What age can you start boxing?

What is the right age to begin boxing?

It’s a question that’s asked by many parents around the world – what age can you start boxing?

Boxing is a popular sport, glamourised by film and TV, and teaches discipline and respect as well as fighting skills, but it’s not for everyone.

It’s common for most children to want to play football from an early age, or any other nice team sport, where they can have fun in a group of friends the same age as them.

However, boxing is quite different. It’s not a team sport, it’s not spent outside in the clean air where parents can proudly watch together and eagerly cheer on from the sidelines in unison.

Instead, it’s a tough, individual sport involving pain, undertaken inside hot, stuffy, intimidating gyms filled with a discord of grunts, bumps, thuds and whacks, all reverberating off the sweaty walls.

Added to this, there’s the shrill cry of the clock chiming every three minutes to keep time, and the coaches encouragingly but loudly shouting orders to push and motivate the members.

However, every boxing club relies on a conveyer belt of children to keep coming through their doors, and every coach will warmly welcome anyone new, especially taking time for the youngest and most timid of recruits, knowing that everyone has to start somewhere.

But what age is that? Although there’s not an exact answer, only recommendations; the guide below will give a detailed explanation into what age is best to start boxing, so you can make up your own mind.

Boxing clubs

The starting age is not a universal rule for all boxing clubs around the world, but many can start from the age of five. However, some clubs find this too young and will start from eight-years upwards instead.

The famous Repton ABC in London, known as the oldest and most successful amateur club in the country, start from eight-years-old and the class is titled, ‘Saturday Morning Nursery’. Otherwise, their weekly members start from 10-years and up.

The Amateur Boxing Association in England state that children under the age of 10 are allowed to join boxing clubs but not permitted to spar, compete in skills bouts or box competitively. So, any members under 10 are going to be limited to training only.

Repton are a serious club that won’t offer casual or keep-fit classes, so they only want boxers with a good ability that can compete in competitions, which is why they begin from 10.

Another boxing club, Snodland ABC, offer their junior sessions to 9-16-year-olds. They have a similar idea to focus on the ages that will be competing.

Other clubs will often just welcome any age and ability, but the general consensus is that eight-years-old is a suitable age to start boxing. This is because a wide range of clubs and coaches consider anyone under the age of seven to be a bit too young to be boxing.

A qualified coach from Snodland ABC shared his views on the subject, “We have an age range in place, but when members bring their little brother or sister along, we won’t turn anyone away.

“Boxing is quite a bit more serious than sports like football, so it’s best that the kids are that little bit older than five or six, so they can make their own mind up about coming.

“We always start with a fun warm-up session where we get everyone involved, but after that, its two or three coaches padding the kids one-on-one, then leaving the rest on their own to hit the heavy bags and train. If you’ve got dozens of under eights in the gym left to do their own thing, it’d be chaos!”

Sparring 

No children under the age of 10 are permitted to spar under the rules of the England ABA. And rightly so, as younger children are still developing emotionally and physically. 

In football, the pressure of winning and losing can discourage young players from wanting to compete, which is why The Football Association have stopped any leagues or recording results up to the age of 10 to take this common issue away.

A similar rule is adhered to in boxing, not allowing anyone under the age of 10 to spar. Nine years and younger is very young to be sparring one-on-one inside an intimidating boxing ring, usually watched upon by most of the other members. When sparring starts, the amateurs will all put on their headguards, gumshields and gloves, then wait around the ring for their turn to enter.

It’s not only overwhelming for most to take in, but it could also be painful and upsetting for a young child if they take a big hit, and therefore off-putting.

The idea is for children to begin boxing by first learning the fundamentals from their coaches, working on techniques, developing good habits, as well as improving fitness because boxing is physically very demanding. 

When competent and confident enough, with permission from parents and approval from coaches, then the boxer (over the age of 10) can spar.

Skills Bouts

Skills bouts are competitive, controlled fights that are designed for young, fledgling boxers to develop and prepare for competitive amateur fights in the future. Essentially, it’s a bout designed to bridge the gap between the gym and competitive boxing.

You could compare a skills bout to a friendly football match. However, skills bouts are recorded in an amateur boxer’s BCR1, which is a medical record book, also known as a card. Skill bouts are recorded as 0.5, so half the score of a competitive bout, which would be recorded as 1. 

This rule is fairly new, introduced in 2020, to help record how experienced a young boxer might be, which is crucial when matchmaking.

Coaches will not wish for their debutants, with no experience or skills bouts under their belt at all, to go up against another boxer that may have had quite a few already, as it will create an unfair playing field. Not they are recorded, the fledgling amateurs can be matched sensibly.

These same coaches will be present in the corner but not allowed to give any instructions during the contest. This is to ensure that neither boxer will be too aggressive as no heavy punching is allowed.

Boxers can participate in skills bouts between the ages of 10-16, but only permitted a total of six, and then the have to fight competitively. Any boxer that participates in an amateur bout is then not allowed to go back into any more skills bouts.

Competitive bouts

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Competitive amateur boxing bouts can begin from the age of 10 and above.

Anyone between the ages of 10-11 are considered as a ‘Minor’. They must only compete with other boxers of the same gender, but the two competing opponents must be within 12 months age of each other and within 2kg in weight.

A Minor is permitted to box against other Minors, and also allowed to go up against Schools Boxers, following the guidelines aforementioned.

Minors are only permitted to box 1-minute rounds, with 1-minute intervals, usually over three rounds. It is recommended for Minors to limit their activity to just 10 contests per season, excluding National Championships.

From there, the categories ascend according to age groups. The table below shows the varying stages involved in amateur boxing, all designed to make the sport as safe and as fair as possible.