Journal of Exercise Physiologyonline

183 Journal of Exercise Physiologyonline June 2018 Volume 21 Number 3 Editor-in-Chief Official Research Journal of Tommy the American Boone, PhD, Society MBA of Review Exercise Board Physiologists Todd Astorino, PhD Julien Baker, ISSN 1097-9751 PhD Steve Brock, PhD Lance Dalleck, PhD Eric Goulet, PhD Robert Gotshall, PhD Alexander Hutchison, PhD M. Knight-Maloney, PhD Len Kravitz, PhD James Laskin, PhD Yit Aun Lim, PhD Lonnie Lowery, PhD Derek Marks, PhD Cristine Mermier, PhD Robert Robergs, PhD Chantal Vella, PhD Dale Wagner, PhD Frank Wyatt, PhD Ben Zhou, PhD Official Research Journal of the American Society of Exercise Physiologists ISSN 1097-9751 JEPonline The Activity Profiles of Winning Male Amateur Boxers in the 2012 Olympic Games Amorntheap Wandee, Benjapol Benjapalakorn Faculty of Sports Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand ABSTRACT Wandee A, Benjapalakorn B. The Activity Profiles of Winning Male Amateur Boxers in the 2012 Olympic Games. JEPonline 2018;21 (3):183-192. The purpose of this study was to investigate activity profiles of winning male boxers competing under the modified official rules during the 2012 Olympic Games. The activity profiles were obtained via video footage of 75 boxing matches from the lightflyweight, flyweight, and bantamweight classes. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to identify differences of activity profiles among three rounds of boxing in each weight class. The results showed that winning boxers across all weight classes were able to maintained activity rates in most of the attack and defense related activity parameters. While light-flyweight boxers showed different rates of punching frequency in three rounds of fight, boxers in flyweight showed distinct footwork duration. Also, bantamweight boxers showed different numbers of jab and uppercut punches from round 1 to round 3. Despite the dissimilarity in boxing strategies, the results suggested boxers should be able to maintain their attacking and defending activities throughout all three rounds. Therefore, the coach and/or trainer should prepare training routines and fighting strategies that allow boxers to be consistently active the entire fight. Key Words: Activity Profiles, Amateur Boxing, Modified Official Rules

184 INTRODUCTION In 2012, the international boxing association (AIBA) announced several changes of the official rules for amateur boxing competition. In particular, point awarding in each round was changed to a 10-point-must system based on boxer s performance instead of just the number of punches landed on the target, the number of rounds decreased from 4 to 3, and the duration of each round increased from 2 to 3 minutes (10,11). Another important change was that the score would not be shown until the end of each round while the previous rules allowed real-time scoring. Hence, it might be expected that such modifications of the rules would influence the boxers fighting not only pre-match planning, but also changes of strategy during competition. In fact, amateur boxing competition rules have been revised every few years and have usually affected how boxers fight as a result of the changes in the boxers physiological requirements that must match with the new fighting regulations (7,8,12). As an example, when sparring in the 2-minute-per-round system, the boxers punching frequency was approximately 38 punches per minute. But, that number decreased to approximately 20 punches per minute when the duration of each round increased to 3 minutes (3,15). As to the recent modifications, the scoring procedure might be the primary factor affecting boxing strategies since the numbers of landed punches must be considered along with the technical and tactical superiority, competitiveness, and infringement of the rules. These are regarded as additional factors toward points in each round from which might also be deducted from knockdowns and fouls (11). Activity profiles of boxers competing under the new rules were recently investigated. The findings showed that the winning boxers used long-range straight punches from both lead and rear hands more than any other punches plus there was an increase in punching accuracy in each round (3-6). However, such results were not so different from the activity profiles investigated under the previous regulation sets (1) despite several major modifications. This might be due to the simple reason that most of the investigations were done without discrimination of weight classes. In fact, the difference in body masses between the lightest (light flyweight) to the heaviest boxers (super heavyweight) might have been greater than 50 kg (11) and, understandably, boxers in different weight categories generally have distinguish fighting styles (e.g., punching frequency, offensive and defensive tactics, and movement strategy around the ring) (14). Therefore, it is also important to investigate fighting styles of each weight class separately in order to acquire more in-depth information if changes of the official rules would affect fighting styles of boxers. The purpose of this study was to analyze video footage of boxing competition during the 2012 Olympic Games using 3 x 3 minute boxing bout. The observation provided the creation of activity profiles of boxing from winning boxers in three different weight classes: (a) bantamweight; (b) flyweight; and (c) light flyweight. The results should enlighten technique and strategy used by boxers when competing under the modified official rules so that the best

