As long as I’ve been training at my camp we’ve sparred with the girls. The perceived sensibilities that you have soon go out of the window when you treat them with any “disrespect” and get caught right on the nose end lol!

We had a very active fighter a couple of years back (Claire Johnson) who we all sparred with in preparation for her fights. Our instructor went to great lengths to ensure we would treat her as a “man” so that she would be able to be sure of her responses should she come under a constant attack during her fight. Some of the best sparring sessions I’ve had have been with Claire – heavy when necessary but always speedy and controlled.

I’m sure if you asked Lisa Houghton-Smith or Angela Parr they wouldn’t thank you for showing them too much “respect” during sparring. All fighters (men and women) need to practise within themselves and be sure of their automatic responses during a forthcoming fight. The only way to do this is repetition repetition repetition.

On another note at the gym we make no (undue) concessions for women. They partake in everything the guys do from the beasting warm-ups to the bag work. The only reason they don’t do something is if they’re too physically tired (this goes for the blokes too!), or they don’t want to. A consequence of this is that next to my instructor the hardest I’ve been hit is by a girl who I showed too much “respect” for and hit me with a peach of an uppercut!!!

Not only was I patronising her – she punished me for it!