The Uppercut And Hook – In Behind The Jab

This is the first of a series of articles in which we will examine boxing combinations delivered at mid range.  These articles may have referenced within them some long range punches, but the main portion of the combination is delivered at mid range.  This combination in particular is built from a basic set of 4 skills, although the complexity of this combination can be increased.  The spine of the combination is the uppercut and hook.

Right, here’s the combination:

1. Jab
2. Move In
3. Right Uppercut at mid-range
4. Left Hook at mid-range.

Steps 1 and 2 may be combined or alternatively steps 2 and 3 may be combined.  We should remember that the distance between long range and mid-range may be quite short; we are not dealing with fixed and absolute measurements therefore we have some flexibility in terms of building the combination.  There is a definite flow to the combination and in many ways this is the essence of why a boxer combines shots.  Each shot is used to exploit the successes gained by the previous shot landing:

1. The jab breaks open the opponent’s defence.
2. The uppercut drives up through the open defence and lifts the head.
3. The left hook is landed on the exposed head.

One of the more simple and effective boxing combinations out there.  We can increase the complexity of the combination, maybe to reduce the risks to which we are exposed as we attack, or alternatively to follow this combination up instantly as a ‘phased attack.’  This is all stuff that we can get into as we develop our boxing combinations.  Don’t forget, leave any questions or comments below!

Cheers

Fran

Boxing Drills – Familiarity Breeds Success!

This article is about boxing drills, but allow me to drift off just for a moment into the world of music, and in particular guitar-playing.  For the last couple of decades I’ve had a real interest in playing guitar.  I do own a guitar and have, over he years, learned to play to a pretty basic standard.  It has to be said I’m not in any way musically talented.  But, due to some bloody-minded perseverance in the early years I managed to get my hands to work in some co-ordination and my fingers to land in the approximate position that I intended.  The net effect is that I can bang out a tune to a reasonable standard (although not a standard that I would consider charging people to watch, hell, I’d end up being bottled off stage in true ‘Blues Brothers’ style!)

Now, one of my musical heroes is Jimi Hendrix.  Many people consider that Hendrix had bestowed upon him some mystical powers that enabled him to play guitar like a demon.  However, life just ain’t that simple.  The fact is that sure Hendrix was a musical genius, but his guitar playing success had a more conventional basis.  Hendrix used to take an acoustic guitar with him everywhere.  I’ve read accounts where Hendrix had a guitar slung around his neck for over 10 hours in any given day, working through the riffs and licks that he had developing in that wonderfully musical mind of his.  Hell, he even used to take the acoustic to the toilet with him, this is an almost ridiculous commitment to his art!  As stated above, familiarity breeds success.  Which brings us neatly back to boxing drills.

As a boxing coach my view is that boxing drills are as important a part of a boxer’s development as sparring, bag work, pad work or anything else for that matter.  Boxing drills are wonderfully effective primarily because they combine simple skill elements executed at a mechanical pace with the result of developing muscle memory.  The adage of “Learn to walk before you can run” is never more true than in a pursuit such as boxing.  All of this, and boxing drills can be performed outside of the gym environment.

So what are boxing drills?  Well, in their simplest form, boxing drills consist of at least one skill element which is repeated in a slow and mechanical fashion.  That’s it.  Of course things can get more complicated, but in essence a boxing drill is simple.  If you have been using this site for any length of time, you will know that I’ve de-constructed boxing to it’s core skill elements, each illustrated with a video.  So, moving in and out is the basis of a drill.  Side stepping is the basis of a drill.  But boxing drills can evolve, which leads me on to our next learning venture!

I’m in the process of filming a series of boxing drill videos.  Now make no mistake, these videos are proper boxing coaching.  I’ll explain in detail the logic behind each of the drills and demonstrate the method of the drill.  And believe me, these drills work.  But best of all, these videos will be free.  I’ll have the videos complete at the beginning of 2011.  By downloading your reports and getting the MyBoxingCoach newsletter you’ll receive the videos straight into your ‘in box’ commencing in January/February 2011.  So, waste no time, enter your email address in the box on the right and get ready for a new year of learning!