coaching and fighting plan can be prepared to promote the requirement of activity during the competition. METHODS Subjects The recorded video of 75 matches from 3 weight classes that included 24 matches of light flyweight (<49 kg), 25 matches of flyweight class (<52 kg), and 26 marches of bantamweight class (<56 kg) during the 2012 Olympic Games. Each of the weight classes and matches were investigated for activity profiles of the winning boxers in each match. Procedures All the videos were collected and analyzed by one person. The bouts were analyzed using Windows media Player in slow motion replay at the speed of 0.1 second increments. The footage was obtained from the Official Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) channel on the internet (10). The resolutions were high-definition 1080p and were originally recorded using the high-definition television cameras of a broadcasting company. Data were recorded and analyzed focusing only on winning boxers via the category set of the activity profiles using Focus X2 program. Attacking movements included lead and rear hand straight punches, hooks, and uppercuts. Punching combinations (single, 2, 3, and 4 punches) were also recorded as well as the numbers of missing punches. The total numbers of punches were used to calculate for punching frequency per minute. Attacking duration in each round was calculated and defined by accumulated duration used in all attacking movement, while defending duration was defined as the duration that boxers made defensive actions with hand, trunk, and foot. Lastly, the durations that boxers showed movement, but neither attacking nor defending in each round were summed and defined as footwork duration. Statistical Analyses A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied for all parameters to compare the activity profiles of winning boxers in all three rounds. The Bonferroni method was applied when there was difference in the activity profile parameter. The statistical significance was set at the alpha level of P = 0.05. RESULTS The analysis showed that winning boxers in light-flyweight class had greater punching frequency in round 2 (13.25 ± 3.26 punches min -1 ) than that both in round 1 (11.15 ± 3.26 punches min -1 ) and round 3 (11.04 ± 3.52 punches min -1 ) (P = 0.020, η 2 p=.157). However, when considering other parameters of the activity profiles, there were no statistically significant differences for rounds 1, 2, and 3 of the fights (Table 1.). The same phenomenon was consistent with that of the winning boxers in the flyweight class. They showed no difference in most of the parameters of the activity profiles when compared 185

in all 3 rounds. Only the average footwork duration showed significant decrease in round 3 (3.0 ± 0.72 sec) from that in round 1 (3.23 ± 1.23 sec) and round 2 (3.41 ± 1.04) (P = 0.022, η 2 p=.155; Table 2). In this weight class the numbers of missing punches also showed a trend towards statistical significance by gradually decreasing from round 1 to round 3, 19.64 ± 11.40, 15.52 ± 10.03, and 14.48 ± 7.50, consecutively, with P = 0.081, η 2 p=.103. For the bantamweight class, although most of the activity profiles showed no significant difference when comparing them across the 3 rounds of fighting, two parameters including the number of lead hand straight punch (jab punch) and the number of uppercut punch were statistically different. Comparing round 1, round 2, and round 3, the number of lead hand straight punch progressively decreased from 21.04 ± 8.69 punches in round one to 17.08 ± 7.60 punches in round 2, and 15.31 ± 6.85 punches in round 3 yielding statistically significant difference at P = 0.013, η 2 p=.016 (Table 3). In contrast, the number of uppercut punch continuingly increased from round 1, round 2, and round 3 at 0.69 ± 1.35, 1.27 ± 1.73, and 1.77 ± 2.25, respectively. The increase in the number of uppercut punch was statistically significant at P = 0.012, η 2 p=.172 (Table 3). Furthermore, two parameters showed a trend towards statistically significance including the number of three-punch combination and the number of missing punch. For the three-punch combination, a significant decrease was found in round 3 (1.27 ± 1.31) from that in round 1 (1.88 ± 1.68) and round 2 (2.19 ± 2.02) at P = 0.078 and η 2 p=.098 (Table 3). In contrast, the number of missing punch consistently decreased from round 1 to round 2 and round 3, 24.77 ± 15.81, 17.46 ± 15.07, and 15.50 ± 12.44, respectively with P = 0.055 and η 2 p=.112 (Table 3). 186

