About the Right Cross
Before looking at the video, ensure that you have understood the boxing stance. After looking at the video, be sure to read about the mechanics of moving in and out and leave a comment!
As an orthodox boxer, the right cross is the straight shot that carries the power. The right cross very often follows on from the jab but can just as easily be thrown in isolation with the same results. The reason that the right cross carries power is due to the amount of rotation of the hips via drive from the legs. However, if the right cross is not thrown correctly, it leaves the boxer vulnerable to attack and can result in a significant reduction in the boxer’s confidence in the shot, something I’ve witnessed regularly over the years.
In providing this demonstration of the right cross, I’m not saying that this is the only way to throw the punch. As with all of the demonstrations of punching on this site, the aim is to encourage you as a boxer to distinguish between punches, however subtle the differences. I am particularly referring to the similarities between the right cross and the long-range right hook, which in essence is a right cross which approaches the target along a slightly different (wider) angle.
The right cross is part of the ‘bread and butter’ of boxing. The ability to ‘soften up’ a target at long range makes the task of delivering a wider range of combinations (incorporating hooks and uppercuts) much easier.
The Mechanics of the Right Cross
The mechanics of the right cross can be explained as follows:
- From the boxing stance the first action is a push from the back foot which generates the power to rotate the hips. As previously mentioned, there is a significant rotation of the hips around the vertical, central axis. If you think of the stance being held on the face of a clock on the floor, the left hip would be in the starting position at 11 o’clock, whilst the right hip would be in the starting position at 5 o’clock. Following rotation, the right hip will arrive at 2 o’clock and the left hip would arrive at 8 o’clock.
- As the rotation is taking place, the lead leg (left) is bent slightly at the knee. This bending of the knee enables the hips to rotate as required. The rotation takes place around the central axis as described in the video.
- As the rotation is taking place, the right hand accelerates toward the target along a straight line, seeking to follow a line through the opponent’s gloves and onto the target.
- As the fist approaches the target (having covered about 75% of the distance), it rotates inwards so that the palm is facing down towards the floor. At the last moment, the fist clenches and ‘snaps’ on to the target.
- The fist returns along the same line as before, returning to the ‘home’ position as per the stance.
Common Faults with the Right Cross
There are a number of common problems that can occur when throwing a right cross:
- Rather than a push from the back foot which ‘drives’ power through the leg and into the hips, the boxer may often ‘spin’ the back foot. This results is a significant reduction in the potential power delivered by the shot.
- The punch is ‘telegraphed’, or tell-tale movement takes place before the punch begins it’s journey. The most common giveaway on the cross is a ‘drawback’, the result of trying to hit too hard. When the shot is telegraphed, it is very unlikely to land cleanly.
- The boxer allows the punch to become an upper-body movement. Ensure that the rotation of the upper-body is generated by the drive from the back leg and that you don’t end up with an ‘arm’ shot.
- The boxer ‘bends’ the body off the central axis. Again this will reduce the power of the shot.
- The final common fault is that often the left hand will drop from the ‘home’ position close to the cheek. I’m sure there’s no need for me to point out why this is a bad thing!
Enjoy the video and if you wonder what punch can fit nicely after the right cross, check out the article on the mid range left hook. This is the last video published which you may need sunglasses to view, my family have taken to describing me as Casper the boxing coach…there’s nothing like support is there!
Cheers
Fran
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve heard of shadow boxing, but not ghost boxing.
Great content. Keep it coming
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First of all, thanks for this great website. Recently I started to train boxing and your videos and text explanation helped me a lot with the basics. I’m training in a professional gym but still trainer does not allways have time to correct me because there are so meny of us. I can see that you realy know what you’re doing and what is more importan for me you can explain it to beginners like me. I wolud like you to explain how hand behaves during punch. I konw it should be relaxed, but should I tighten the muscles and fist for a split of second during contact with target? If not while figting with out of gloves (self defence) I can hurt my fingers.
