The Formula ... Judges use four criteria to score professional boxing: Ring Generalship, Effective Aggressiveness, Clean Punching, and Defense. Nowadays, most analysts, and many judges, tend to discount the importance of Ring Generalship and Effective Aggressiveness ... and focus almost exclusively upon Clean Punching as the determinig factor in scoring a fight. That is understandable. The boxer who lands the most clean punches, after all, generally wins the fight., but it is not that simple. There are reasons that a fighter is able to land clean punches, and to understand that, one must focus on the other criteria. Ring Generalship: Many old school boxing trainers and analysts understood the importance of Ring Generalship, and they considered it to be the most important attribute of great fighters. A good Ring General controls the action, and controls the fight. That is how he is able to land clean punches. He sees his opponents tendencies and flaws, however miniscule, and takes advantage of them as the opportunities arise. He exposes his opponent's vulnerabilities by his own movement, punches, and feints. He understands his own shortcomings and he compensates for them. A Ring General is a thinking fighter. He may have an overall plan going into the fight, but he makes adjustments to it as the fight progresses, as he assess his opponents strenghts and weaknesses. Effective Aggressiveness: Only after assessing his opponents strengths and weaknesses can a boxer be effectively agressive. Effective Aggressiveness means getting yourself into position to punch cleanly and accurately without getting hit. A fighter cannot punch cleanly without first being effectively aggressive. That means having the proper footwork, maintaining your stance and balance, and moving in with the proper timing. Defense: Defense is almost always mentioned last, but it should really be said first and foremost. That's why they say "Protect yourself at all times". The best way, by far, to improve one's defense is by sparring. Your body will react naturally to avoid getting hit, and it will learn to react faster when you do get hit, but not always the right way. It is natural to pull back from a punch, but it is better to slip to one side, duck, parry the punch, or roll your shoulder to deflect the punch. This is where a good trainer is invaluable. He will show you your defensive flaws and how to correct them. The Formula for success in the ring is the same as the criteria for scoring: Ring Generalship, Effective Aggressiveness, Clean Punching, and Defense.