Cheers

Fran

James DeGale – British Boxing Glitterati!

Following a highly successful amateur career which culminated in a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, James DeGale, or ‘Chunky’, has arrived as one of the glitterati of British boxing.  It has to be said, anyone who wins an Olympic gold medal is a talented boxer, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that this talent will translate into success in the paid ranks. In his next fight on December 11th, DeGale faces Paul Smith, a talented amateur himself who has tasted defeat but once in 30 professional fights.

Paul Smith will be a very stiff test for DeGale, although having checked out the odds you can get as much as 6 to 1 against Smith to walk away victorious, so clearly the bookmakers are favouring the London boxer very heavily.  I spent last night reviewing the boxing style of DeGale (using available video as usual) to see if there were any particular traits that Smith might exploit to secure victory.  This article is the result of that review process.

Deal With The Southpaw!

Many describe DeGale as a switch hitter (meaning that he can switch from southpaw to orthodox with relative ease.)  My view is that James is first and foremost a southpaw who consciously switches to orthodox when out of range.  If you check out a true switch hitter such as Marvin Hagler, you can see that the switching most often takes place at mid and close range and seems almost like a sub-conscious action. This allowed Marvin to slam shots in with devastating power from all angles.  By switching when out of range, James reduces the effectiveness of being a ‘switch hitter’.  Ultimately, if an orthodox boxer knows how to deal with a southpaw boxer (download the report Southpaw Versus Orthodox Explained! and you’ll see what I mean), then he can use that knowledge to nullify the perceived advantage that a southpaw holds against an orthodox.

Force Him Back!

Capitalize On The Defensive Flaw!

DeGale regularly uses the Floyd Mayweather-style cover up.  Floyd, as an orthodox boxer, holds his right hand high up the side of his head and keeps his right elbow tucked firmly into is ribs.  He rotates his upper body slightly counter-clockwise and this, along with the right arm position,  guards fully against left hooks to the body and head.  At the same time, Floyd’s left arm straightens out so that the glove is at the groin area, the left side of his jaw is tucked into his shoulder and the bulk of his arm provides a blocker to the opponent’s right hand.  This can be very effective for an orthodox against an orthodox.  However, DeGale is a southpaw and when using this defence against an orthodox boxer he leaves himself vulnerable to short right hooks, a punch very commonly used by orthodox boxers against southpaws.  Maybe Smith should get ‘right hook happy’ because James has used this defence in the wrong circumstances before.

Success On The Inside

DeGale is a very good infighter.  However, some of his short range shots ‘chop’ down onto the target.  This effectively diminishes the power potential of the shots as they are delivered almost as ‘arm punches.’  When a pro boxer hits another pro boxer at close quarters, delivery with power is an absolute must.  There are opportunities for infighting successes for Paul Smith by ensuring that his shots are very short and very direct.

And Finally…

James DeGale is super-confident.  I remember a certain Mr Naseem Hamed being super-confident until he faced off in a rough match-up against a certain Marco Antonio Barrera, during which Hamed’s uber-confidence amounted to absolutely nothing!  I wonder whether this could be an issue if DeGale is involved in an unforgiving war with the tough Smith, a boxer who has never been found wanting when it comes to battling!

Maybe this stuff that I’ve spotted will have no bearing whatsoever on the proceedings of December 11th, only time will tell.  When the opportunity arises I’ll submit a post-fight review of the DeGale Versus Smith ‘Saturday Night Special’ and we’ll see if any of these observations played any role.

Cheers

Fran

Boxing Gyms – How to Survive Them!

