Thread: Question on Early Tyson's Jab Mechanics

Why Tyson seems to step more to the side when jabbing, instead of throwing all the weight forward?







What exact muscle group did he use to drive the punch?

I feel he did not extend the left shoulder towards the target, rather just extend and twist the arm, snapping the punch

I think he is going to the side anticipating the jab from the opponent, to avoid it. He also lunges with it, getting all his weight onto the left leg, leaving himself unable to do anything else. In all three examples, he is no position to be able to throw a right hand or to follow up in any way, not even in the two cases where he landed the jab.
Real sloppy technically, very shoddy footwork.

Thinking about this...Have you seen that very early Tyson video, where he is working with Cus, and moving his head side to side and jabbing to Cus's palm? This is where you get screwed up with 'side-to-side' stuff in boxing...
In the videos posted, Tyson makes that move to the side and jabs, but he doesn't close distance and his feet aren't in a position to throw another punch. If you make that move correctly- you slip it by rolling towards the punch- that all changes.
You slide the left foot forward, roll your right shoulder like if you were throwing a right hand, and jab. You've closed distance, you are throwing a very stiff straight left hand (because your weight is going from the left foot back to the right), and you are in a position to throw a right hand, or to duck/bob/weave/etc... to avoid a possible counter.
Tyson left himself, in each clip, standing on one foot, all his weight in one place. If the opponent had punched back, he had to get hit. You can't do much with all your weight on your left leg.

Isn't this the sparing in which he gets knocked down?

Tnx for everybody's effort

Of course, Tyson threw different jabs, so to make it clear, I am talking about this particular jab from pics above

I feel that
1) he begins thee punch from the hips, twisting a bit. This create tension in the upper body
2) Then he add torso twist by brining the right shoulder slightly backwards. This protrudes the left shoulder forward
3) Then he snaps at the torso and the shoulder, throwing the fist forward
4) Because the hip twist, he naturally moves more to the side, than forward. He Raises the moves to the side his front leg
5) He deliberately inclines the torso with the head to the left to get out of the line of the attack liek you mentioned
6) he lands the punch while landing the left feet and stopping the body motion to transfer the mass to the fist
7) Immediately weaves to the left, sometimes raising the right leg for balance

What do ya think?

If you raise the right leg, you are standing on one foot and your balance is precarious. I think he should begin the move from his hips; I don't think that he does. I think he leans and then twist to compensate. look at how bad his feet are at the end of each clip.