187 Table 1. Activity Profiles of Winning Boxers in Light Flyweight Class. Conditions Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 F P η 2 p Total Punch (n) 36.33 ± 9.53 35.83 ± 7.88 34.00 ± 9.33 0.791 0.450 0.033 Punch Frequency (punch min -1 ) 11.15 ± 3.26 13.25 ± 3.26 11.04 ± 3.52 4.29 0.020 0.157 Lead Hand Straight Punch (n) 15.25 ± 7.43 15.04 ± 8.5 13.88 ± 8.79 0.597 0.522 0.025 Rear Hand Straight Punch (n) 8.25 ± 6.17 7.54 ± 5.73 7.58 ± 6.39 0.233 0.781 0.01 Hook Punch (n) 11.92 ± 5.18 12.46 ± 4.43 11.58 ± 5.65 0.193 0.725 0.008 Uppercut Punch (n) 0.92 ± 1.35 0.79 ± 0.93 0.96 ± 1.43 0.163 0.839 0.007 Single Punch (n) 14.92 ± 5.82 14.46 ± 5.04 15.17 ± 6.34 0.2 0.803 0.009 Two Punch Combination (comb) 7.87 ± 2.89 8.13 ± 2.51 6.83 ± 2.73 2.05 0.146 0.082 Three Punch Combination (comb) 1.21 ± 1.22 1.54 ± 1.56 1.17 ± 1.24 0.542 0.574 0.023 Four Punch Combination (comb) 0.54 ± 0.98 0.13 ± 0.34 0.29 ± 0.69 2.526 0.101 0.099 Missing Punch (n) 15.58 ± 6.51 14.46 ± 8.95 13.46 ± 7.86 1.044 0.357 0.043 Average Attacking Duration (sec) 0.87 ± 0.65 0.85 ± 0.42 1.01 ± 0.73 0.644 0.475 0.027 Average Defensing Duration (sec) 1.72 ± 0.96 1.47 ± 0.63 1.84 ± 0.68 0.194 0.155 0.078 Average Footwork Duration (sec) 3.63 ± 0.99 3.74 ± 1.03 3.35 ± 1.24 0.895 0.393 0.037 n = Number of Punch, punch min -1 = Punch per Minute, comb = Numbers of Combination, sec = Second

188 Table 2. Activity Profiles of Winning Boxers in Flyweight Class. Conditions Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 F P η 2 p Total Punch (n) 42.72 ± 15.43 40.68 ± 9.08 38.00 ± 9.21 1.383 0.260 0.054 Punch Frequency (punch min -1 ) 13.59 ± 6.40 13.51 ± 3.79 12.80 ± 3.51 0.261 0.721 0.011 Lead Hand Straight Punch (n) 16.56 ± 8.62 14.6 ± 6.59 13.96 ± 6.49 1.095 0.341 0.044 Rear Hand Straight Punch (n) 12.44 ± 6.44 12.60 ± 4.71 12.08 ± 5.91 0.659 0.506 0.027 Hook Punch (n) 12.04 ± 6.41 11.96 ± 5.18 10.4 ± 5.46 0.083 0.912 0.003 Uppercut Punch (n) 1.68 ± 2.38 1.52 ± 1.50 1.56 ± 1.68 0.067 0.927 0.003 Single Punch (n) 17.8 ± 7.83 17.32 ± 7.03 18.52 ± 7.81 0.187 0.738 0.012 Two Punch Combination (comb) 7.8 ± 3.14 7.68 ± 2.85 6.52 ± 1.94 1.762 0.186 0.068 Three Punch Combination (comb) 1.88 ± 1.79 1.64 ± 1.63 1.52 ± 1.45 0.309 0.721 0.013 Four Punch Combination (comb) 0.60 ± 1.04 0.52 ± 0.87 0.28 ± 0.46 1.191 0.308 0.047 Missing Punch (n) 19.64 ± 11.40 15.52 ± 10.03 14.48 ± 7.50 2.746 0.081 0.103 Average Attacking Duration (sec) 0.77 ±.019 0.86 ± 0.27 0.92 ± 0.69 0.808 0.398 0.033 Average Defensing Duration (sec) 1.99 ± 1.61 1.72 ± 0.95 1.62 ± 0.62 0.922 0.378 0.037 Average Footwork Duration (sec) 3.63 ± 1.23 3.41 ± 1.04 3.0 ± 0.72 4.411 0.022 0.155 n = Number of Punch, punch min -1 = Punch per Minute, comb = Numbers of Combination, sec = Second

