> Do you always spar with headgear, mostly with headgear, or never with headgear?

At my home gym in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Europe, we fight without head gear. When I'm in the US, they won't let me spar without headgear because of liability issues.

Official amateur fights are with headgear. There has been talk about banning headgear in amateur fights for as long as I've been boxing (about 5 years).

My personal view is that for official fights, headgear is probably good. For sparring, it sucks. People punch like wild animals because hey, he's got headgear, he'll be fine. But it doesn't cover the face much and a full-on blow to the face is, imho, against the spirit of sparring and training. Because of headgear people also care less about hooks[1] because hey, my headgear protects there. But rotationary forces cause the most concussions and damage to the brain[2].

But headgear is amazing at defending against cuts. Although in five years of boxing I've only got punched hard enough to get a cut once.

> Can a boxer make a living as a sparring partner?

Maybe, it depends. I make my living as a software engineer and keep boxing as a pure hobby. But I assume somebody like Mayweather would pay a lot for a really good sparring partner. He most likely would have no use for me, I'm not at that level.

The best fighters I've sparred were amateur kickboxing world champs in various tournaments. There is no money in that, but a lot of fun.

> How much is weight an advantage? Is 5 pounds massive, minor, or inconsequential?

I'm about 60kg (~135lbs) and have sparred people anywhere between 55kg (~120lbs) to 100kg (~220lbs). Most of my partners are in the 70-80kg range (155lbs - 180lbs).

When you're doing gentlemanly sparring, weight doesn't matter as much. You're not trying to kill each other and if somebody sees they're about to make a killer shot because you messed up your defence, they will hold it back and just tap you. Even as a lighter fighter, you would return said favor.

In a real fight, weight has a lot of advantage because it makes killer shots stronger.

But speed and arm-length are far more important. You would statistically come out on top if you always bet on the man with the longer arms.

Speed also more than compensates for weight. Especially in heavily mismatched weights like I'm used to because bigger heavier people are slow. By the time a 80kg fighter pulls their arm back, I can deliver 3 to 4 punches to their face.[3]

> Finally, have you ever received a liver shot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver_shot?

Probably? I've never gotten one that was excruciatingly painful, but the gentleman rules of sparring state that body shots are full force.

Because my sparring partners are usually taller, I don't often get punched in the body because it's awkward for them and it's easy for me to defend.

Strong abs and obliques also help a lot and I'm lucky to have a well-trained abdomen.[4]

> It's a spectacular workout and I'm sure it would be fun if you could get beyond the pain and fear and start using different tactics and strategies.

Go to a gym. They will work you out and I promise that there is no better de-stressor than punching a bag for an hour. And you don't have to spar at all. It took me two years of training before I mustered the courage to spar for the first time.

Now I can't live without it. It's just too much fun.

[1] a hook is a blow to the side of the head with a bent elbow

[2] One study a quick google found, but there's a lot of info about this. It's the new fast becoming dominant theory. http://rrg.utk.edu/resources/BME473/lectures/presentation_te...

[3] I'm a short guy and people my size are hard to find, most guys would have to be super scrawny to be my weight. It's hard to be scrawny when you're training hard.

[4] for instance, I can hold a plank on one arm and one leg for about a minute.