Before we get started, let me make one thing very clear. Being an active, competitive boxer requires that you attend one of the many boxing gyms scattered throughout many towns and cities across many countries all across the world. Even in those countries where professional boxing is banned (for example Norway and Sweden), there are a wealth of well-run amateur boxing gyms where the skills and techniques of the noble art will be taught at a very reasonable price.

It being the case then that there are many boxing gyms and it will only be by a quirk of geography, a lack of desire to box competitively (that is you only wish to box for personal fitness reasons) or some medical-type reason (for example acute agoraphobia) that might prevent you from joining one of the community boxing gyms, I wanted to write a short article for you which provides three pieces of golden advice if you are about to cross the threshold of one of the boxing gyms in your area.

Rule 1:

Don’t feel the need to go and spend a pile of cash on sparring gloves, head gear, boxing boots etc. Keep it simple in the short term. You will need, as a minimum training clothes and shoes, boxing wraps and shower gear.

That’s it. You don’t even need in the short term to buy bag gloves or a skipping rope as the gym will undoubtedly provide these. As time passes and you make a decision as to whether you like being around boxing gyms, then you can spend your hard earned cash on the bag gloves, skipping rope, boxing boots and gum shield. All other gear will continue to be provided by the gym. In fact, you might want to avoid buying gloves for the purposes of sparring as the coach will often want to assess their suitability to be used in his or her boxing ring. On a number of occasions I’ve had to disappoint boxers by refusing to allow them to wear their freshly imported Cleto Reyes 16 oz gloves for sparring because of the paucity of padding in the knuckle area! For more on this, check out the 6 things to know about boxing gloves article.

Rule 2:

When you join, don’t feel hard done by that the coach does not immediately drop everything in order to give his or her undivided attention to you. The reality of most boxing gyms is that the coach is extremely busy and their time is very much at a premium. Whilst being busy is often not an entirely acceptable excuse for ignorance, there is a much more logical reason for them to, as you see it, disregard your considerable efforts. So, what is this reason? It’s simple really, they are testing you!

In boxing gyms of old, the number of young boxers wishing to participate in the sport probably outnumbered modern patronage by at least 10 to 1. Back in the day, when human rights were less of an issue, the main method employed by the coaching staff to measure the commitment of a particular individual was to throw them in a boxing ring with little or no guidance, against an experienced sparring partner, and allow the slaughter to commence. After a few evenings of such blood-letting, if the newcomer kept coming, then their commitment was deemed not in question (unsurprisingly) and the coach would honour them with some advice and guidance…everybody’s happy!

Nowadays, coaching staff have to be a little more humanistic! The most efficient way to measure the commitment of an individual in the modern gym environment is to ignore the individual. In fact, many coaches go out of their way to utterly blank the individual. If that person just keeps on coming to the gym, then they have proven themselves worthy of the coach’s attention and their journey to boxing superstardom has begun!

Rule 3:

Watch and Listen! This might seem like obvious advice, but it is critically important. It goes without saying that you must listen (and obey) your coach. It is also worthwhile considering that in some cases challenging what the coach says often brings benefits as it demonstrates an inquisitive mind. Be careful though as depending upon their coaching style the coach might appreciate the debate unless of course they employ a more authoritarian approach in which case you’ll probably find yourself in the midst of a storm of press-ups!

As importantly, watch the other boxers in the gym. Boxing gyms have a varied mix of skill and experience levels. As a novice, watching the more experienced and skilled boxers when they shadow box, spar, work the heavy bag, or anything else for that matter, will help you learn. Success breeds success! Be warned though, don’t make it too obvious, you might give the wrong impression, if you know what I mean! If you have any doubt, ask for advice from the boxers themselves. Boxing gyms are a melting pot of learning and by and large all are considered equal. In my experience, boxers tend to be very giving in their guidance to less experienced peers, so make the most of this and soak it up like a sponge!

So there it is, rules for survival in boxing gyms. Keep these tips in mind, and you’ll not only survive, you’ll positively prosper!

Any comments or questions, leave them below and I’ll try my best to respond!

Cheers

Fran