Take away an opponent's best punch?

[VG_Addict]

Let's say your opponent's best punch is an overhand right. How do you take it away from him? How do you take away their jab?

[greynotsoold]

In both instances, circle to your right. This moves you away from his right hand; if he wants to land it he'll have to punch across his body which leaves him wide open for your right hand counter. Circling right also takes away his jab. Most guys like to jab and step, so they move forward or circle to their left as they jab. By circling to your right, you 'surround' his jab and make him pick up his left foot and move it in order to keep you in front of him.
But why would you want to take away his best weapon? Fighters all have patterns- the better the fighter, the more patterns- so you can predict what they are going to do and counter off of it. If you take away his favorite pattern, he'll move to a secondary pattern, and so on. You may force him to improvise and then neither of you knows what is coming and a perfectly good boxing match becomes a haphazard game of chance and reflexes. People get hurt like that.