In Tuesday’s Fight-Night sessions we usually warm up with footwork drills before going into punching and kicking. Footwork is a fundamental skill, as any boxing coach will tell you, but it’s easy to overlook. Why? Because when you’re sparring, it’s hard to concentrate on what your feet are doing with everything else that’s going on in front of you.

We strip away the threat of a punch by using a simple ‘dalek’ drill with an outstretched arm. After 5-10 minutes, the warm up is complete and some good footwork has been drilled into the muscle-memory. The real beauty of good footwork is that it puts you in a position to strike hard without being struck easily in return. In principle it’s similar to an army taking the high-ground before a battle – a fighter with good footwork is always seeking a positional advantage in between engaging the opponent.