What Is a Good Age to Start Boxing?

Boxing is a great sport for all ages, so there’s no perfect age to start. But if your child is starting to show an interest in boxing, there are some considerations to make before you book them a year’s worth of boxing classes.

Similarly, if you’re interested in boxing at any point through adulthood, there’s nothing stopping you from donning a pair of gloves and going out to hit the mitts. Plenty of people have turned to professional combat sports in later life; if you’re in good enough shape and have an interest as well as the technique, there’s no limit to your success.

But when is the best time to start boxing to increase your chances of turning pro? And are there any dangers of starting to box too young or too old? Let’s look at the facts.

How Old Should You Be to Start Boxing?

To increase your chances of turning professional, a good age to start boxing is around 8 years old, or 7 to 10 depending on the individual’s build and interest in the sport. Starting younger than 7 can be ineffective as most children don’t have the hand-eye coordination or understanding of the technique to efficiently train, and it may cause them to lose interest in the sport altogether. It can also be challenging to find proper equipment such as head guards, mouthguards and boxing gloves for children under 7 years old.

If your 7 to 10-year-old child is showing an interest in boxing, you can start shadow boxing with them to teach them the proper punching techniques and watch professional boxing matches with them to further encourage their curiosity for the sport. Once you’re sure that they’re interested and capable, you can book your child boxing classes to learn boxing skills and buy them some equipment so they can train at home.

That said, it’s never too late to start boxing. If you have a keen interest in boxing at 15, 17, 20 or even later in life, you can still learn the technique, get in shape and see where your boxing skills take you. Even if you never intend to turn professional, boxing is a great sport for your physical and mental health and suitable for all ages, so you don’t have to worry about your age when considering boxing.

What Age Do Professional Boxers Start Training?

Although children can benefit from starting to box at around 8 years old, there’s no limit to when you can start and make a career of the sport. Mike Tyson was around 13 when he started boxing after his talents were spotted during his tumultuous childhood, while Muhammad Ali was aged 12 when he began training.

But despite Tyson and Ali going on to have enormous success in boxing, not everyone was able to start at this age; Anthony Joshua was reportedly only introduced to boxing at the age of 18, while Idris Elba made his successful kickboxing debut at the age of 44! If you have the desire and the talent, you can start boxing at any age, whether you want to turn pro or just enjoy the benefits of the sport.

Why is Boxing Beneficial for Youngsters to Learn?

Boxing has multiple benefits for people of all ages, but the benefits can perhaps be seen more clearly in children and young people, including:

• Boxing gives confidence
• Boxing teaches discipline
• Boxing improves physical fitness
• Boxing releases dopamine, improving mood
• Boxing is an excellent stress-reliever

Adults and children alike can benefit from these positive attributes of learning a combat sport like boxing, but they can be particularly impactful for children. Learning a sport that encourages discipline and teaches children that failing is a part of learning gives them more confidence in their day-to-day lives and a better understanding of the world and its challenges.

Moreover, boxing utilises aggression and negative energy, making it an excellent stress-relieving activity. This makes boxing a great exercise for adults who have work, financial and familial stresses, but also children and teenagers who are experiencing other stresses including their school and home lives.

Not only does physically hitting punching bags or a sparring partner relieve a lot of negative energy, but it also causes our brains to release dopamine, which both relieves pain and makes us feel more positive. Studies by Mind show that depression and anxiety are serious concerns among young people, especially given the strange nature of growing up during the Covid-19 pandemic, so a social activity that requires challenging yourself, relieves stress and releases dopamine is ideal to help improve the lives of young people in the UK.

Is Boxing a Good Workout?

Boxing has many benefits, and perhaps the most appealing aspect across all ages is that it’s an excellent workout. Over two-thirds of the UK’s adult population are overweight or obese so many of us need to think about healthy ways of losing weight and getting fit – and boxing is one of the best!

A session on the punching bag or with a sparring partner is great cardio, raising your heart rate and burning calories quicker, so make it a regular thing a few times per week and pair it with a healthy balanced diet, and you’ll see the weight start to drop off and your muscles tone up. You don’t need to be seriously fit to start boxing as it’s a low-impact sport for your knees and legs, so anyone can start! To gain muscle, however, you’ll need to perform strength training exercises, as boxing itself doesn’t build muscle.

What Do You Need to Start Boxing?

The most important thing you need to start boxing is a good attitude, the rest is beneficial but not essential. If you have the desire to learn the proper punching techniques, then you can easily start shadowboxing, and you won’t need any equipment at all, or even a training partner. However, once you’ve learned the technique, you should get the right protective equipment to keep you safe while learning to punch harder and turn your individual shots into lethal combinations.

Protective Gear

Boxing is labelled as a high-contact combat sport as making contact with your opponent is the goal of the activity, rather than an accepted part as in other contact sports such as football. This means that having the appropriate safety gear is crucial to keep competitors safe.

Boxing protective gear includes:

• Headguards
• Mouthguards
• Hand wraps
• Boxing gloves

Whatever age you get into boxing, you should make sure you have the right size protective equipment to ensure you stay safe while you train. Even if you’re not competing in a real fight, your boxing training should be moderately intense for you to improve your skills and use up some energy – and accidents can happen. So it’s best to wear your protective equipment to ensure your and your training partner’s safety.

Punching Bags

Punching bags come in various shapes and sizes to work on different aspects of your boxing performance, from punching power and accuracy to combination fluency, speed and footwork. So if you’re going to improve your boxing performance once you’ve learned the technique for each shot, you’ll need to practise with punching bags.

Heavy hanging punching bags are a great addition to a home gym as you can relieve a lot of stress and work on your punching power, but they do require the brackets to be installed in the walls so you’ll need permission from the homeowner. People who rent or are limited on space can benefit from free-standing punching bags as they can be easily moved into place when needed and help practise powerful punches as well as speed and accuracy.

Buy the Best Boxing Equipment

At Maxx Pro Boxing, we want everyone to have the opportunity to start boxing and feel the impressive number of health benefits. Shop our affordable boxing gloves for children and adults, or browse our protective gear so you can start boxing training safely.