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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42871
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42871
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **Do the particular details of the boxing match matter to the story? What details matter? Why do they matter? Surely not every single punch and block is of utmost importance?**

If I were describing a fencing match (something I understand far better than boxing, so you will forgive me if I focus on that), I would first ask myself what I want to showcase. It might be that I am showing my character in a fighting situation for the first time. If so, I need to show _how_ they fight. Or it might be the fifth duel in the course of the novel, and it is only the interaction with the particular opponent is important. Or it might be that the particular fight is not important at all, only the fact of it having happened.

If I need to show how my character fights, I would spend some time describing his style, also maybe his mood. A loose translation of d'Artagnan's first duel in _The Three Musketeers_:

> he fought like an enraged tiger, circling six times around his opponent, changing twenty times his guard and his terrain. (Alexandre Dumas, _The Three Musketeers_, chapter 5)  
> <sub>If someone has a copy of the book in English and can provide the actual quote, I would very much appreciate it.</sub>

My description would imply that some short time passes by in fighting, but I do not describe every parade and riposte. The only exchange I would describe in slow motion, as it where, is the one that produces some tangible result (disarming, wounding or killing the opponent). That exchange is the only important one.

If the part that's important about the fight is the interaction with the opponent, I might focus on the banter rather than on what each does with their sword.

Finally, if the particular's of the battle are not important, I might describe the preliminaries, the conversation before the battle starts, and then skip to "Alpha lay dead, Bravo's sword having pierced his throat".

* * *

A blow-by-blow breakdown of a fight is not very interesting to read. There is no story in it. A match, or a duel, or any kind of fight, should read like a story. The particular attacks and defences don't matter - it's the "feel" of the fight that does. What you want to catch is the action, the excitement, (or the fear,) the challenge.

Look at your boxing match as an emotional journey. Give it beats, and match them to changing emotions. Only describe what you need to evoke those emotions - nothing that would dilute them.

Original score: 2