I didn't know most boxers don't lift
So how do they work power and handspeed then, just boxing and drills?
I'm just asking because I've taken up boxing myself in these past few months and I'm looking for any tips you guys may have
Boxing is a very oldschool sport and there's no official way to train just certain practices which are taught by almost all coaches. There are some mantras old boxing coaches like to repeat one of them is the "don't lift too much" stuff. In reality there are multiple boxers who lift regularly but not all and I'd say the majority don't (not with heavy weights at least). Exceptions are like Anthony Joshua currently or Evander Holyfield when he moved up to HW (he did steroids too but aside of that he legit worked out a way of getting heavier while he maintains his mobility).
Boxers get their power for punches mostly by learning how to throw them correctly and practicing it countless times in drills, shadowboxing and bagwork. Medicine ball practices can also be helpful, so are some bodyweight exercises. When you throw a punch your arms should only be the end of it, the extension of a punch, you don't throw it from your arms hence it's less important how muscular your arms are. The point is to rotate your hips, legs and shoulders the fastest way possible without losing balance (or sometimes not, see when Wilder fully commits to a punch).
Of course the bigger the weight the bigger the effect (reason why weight classes exist) but you don't want to get too buff in boxing cause that slows you down and you can't whip your punches as if you could do with a little less muscle on you (saw some videos of bodybuilders boxing who can't even throw a straight punch cause they just can't fully extend their arms, obviously that's an extreme case though) and because having too much muscle on you probably means that you are in the same weightclass with people who are the same size as you but leaner, quicker, more agile, probably longer and taller. That's why boxers cut weight too. This latter only doesn't apply if you are a Joshua or Klitschko like giant or if you are a Tyson like freak athlete who was a HW with 220 pounds and 5'10 height but had no excessive fat at all and was a speed demon early in his career and he more than made up for his disadvantages in reach and height. I guess there is an explanation other then "freak athlete" of why a dude like Tyson can be 220 pounds and 5'10 and be agile as hell while a random bodybuilder with the same characteristics can't even straighten his arms but that's beyond my knowledge.
I guess it's different training methods (boxing and lifting vs lifting only), different genetics, different diet, etc...