Hey Lukas
Please accept my apologies for not replying sooner, an oversight on my part! The hand stays relaxed and forms a fist at the last moment before impact. With the right cross, this would be as the fist rotates at the end of the shot.
Thanks for the question, if you need any further help please let me know.
Great videos, such competence and the willingness to share it is a rare, admirable event. You make it look easy, but all of us who have dabbled in boxing know how much work it takes to achieve any level of smoothness. I also need a clarification which is by no means an attempt to argue about terms, but where does the straight (backhand) right fit, obviously in your video it is identical with the right cross. I have always believed that there is a clear distinction between a straight punch, a cross and a hook, be it long, mid or short range (and tried to perform those punches according to my view). As far as uppercuts are concerned, I couldn’t agree more. I truly admire your technique, a terms disambiguation is all I ask . Keep it up and keep us educated.
Hi Ivan, thanks for the comment. Good point on the cross/straight back hand/long hook. I have come to see the right cross and the straight back hand to be exactly the same shot. We could debate that there is a difference, but I think that there is little enough of a difference to stretch the description. However, you are right on the money with the long range right hook. I hope that if you check out the long range right hook video and article this may make the point better than I can here. If you have any further questions or would like an expansion on this point, let me know.
Thanks again Ivan
I can not say how much this website helped me, thanks for your great advice. I came back to boxing after 4 years of retirement and I found you always on my side like a personal trainer.
Thanks,
Mehdi
That’s great Mehdi. I hope that the site continues to be of help. I’ve got some more free stuff planned for the next few weeks, looking at body shots and some other bits. Thanks for the comment and I hope that your comeback goes well!
Fran, I have a question regarding straight shots, and wanted to see if you had any advice. Do you have any recommendations on distance, footwork, angles, etc when practicing the one-two on the heavy bag?
I feel that when I do a one-two on a heavy bag, both the distance and angles are different from the focus mitts or an actual sparring partner. Here are a couple of specific examples of problems I’ve run into.
First, my basic straight right is aimed through the guard. I generally feel that this punch has more range than my jab. I find these distances work fine for me when executing a one-two with a sparring partner (who will often move back slightly after the jab) or mitt holders (who usually hold the straight right target slightly behind the jab target). However, a heavy bag doesn’t move backwards, so I feel I really need to stretch the jab to land both punches at full extension and rotation. Is this something other boxers feel, or does this just mean I need to work on extending my jab?
A second problem I’ve come across is that I often use a right hand that goes around the guard (eg, a cross that enters at an angle aimed at the left side of their jaw). I’ve been looking for a way to practice this on the heavy bag, but because the angles of the jab and right hand are different (compared to the straight right that goes through the guard, where the jab and right hand both enter at basically the same angle) I really haven’t found a way to practice this combination without a mitt holder. Perhaps this question is difficult to answer without a video demonstration, but I was wondering if this is something you’ve thought of before.
Jeiteki
Thanks for the comment and sorry for the delay in responding.
Firstly, a straight back hand should with the correct body rotation give you the same range as the jab (it will fall short if you don’t rotate fully and there is no movement of the opponent or you). However, it cannot give you greater range. You may feel that this is the case, and this is not a bad thing as we can be fairly sure that you are throwing the shot correctly. Under-rotation on the right cross/straight back hand is a common and bothersome problem.
It sounds to me like you need to think about 3 things:
1) Where you start (i.e. the edge of range).
2) Moving in with the jab
3) Ensuring that your feet are stationary when throwing the straight back hand.
Have a little look at the ‘heavy bag punching (old man)‘ article. Are there any points on that that might help? You should be able to sort this on a heavy bag without too much trouble.
Onto your other point about the ‘right cross’. This sounds to me exactly like a long range right hook. Again, this is something that should fit really nicely onto a heavy bag. Trying the one-two-one-two with the first ‘two’ being straight and the second ‘two’ being the long range right hook. Try reviewing the technique of this shot and let me know.
Thanks Jeiteki, I hop that my response goes some way to answering your question.
Fran,
First, I want to thank you for all the informative articles/videos you have posted. They’ve really helped me improve my sparring.