189 Table 3. Activity Profiles of Winning Boxers in Bantamweight Class. Conditions Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 F P η 2 p Total Punch (n) 43.85 ± 14.83 43.65 ± 11.28 40.65 ± 10.68 1.192 0.307 0.046 Punch Frequency (punch min -1 ) 14.93 ± 4.82 14.39 ± 4.46 13.58 ± 4.25 1.115 0.335 0.043 Lead Hand Straight Punch (n) 21.04 ± 8.69 17.08 ± 7.60 15.31 ± 6.85 4.759 0.013 0.16 Rear Hand Straight Punch (n) 10.67 ± 6.05 12.04 ± 5.47 13.04 ± 5.01 1.578 0.217 0.059 Hook Punch (n) 11.65 ± 7.19 13.27 ± 6.56 10.54 ± 6.77 2.367 0.106 0.087 Uppercut Punch (n) 0.69 ± 1.35 1.27 ± 1.73 1.77 ± 2.25 5.179 0.012 0.172 Single Punch (n) 20.00 ± 7.63 19.08 ± 8.05 19.54 ± 7.20 0.137 0.848 0.005 Two Punch Combination (comb) 8.08 ± 4.64 7.38 ± 2.94 7.54 ± 2.82 0.319 0.702 0.013 Three Punch Combination (comb) 1.88 ± 1.68 2.19 ± 2.02 1.27 ± 1.31 2.713 0.078 0.098 Four Punch Combination (comb) 0.35 ± 0.75 0.42 ± 0.76 0.31 ± 0.55 0.284 0.739 0.011 Missing Punch (n) 24.77 ± 15.81 17.46 ± 15.07 15.50 ± 12.44 3.147 0.055 0.112 Average Attacking Duration (sec) 0.84 ± 0.28 0.88 ± 0.26 0.90 ± 0.47 0.217 0.757 0.009 Average Defensing Duration (sec) 1.30 ± 1.00 1.53 ± 1.06 1.43 ± 0.69 1.189 0.312 0.045 Average Footwork Duration (sec) 3.09 ± 1.45 2.99 ± 1.12 2.79 ± 0.77 0.782 0.435 0.03 n = Number of Punch, punch min -1 = Punch per Minute, comb = Numbers of Combination, sec = Second

