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I've noticed when I'm shadowboxing or practicing on the bag, that when I stand up straighter (even though it would give my opponent a bigger target in a real match), my punches are decent. But when I'm hunched or stooped over a little bit, I don't seem to get as much power OR speed from my punches... Even if it would make ducking down a bit easier.
A semi-crouch is okay, but one thing that you want to avoid is putting your weight on your front leg when you're not punching. This will make you end up taking the full force of your opponent's punches and take the power out of your own shots. Have you seen Juan Diaz? He can throw punches like a hurricane but he couldn't crack an egg with his shots. This is due to the most part because a lot of his weight was usually kept on his front leg, everything in his posture was working against him.
If you understand a little something about power you'll know that it's about shifting your weight from one leg to another, but most the time you should be pretty balanced.
I'm not sure this is worth mentioning, but I notice that many people nowadays stand square to their opponents. If you want to be a smaller target, make sure that you're in an angle to your opponent.
When it comes to throwing punches I'm not much of a fan of bending the knees. The knees should be loose but bending them is like trying to pry up a heavy object with a flexible lever.
It's been said that you can bend your front leg to gain a few inches in your jab. It's like the fencing move, and a few guys in the amateurs and even Andre Ward who won the gold medal in the olympicswas able to pick up points with it. I can understand that it can be a big problem in the pro's, and there's also the problem with commiting to the shot.
I tried the straight front leg and shifting my weight to it and around from Edwin Haislet's book. It really helps bring more power into a shot.
His book is the best, especially when it comes to punching technique and maintaining balance. And its so damn easy that way that you wonder why you don't see it done that way very often.
There's a few really good books out there, and I'm not talking about the new books that are being made nowadays. When I started boxing I tried getting my hands on every book that I could on boxing. One of my first books that I read was Henry Cooper's how-to book, it was essentially for beginners but I found a lot of useful things in what he said. I've read all the new books that teach boxing but most of them are pretty shallow although I still pick up something new in there.
I got Edwin Haislet's book soon after you first mentioned him in your posts. I liked how it all went together, learning the right movement, the punches, and how to deal with those punches. The only parts that I thought were too thin was on ring craft, setting up your opponent, feinting and drawing them in. I realize that this would require a long and drawn out explanation to go over all the different strategies/tactics, and I guess that's up to our own learning experience.
I'm still going over all the boxing manuals that I can find, but the next frontier for me is learning how to watch a fight, and get the most out of it. If you remember the cuban fighter Kid Chocolate, he got a lot of the moves that he'd use from fights that he would watch.
Here's a fun line that I noticed:
Bob Fitzsimmons learning from the boxers of his time, Joe Gans watched Fitzsimmons's fights, Kid Chocolate watches Gans's fights, Ray Robinson (Walker Smith) watches Kid Chocolates fights, Muhammad Ali watches Robinson's fights, Sugar Ray Leonard watched Robinson's and Ali's fights, Roy Jones watches Ray Leonards fights.
Now this isn't the bigger picture but through watching a guy's fights many of these guys incorporated a lot of what they saw. There's so much fighters, so many strategies and moves that you can't even begin to fill an encyclopedia with it, you have to discover them for yourself. That's the connection I wanted to make.
Henry Cooper's book was the first boxing book I ever read as well, followed closely by Floyd Patterson's.
There is a lot to be learned by watching tapes. That drop shift move seemed like suicide to me until I saw Benny Leonard do it on tape. Slo-motion is the greatest invention...I've watched whole fights on slo-motion, some of them (McGirt/Brown, Toney/Nunn to name two) a dozen or more times.
Damn, I need a hobby.
Dont sweat it,I live on tape,every one of my fighters is made to live on it as wellQuote:
Originally Posted by greynotsoold
I haven't seen Patterson's book but I bet he teaches a pretty good jab. I just got my hands on Joe Louis's How to Box book. Louis's book is a good read, he explains why you want to have the bag to swing, and he has a lot of good ideas as well.
It's hard to collect a tapes, at least it is for me when I don't have the means. If you have a fast internet speed you download fights these days, and with the stuff that is out there, you can practically go over the fights with a magnifying glass.
I'd like to watch that Benny Leonard fight where he did the drop-shift. Do you recall which fight that was in? The only time that I saw a fighter attempt it was in the recent Miguel Cotto vs. Zab Judah fight. Miguel Cotto did the move smoothly but his timing was off as Judah was able to take a few steps back with that sideways defensive stance of his.
I did some reading and the move was made famous by Bob Fitzsimmons, and was taught to him by Mike Donovan. It's a nifty move though.
I keep a very tight eye on the numerous ESPNs,while they do run alot of the same fights over and over,youd be amazed at what they slip in there,so I allways try to keep a tape handy,just in case one I want comes upQuote:
Originally Posted by Chris N.
I also see terrible matchmaking and sloppy fighters more often than not. I still watch them like you said there's still some good stuff that slips in there.
If a jab is thrown correctly shoulder to chin and extended fully, theres no way of making the distance from your fist to your chin any longer the only thing you get are problems with whatever comes next.
true that scrap . I prefer fighting shorter fighters like myself. I hate over extending , braking form in order to try and reach someone tall , only to get caught out of position for it. that’s where some patience pays off. the body is the target until the size starts to even up . once that happens is when head comes more into range and you now are both about the same height.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrap
I second that, I think if you bend your knee and lean forward so that you're trying to add more reach to your punch you're actually taking power off your punch and in position to take all your opponent's force.
grey you need to download media player classic. it allows you to watch fights in slow motion real easily. I was trying to get chris to jump on board but I'm not sure if he tried it. The thing with it is that it allows you to control the slow motion with the arrow keys on your keyboard. You can slow motion foward or backwards real easily. Ive watched every fight I get my hands on in slow motion. It really does reveal everything. What I Like to do is pick one fighter and watch a bunch of his fights in slow mo with the thing. I know James Toney better than I know me.Quote:
Originally Posted by greynotsoold
I've been using it and it works great. Since I don't have a whole lot of fights on tape, I've been doing most of my watching on a computer. I been messing around with some other software too. I found a sports video program that does frame-by-frame, forwards and backwards. It doesn't work on all computers so I find myself using media player classic that Thomas showed me. It really helps when you want to watch a fight intently.