You’ll find padwork happening in every boxing gym across the country. Whether you’re a coach with decades of experience or a boxer just starting out, grabbing the pads and gloves seems like second nature. But are we really making the most out of those sessions? In Episode #109 of The Box Gathering Podcast, we sit down with coaches Steve Cranston and Elliot Dillon to dig into the art and challenges of effective padwork.
Why Do We Do Padwork?
Padwork is almost the heartbeat of any boxing gym. It feels great, it looks great, and for a lot of coaches and boxers, it’s the highlight of the session. But do we always use it optimally?
Padwork often looks impressive. Quick combinations, fancy footwork, sharp sounds in the gym. Padwork can often be choreographed until it more resembles a ballroom dance than anything the boxer is likely to face in the ring. We all know boxers who look great on the pads but struggle in the ring, so how well do the skills developed on the pads transfer into the ring? Which leads to the question, why do we do padwork?
The most specific exercise that resembles a bout is sparring, and if we wanted to maximise our boxers’ improvements for a bout, we’d probably prioritise sparring ahead of anything else, but our responsibility to protect our boxers means that we have to find other methods to help them improve.
“Let’s be honest. If we wanted the boxers to get better, we’d spar all day, every day, condition tech, open spar all day, every day. But the bottom line is you can’t get punched in the head all the time. There has to be an element of safety…”
– Adam Haniver
Who Is Padwork For?
Steve nails a crucial point early on:
“I sometimes see that and I think: are these pads for the coach or is it pads for the boxer? … I tend to think that initially with all pads, the boxer has to take priority and you have to be doing it for a reason.”
– Steve Cranston
Effective padwork isn’t about looking good for Instagram or getting the coach’s heart rate up. Effective padwork has a purpose. The way the pads are held, the intensity, everything around the session needs to meet the boxer’s real in-ring needs. Our goal is to make boxers better at boxing, not better at padwork.
Padwork is for the benefit of our boxers, and how much benefit do they get if we’re teaching them 12-punch combinations they’d never be able to use in the ring? If, rather than teaching them to manipulate the space in the ring, we move more than they do? The closer our padwork can replicate the sport of boxing, the more likely it is that the skills developed in padwork will transfer into the ring.
Rather than going through the motions of padwork, we need to ask ourselves, are we just holding the pads to give our boxers some targets to hit? Or are we working towards a genuine training goal?
And that training goal changes. Our padwork should meet the needs of our boxer. For example, there’s no point asking a novice boxer with poor footwork to throw combinations that demand a lot of movement or complex pivots.
Technique Matters
Proper padwork gives instant feedback for the coach and the boxer. If the punch is technically sound, the pad feels and sounds right. If not, it’s easy to spot errors like over-rotation or loss of balance. Try to tailor these observations to parts of the skill which always are prersent – ie drive and rotation.
“Can we get that fundamental technique on the punch right? Are we getting the rotation right? Are we teaching them where they’re getting the power from? Are they developing that power through that kinetic chain?”
– Elliot Dillon
Padwork allows us to check our boxer’s fundamentals up close, and we can use it to focus on the punch mechanics of range, rotation, and recoil. By paying attention to aspects like range, stability, and balance, we can better assess our boxer through padwork than by focusing on power alone. Padwork is an opportunity to check for:
- Balance and posture
- Foot placement
- Core rotation and stability
- Hand position
- Accurate recoil after a combination
Making Pads a Bridge to Actual Boxing
A mistake many coaches make is holding pads at the wrong height or angle.
“When I’m working with little kids, I wear the body belts because that’s more at their eye level. And I actually don’t put hand pads on, and what my hands end up doing is just holding noodles.”
– Elliot Dillon
“How many coaches address each boxer with the same height of pads?… That’s not realistic pads.”
– Steve Cranston
To build skills that transfer to the ring:
- Hold pads at the right level, matching the boxer’s height and target.
- Avoid encouraging over-rotation or stretching to reach unrealistic targets.
- Present realistic angles and positions, so boxers learn to hit “openings” they’ll actually see in a fight.
- Mix in blocks, slips, and movement, not just static targets.
It’s also possible to use gamification to keep engagement up and drive more transfer to the real sport. This could mean:
- Using tape or marks to create specific targets (solar plexus, chin, temple, liver).
- Setting up scenarios so the boxer must pivot or change angle to land a shot.
- Not always giving the exact punch order, leaving openings and letting the boxer decide which shot to take.
- Sometimes, not letting the boxer hit the pads (e.g. moving the pad, blocking, or parrying) so they learn to adapt.
This provides ‘repetition without repetition,’ exposing the boxer to slightly different problems each time so they develop versatile, adaptable skills.
One of the problems with padwork is that it can get too repetitive or ‘robotic’. The reality of the ring, of changing tempo, unpredictable movements, feints, and defensive cues, is often missing.