190 DISCUSSION Boxing, both professional and amateur, is a sport that has high-energy demand coupling with an effective and efficient strategy to fight. Hence, it is very important that coaches prepared their boxers, especially the boxers physical fitness, skill, and fighting strategy for such an arduous activity. Although a longer fighting duration in each round may result in a lower rate in several activity parameters, thus bringing about a lower work intensity and blood lactate, previous studies (7,8,12,15), suggest that it is necessary for successful boxers to be able to maintain their rate of physical activity (especially punching frequency and footwork) until the end of the match (2,4). The present study confirms that most of the observed activities were consistent from round 1 to round 3, which suggest that maintaining activity rates are one of the key components of success in amateur boxing. The training protocol should be focused on increasing the boxers aerobic and anaerobic capacities (2,12,13). Emphasis should be placed on decreasing the missing punches in each round, as demonstrated by the winning boxers of the flyweight and the bantamweight classes. This suggestion is consistent with the previous findings by Davis et al. (4) who reported that during round 2 and round 3 successful amateur boxers tended to showed greater punching accuracy compared to round 1. This also provides information that accuracy might be one of the primary factors to work on in training. Simani and colleagues (14) also suggested that the straight punch and the hook are two most effective types of punches used to increase the boxers accuracy in the fight. Limitations of this Study The lack of comparisons among observed weight classes is a limitation in the present study. Although the observation demonstrate that the winning boxers in each of three classes maintained their rates of activities across three rounds of fighting in similar ways, the results of each parameter seem to have some gaps. Nonetheless, the present observation mainly focused on monitoring and interpreting the activity profiles of each weight class individually. While comparisons among different weight classes were neglected due to the fact that the boxers in different levels and body weights typically have distinctive fighting styles that result in discrete rates of activities (14,16) and physiological responses (9), it is possible that the responses might result in statistical significance in different activity parameters among the weight classes. CONCLUSIONS The findings in the present study demonstrate the importance of the boxers ability to maintain rates of activities as a key component of successful boxing. To achieve such performance, training protocols and fighting strategies must be designed to enable the boxers to carry on their activity throughout the fight with minimal fatigue. Thus, the coach and/or trainer should prepare training routines and fighting strategies that allow the boxers to be consistently active the entire fight.

191 Address for correspondence: Benjapol Benjapalakorn, EdD, Faculty of Sports Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, 10330, Email: Benjapol.B@chula.ac.th REFERENCES 1. Ashker SE. Technical and tactical aspects that differentiate winning and losing performances in boxing. Int J Perform Anal Sport. 2011;11:356-364. 2. Chatterjee P, Banerjee A, Majumdar P. Oxygen consumption, heart rate and blood lactate response during sparring on Indian women boxers. IJASS. 2005;17(2):9-16. 3. Davis P, Benson PR, Pitty JD, Connorton AJ, Waldock R. The activity profile of elite male amateur boxing. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2015;10:53-57. 4. Davis P, Connorton AJ, Driver S, Anderson S, Waldock R. The activity profile of elite male amateur boxing after the 2013 rule changes. J Strength Cond Res. 2017;1-6. 5. Davis P, Wittekind A, Beneke R, Connorton AJ. Amateur boxing: Activity profile of winner and losers. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2013;8:84-91. 6. Dunn EC, Humberstone CE, Iredale KF, Martin DT, Blazevich AJ. Human behaviours associated with dominance in elite amateur boxing bouts: A comparison of winners and losers under the Ten Point Must System. PLOS ONE. 2017;12(12)e0188675. 7. Ghosh KA. Heart rate, oxygen consumption and blood lactate reponses during specific training in amateur boxing. IJASS. 2010;22(1):1-12. 8. Guildetti L, Musulin A, Baldari C. Physiological factors in middleweight boxing performance. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2002;42(3):309-314. 9. Hanon C, Savarino J, Thomas C. Blood lactate and acid-base balance of world-class amateur boxers after 3-minute rounds in international competition. J Strength Cond Res. 2015;29:924-946. 10. International Boxing Association. AIBA Scoring System and Duration and Number of Round. Technical & Competition Rule. 2012;12-15. 11. International Boxing Association. Competition Rule. AIBA Technical Rule, 2015. 12. Khanna GL, Manna I. Study of physiological profile of Indian boxers. J Sports Sci Med. 2006;5:90-98. 13. Kumar A, Kumar R, Manisha. VO 2 max and hemodynamic profile of woman boxers. JESP. 2012;8(2):123-127.

14. Simani M, Chaabene H, Davis P, Franchini E, Cheour F, Chamari K. Performance aspect and physiological responses in male amateur boxing competition: A brief review. J Strength Cond Res. 2016;31(4):1132-1141. 15. Smith MS. Physiological profile of senior and junior England international amateur boxers. J Sports Sci Med. 2006:5:74-89. 16. Thomson E, Lamb K. The technical demands of amateur boxing: Effects of contest outcome, weight and ability. Int J Perform Anal Sport. 2016;16(1):203-215. 192 Disclaimer The opinions expressed in JEPonline are those of the authors and are not attributable to JEPonline, the editorial staff or the ASEP organization.