Boxers seem to do a lot of damage to themselves simply when sparring. Today’s invention is an upgrade to the standard springloaded punchball.
In addition to the floor-mounted punchball, two other such balls on springy stalks would be provided -each the size and colour of an opponent’s glove. The boxer would attempt to land punches on the main ball, in lieu of an opponent’s head, by avoiding the two smaller balls.
Instead of rebounding predictably, these smaller balls would each be driven by a computer in patterns which were like normal defensive moves -and with an element of unpredictability. This would mean that a boxer could be hit by them pretty forcefully but not so as to sustain unnecessary damage. (Actually it might be possible to have a camera in the main ball with face recognition software driving the ‘gloves’ to hit the boxer back).
The main ball could also be wired to record the number of on-target shots automatically.
