Barely is able to get it back with skilful boxing (8)
I believe the answer is:
scantily
'barely' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'is able to get it back with skilful boxing' is the wordplay.
'is able to' becomes 'can' (if you can do something you are able to do it).
'get' says to put letters next to each other.
'back' says the letters should be written backwards.
'with skilful' becomes 'sly' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'boxing' means one lot of letters goes inside another ('box' can mean contain, as in to put in a box).
'it' backwards is 'ti'.
'can'+'ti'='canti'
'canti' placed inside 'sly' is 'SCANTILY'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scantily that I've seen before include "In a skimpy fashion" , "Skimpily (clad)" , "Barely (clothed)" .)