“The problem I have with padwork in general is that it’s very compliant and complicit with each other, and then when you go into competition… I felt really nice on the pads, sharp as a tack, and then you go into sparring, and that sharpness is gone because the range wasn’t there. The tempo’s changing. All the info that was present in the pads suddenly wasn’t present in the spar, and I felt myself falling over my front foot or not extending, rotating properly.”
– Adam Haniver
The Transfer Problem: Does Padwork Actually Make Better Boxers?
A recurring theme is that padwork doesn’t always transfer perfectly to fighting. Why? Because real opponents don’t cooperate the way coaches do on pads. How do we make our padwork more realistic to what happens in the ring? How do we improve skill transfer?
Part of this is to avoid the trap of trying to make padwork flawless and beautiful.
- Regularly connect padwork to live sparring.
- Use pads as a prep for specific tactics.
- Avoid over-coaching. Let boxers solve problems, not just repeat your commands.
- Make the padwork ‘messy’ sometimes: allow mistakes, misses, and unexpected movements. Variability is key.
Sparring and fighting are unpredictable. Opponents don’t call out numbers or wait while you hit a perfect combo. The main problems are:
- Padwork is often too cooperative, the coach feeds, the boxer hits.
- Real fights are about reacting to chaos, reading cues, and making split-second choices.
Challenging boxers to make choices, not just follow orders, just like they would in the ring. Instead of ‘Throw a one-two-left-hook to the body,’ give the boxer targets and make them pick their shots depending on what opens up. To improve skill transfer, we need to make our padwork more representative of what a boxer will actually face.
Mayweather Pads and Fancy Routines: Useful or Not?
So we’ve discussed how to make padwork more effective for skill transfer, but is there room for the Mayweather Pads and choreographed routines? Well, they might not build fight IQ or ring intelligence, but they can be fun, motivating, and good for fitness:
“It looks impressive. It will never make you a better boxer. It’s great for cardio and it’s pretty good for balance as well, but brilliant for cardio.”
– Steve Cranston
“So it’s coordination and balance, isn’t it? And speed. So we’re getting that. We get coordination, balance, and speed. So they, in theory, transfer over to other things that maybe it may help us become more athletic. Whether they actually transfer directly to the tactical aspect of boxing, which is going to win us fights, different story. But if it’s going to be done, we’ve got the foundation of technique, we can start to drop this stuff in one, the athlete enjoys it; two, it’s good conditioning; three, it gives them a little bit of a thing that they like to get likes on Instagram for. And then also we’re getting some sort of balance, coordination, and speed going on. Then it has its place, doesn’t it?”
– Elliot Dillon
The Psychological Side: Building Trust and Confidence
Padwork isn’t just about skill transfer. Yes, we do padwork because it has an element of skill transfer, but it also can have elements of physical conditioning and fun, which are also important for a boxer’s development. But an often overlooked aspect of boxing is the psychological side, particularly around how we can use it to build relationships.
“That’s like the time where you get to do a bit of one-to one-with them, you get a bit of trust, and you get to build a bit of rapport with the athletes.”
– Elliot Dillon
“Some of the best conversations I’ve had and penny-dropping moments actually come in padwork.”
– Adam Haniver
Padwork can be as much about building relationships and rapport with a boxer as it is about skill acquisition. It’s a powerful tool for:
- Giving boxers instant feedback.
- Building their belief before a fight.
- Settling nerves and getting them mentally sharp.
A Few Practical Coaching Tips
1. Start with the boxer’s need: Don’t run pads for the sake of it. Start with a clear purpose. What do you want the boxer to actually improve?
2. Keep padwork realistic: Hold pads at the right height and position. Change angles, force footwork, add defensive responses, and challenge perception.
3. Don’t just tell, ask: Where is your target? What shot can you use instead?
4. Cross-check transfer into sparring: Notice if something that works on pads falls apart in sparring. Adjust accordingly.
5. Build autonomy: Don’t just call out numbers or rehearse routines that never happen in a fight. Let boxers problem-solve, not just follow instructions.
6. Build relationships: Use padwork as a way to connect with your boxer. Give feedback and ask questions.
7. Remember the warm-up: Use pads to boost confidence and focus right before competition, but don’t try teaching something new in the changing room!
Final Thoughts
Padwork is one of boxing’s most powerful and effective coaching tools when used correctly. Done right, it can build skill, confidence, and deep coach-boxer relationships. Misused, it just becomes a showpiece. It becomes little more than a workout or an Instagram routine.
By keeping sessions purposeful, realistic, and tailored to the boxer, coaches and athletes can bridge the gap between gym practice and real fight performance.
Steve’s wrap-up advice:
“Padwork is done for a reason, you don’t do pads for pad sake, there has to be a reason behind it, and it has to be led by the athlete, really… Not led by the athlete, but athlete-led.”
– Steve Cranston
Make every round count: know your intention, check for transfer in sparring, and never lose sight that it’s not about being a ‘great pad man’ for show, it’s about making boxers better.
For a more in-depth look at padwork, check out our Padwork Excellence course. Members of The Box Gathering get access to this as part of their membership subscription. If you’re not signed up yet, you can check out all the benefits of membership here.