Olympic boxer and BJJ blue belt Tony Jeffries recently assessed whether boxing or BJJ are harder sports to compete in. Although he hasn’t quite reached the same level of performance in both sports, he still knows exactly what it’s like to step in the ring and on the mats. He recently competed for the first time as a white belt in a BJJ tournament and managed to win both matches, while he had an extensive boxing career as both an amateur and a professional. Jeffries is known for his honest assessments of both sports and he often makes some interesting and thought-provoking points.
Jeffries first made the comparison of the method if victories that are available in both sports, and how that effects how they are played:
“In boxing, you can’t tap out when things get tough. You’re expected to go the distance, no matter how much you’re hurting.”
Although Jeffries is right that tapping is technically only done in Jiu-Jitsu, it’s not as if boxers are unable to end a match early. The phrase ‘quitting on the stool’ comes from boxing, where it is not uncommon to see fighters refuse to stand up to compete after the rest between rounds is over. The idea of ‘throwing in the towel’ also comes from boxing, where a boxer’s cornermen signal the referee to call off the fight on their behalf. Even outside of those, boxers also have the option to take a knee and be counted out ot simply not stand up after a knockdown.
He also made another comparison between boxing and BJJ to determine which one is harder, but this one was more about how tournaments are organized:
“You’ve got to go in the national championships, the one national championship, and win to be the champion in the country. In boxing, you’re going up against everyone in your weight class, regardless of age or experience. There’s no filtering into smaller groups like in BJJ.”
Olympic boxer Tony Jeffries shared hus thoughts on why it’s harder to compete in boxing than it is in BJJ in a recent video uploaded to his official YouTube channel:
