Technical-tactical profiles of winners and losers in elite female boxing: insights from the most recent Pan American and Olympic games
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v83.119909Keywords:
Elite female boxing, Performance indicators, Technical-tactical behavior, Olympic Games, Winning performanceAbstract
Objective: To compare the technical-tactical profiles of elite female boxers according to competition level (Santiago 2023 Pan American Games vs. Paris 2024 Olympic Games), weight category, round, and bout outcome.
Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted using official videos from the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Thirty bouts were analyzed (60 athlete-bout observations; 180 rounds); Round-of-32 bouts were excluded because this phase occurred only in the Olympic tournament. Technical-tactical actions were classified as movement, attack, defense, clinch, and pause, and normalized by effective bout time (actions·s⁻¹). Data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models accounting for the nesting of rounds within bouts.
Results: Competition level influenced defense rate, which was higher during the Olympic Games than during the Pan American Games (p = 0.006). Weight category influenced movement, attack, and defense rates, with lower- and intermediate-weight categories exhibiting higher values than higher-weight categories (p ≤ 0.022). Round affected clinch and pause rates, both of which increased from the first to the second and third rounds (p ≤ 0.005). Bout outcome influenced attack rate, with losers displaying higher values than winners (p = 0.014), whereas no outcome-related differences were observed for the remaining variables.
Conclusions: Competition level and weight category influenced the technical-tactical demands of elite female boxing. The higher attack frequency of losers, without corresponding differences in defensive or movement actions, reinforces that success in elite female boxing depends on the effectiveness of technical execution rather than on action volume.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Mateus Henrique dos Santos, Naiara Ribeiro de Almeida, Bianca Miarka, José Raimundo Fernandes, Michele Andrade de Brito, Dany Alexis Sobarzo Soto, Diego Valenzuela Pérez, Esteban Aedo-Muñoz, Aparecido Pimentel Ferreira, Lindsei Brabec Mota Barreto, Ciro José Brito
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