A literature review on the physiological responses of elite Albanian boxers

Abstract

Background and study aim: Boxing, which is called the "noble art" and is historically known as pugilism, is one of the oldest combat sports in all of human culture. The purpose of this study is to critically analyze the physical and physiological characteristics of the amateur boxer and offer practical training recommendations as well as new areas of scientific research.

 Methodology: This paper aims to provide a systematic review of the available literature on physiological and performance responses to the specific activity of Olympic boxing. After a search in the databases EBSCOhost, Claravita, PubMed, Google Scholar, Elsever, Scopus, Journal citation reports, etc., many articles were reviewed. To be included in the review, studies were required to meet the following criteria: 1- studies that included competitive amateur boxing matches 2- studies that monitored the physiological response and sports performance 3- the versions of the articles with full text which were accessible in prestigious journals mainly with impact factor in the English language.

 Conclusion: In the analysis of the studies, it was found that among elite level Olympic boxers, anaerobic power is related to the success of sports performance, but taking into account some new studies that place emphasis on aerobic capacity for increasing sports performance, coaches should take into account consider high-intensity interval training (>90% V̇O₂ max) in the expectation that such training will produce improvements in aerobic conditioning.