Second, I wanted to know about the proper foot placement an orthodox fighter should employ when throwing the jab-cross combo against another orthodox boxer.
When an orthodox boxer fights a southpaw, coaches usually advise him to keep his lead foot outside the southpaw’s lead foot so that the orthodox boxer’s right foot is in-line with the southpaw’s chin (thus enabling him to hit him with the right cross).
Is there a similar rule regarding foot placement for when an orthodox boxer fights a fellow orthodox?
Paul
Thanks for the comment and apologies for the delay in responding. I’d say the main reason why an orthodox should aim to keep the lead foot ‘outside’ that of the southpaw is to manage the ‘strike zone’. By this I mean that by having the foot outside the opponent’s lead foot means that you are out of the strike zone of the southpaw (minimizing your risk of taking incoming) but he is in your strike zone (especially for the straight back hand). There is no similar rule for an orthodox that I am aware of. A tip though, try not to worry too much about foot placement. Your feel for range will come, just relax and throw the one-two – moving in with the jab and then holding the feet for the straight back hand. If you haven’t already, check out the Tag Boxing Drill article and see if one of the guys in the gym will have a go with you.
Hope this helps Paul
Hey, Fran.
Been a while, but I’ve got another question regarding the stance and the straight. In one of my questions on the stance instructional, I asked you whether you prefer having your weight even on the feet or on the back foot, which makes a lot of sense.
My question with that is: if you’ve got your weight on the back foot and you throw this punch, should you be moving your bodyweight onto the front foot somewhat (probably no more than even), or should you try to keep your weight on the back foot? With the powerful hip twist from the back foot push, I could really see you getting power without your bodyweight shooting forward.
Oh, and off topic- do you think you might do a write-up about Jack Dempsey? He had a very good record, although if you compare his book and your stuff on technique, there’s a lot of difference! (I personally think your stuff is better, though!)
Dave
Spot on. If you can try to focus on avoiding that body weight going forward, you’ll get power and control. After landing that straight backhand, you could unload as many more punches as it took just because you’ve tightly controlled your balance. Well in Dave, great spot.
On the Dempsey thing, love the man. I actually used to work with a man who met him in his restaurant in NY. I will endeavour to do something on Big Jack, can’t give a time, but I’ll fit it in.
Thanks Dave
Another quick question, and it’s building on something else I asked you a while back!
You’ve said that you prefer people training punches at normal speed instead of slowing them down; I can understand that, it focuses on explosiveness.
But if I really, really want to work on my form because some punches feel awkward, would, perhaps, practicing most of the punch slow and exploding out for say the last three inches work? I saw this in an article about JKD once; I beg your opinion on the matter!
Thanks, Fran.
Dave
Dave. We all have different ways of learning, so absolutely I’d recommend trying anything that allows you to build the muscle memory for the move. Slowing things down can work really well, so jump in and do it. Saw something interesting on TV last week. The quote was “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast”. This works for me during drills and practice.
Hi Fran,
Great video!
One question I have:
Is there any rough guide for how soon into the body/hip rotation that the arm should start extending to deliver the punch?
I imagine that too late into the rotation, you’ve already telegraphed the punch quite a bit, but too early you probably won’t get much power.
Hi Ross, thanks for the question. Little rule of thumb. For a straight shot or an uppercut, leave it later in the rotation. For a hook, release the arm sooner in the rotation. Don’t worry about telegraphing the shot, as long as whatever shot you throw is technically correct it won’t catch the opponent’s attention before it needs to. The point of release is about the trajectory that the shot takes to the target; later release=straighter on the ‘vertical plane’. Earlier release=angled approach. Thanks Ross, hope this helps
So with the cross, is there a shift in body weight? Before I would have my weight on the back foot, and I would transfer it to the front as I rotated. I see at the 4:30 mark you say it’s “about rotation, not driving the body forward”. So does the weight stay centered, or is it still on the back foot?
Ideally Brett, try to keep the weight on the back foot even as the shot lands. There is much more control and you absolutely do not lose power. Great question mate.