Yeah it really isn’t sparring but if somebody wants to call it that, who cares. It’s just an easy word to use. Either way they got a feel for the movement and timing of each other.
Small boxing and kickboxing gym I worked/trained out of in Santa Barbara around 2003-2006/7. It was just that kind of gym. The instructor was an old school martial arts guy who got into boxing and kickboxing and sparring was always less controlled than it should’ve been. I took savage beatings as a fat 6’0 230 lbs from this little 5’6" 165 lb fucker every time we did wall sparring. He was making up for the frustration of not being able to get past my jab when we would spar I wasn’t stuck up against a wall. Anyways, him and I were the only ones in class this night when in walks some skinny tall tkd guy who wanted to train. He came in pretty much just as our instructor was gonna have us spar and he was up for it and our instructor got him geared up and basically told us to throttle him. Little man worked him over for a round and then I worked him over for a round. To his credit he came back for a few months of classes and was a good guy. It was a stupid gym mentality. I look back on it and feel bad but also have much contempt for the little fucker that would tee off on me when doing inside work for rounds. I regret not using more power when at range. Mostly though I regret not having gotten an opportunity to tune up the meathead gangbanger I held mitts for who basically blasted my shoulder out of the socket when I was green as a mitt holder and too stupid/proud to tell him to stop winding up on the combo ending hook that we were drilling that day. He’s probably dead or in jail though. So…
Yeah but the those were kind of days where training and students were both young enough that we would listen to an instructor as if he were a drill sergeant. I’ve never been on the wrong or right end of a green light scenario but I’ve seen it happen. Now that I’m older I would absolutely recognize it instantly and make the right judgement.