Don't worry about this too much, you aren't the only one, many other fighters experience the same thing. You are less experienced so give yourself a break, I am pretty sure the other boy was in the same boat as you when he was newer.

Advise? Relax, get loose, put your game face on -- don't show that you are scared or tentative, jab, follow-up, feint, don't do the same things over and over (be on the offensive or be on the defensive when the need arises), read his movements, learn from your mistakes or don't do the same mistakes again and again, move side to side (moving away more from the side where he isn't dominant), put your guard up, don't be a stationary target and above all keep moving your head. I know too much info, but it all boils down to staying relaxed and in control.

When I first started training I was training in MMA and about two years later I converted to boxing only, I've had a few fights at that point and my coach's friend brought in his fighter who was last year's Colorado Heavyweight Golden Gloves champion to spar me. At this point my boxing was not that good and I can say I was a little nervous myself, but once you throw a few punches and get hit a little bit all of that goes away.

Another thing I do to build up my confidence is watch videos of fighters I admire like Tyson, Roy Jones Jr., Sugar Ray Leonard etc etc and I imagine myself fighting like them and I visualize myself beating my opponents up and dancing circles around them. This always helped me step into the ring when sparring tough boxers or before my matches.

Good luck!

The more you spar the more confident you'll get. It's better to spar against someone a bit better than you because you learn more. You learn from your mistakes, if you expose yourself and receive a good punch, you'll be less likely to do it again.

have a good boxing match practice sparring dodging have faith and good-luck

Hi, im 15 am a beginner ,nursery boxer and tomorrow i'm going to spar a boy who is 14 but slightly more experienced than me and I sparred him before and he kept getting me I always left myself open he squared me up and I'm scared of getting hit especially on nose I tried avoiding this sparring match for 2 weeks but know I know I need to do this and get it over with any advice? to build my confidence up? I know I need to do this! but Im scared :(