only the overheated basement of a municipal recreation centre, and more than thirty world champions came out of it. The room does not make the gym, the layout does. This guide gives the numbers: 4, 6 or 8 m² depending on the setup, how to calculate ceiling height from bag length, the mat thickness each type of work calls for, how noise works in a shared building, the buying order and three real budgets.

Lewiston, 25 May 1965: Muhammad Ali drops Sonny Liston with a right hand so short that part of the crowd insists it never landed. Power in boxing does not come from how far the arm travels, but from body rotation and timing. Jab, cross, hook, uppercut: this guide covers the six punches numbered 1 to 6, the core combinations, the gear that develops them and the punches the rulebook forbids.

The benefits of boxing for body and mind: cardio, toning, weight management, stress relief, self-confidence and discipline. A complete sport, open at any age.

Boxing burns about 180 to 500 kcal per 30 minutes depending on the activity and your weight. Full table for bag work, cardio boxing, sparring, skipping and fighting.

Boxing, savate, kickboxing, Muay Thai or MMA: what separates them in rules, contact and equipment, and which one suits your goal — starting out, self-defence or conditioning.