Help landing the right hand

I recently got some advice from a coach and I wanted to get a second opinion. In sparring and my last fight- which I lost- I had difficulty throwing and landing my right (rear) hand. The bad thing is it's my best punch (the heavist from what i'm told).

I am average height with an average reach (5'10" middleweight). I have tried to adopt a stance where I stand almost fencing-style, and throw the jab from my shoulder. I have found that I get hit to often with lead right hands, and my rear hand is so far away from target, the rightcross is not busy and my opponents see it from a mile away. I've kind of become like a one-armed fighter.

A coach was working with me to adopt a more square style that utilized a higher guard. Counter-punching wise, i know my hands are more committed to blocking, and my body is more exposed, but when I tried it yesterday in sparring, I threw rights almost as easy as jabs and my guard picked off almost every shot. Also left hooks feel more natural. I know there is a trade off, and I'm wondering if it's worth it?

My strengths are my power and ability to take a shot. I have above average conditioning and my reflexes and speed are average. I have always felt more comfortable fighting inside, but I was always instructed to be an 'out-boxer'. I do so-so, but I want to capitalize on my strengths. The same coach told me to watch some Joshua Clottey videos.

Can you please give me your take on this switch? And am I right about the trade-off??

Watch some of Kostyas fights watch him measure people with his left hand and land solid with his right straight dont watch how (thats easy) watch when he does it. To stay square will lose some things maybe even your consciousness if caught too square and open by the right fighter who knows what you're doing.

Out of the ring have a think about when to move square, when its safe ,when its not, when they will pay more and when you will pay less.
Then take that into your sparring as you watch for which move of theirs to move in off of yourself.

When you think about boxing they only have two arms and you have two gloves to stop them arms and counter when they are stopped. If you are square you have two arms against their one ( if they are in front stance ) so you deal with that lead arm and throw your best arm through their rear arms path and keep your head away from it too and move your feet into correction first so that you are the controlling factor.Its a fine line,to move in and out of square randomly is asking to be caught hard turning at some stage. So the real question is when? not do I. Heres a hint not many people practice if you can even manage to lightly push their front arm towards their other side (from the outside inwards) as their rear is thrown you will take all the power out of it. Try it as an experiment in opposite stances first up, you natural, him in south and have him just stand in front stance in south and you stand squarish 38% ish but slightly tending towards natural put your left glove on their right elbow as they are jabbing and when they throw the rear left arm and start to turn you push that lead across and see what happens to their power.

Thanks for bringing up Kostya's fights. He's a fighter that really had an active, busy right hand. He also mixes the angles of the right hand.

When I said I am going to stand 'more square', I didn't mean totally square. My feet are pretty much the same, but toes more pointing forward. Left shoulder and Left glove still forward, but more square than before to bring the right hand forward.

Didn't Kostya as an ametuer stand a tad more square?

Cant remember, I think he was more squared when head hunting as a pro.I always wanted him to revert back to his amateur style when he was a pro and outclass people with skills first and break them down on each level instead of loading up and stalking them down as he loved to do.

Theres an amature vid of him I put on here in some thread when he fought Vernon Forrest did you see that?

I am naturally southpaw so I don't go orthodox all the time, but for landing the right cross, it helps to change the angle it comes in at. You can come from so many angles with the cross and its important to utilitize all of them. Another thing you have to remember is unless your are incredibly fast you shouldn't be throwing lead crosses until you are very experienced and know how to set traps.

I also like to throw the right hook a few times to get the opponent to realize you aren't just coming in with the cross everytime. Even though you should never fight like he does, watch how Roy Jones uses angles and a myriad of different punches to find openings on his opponents. Which leads me to another point, try using footwork to set up different angles as well.

Its hard to say what you should do in order to land the right hand and throw it better just because we don't know what kind of fighter you are.

I think Tszyu is an excellent guy to watch, and Kelly Pavlik if you walk your opponent down and like throwing a one-two. Another great guy to watch is a younger Hopkins. He is so good at setting traps now he doesn't need to set up the right as much, but his stuff in his prime was great. Monzon might be a guy to watch as well.

I love watching Tommy Hearns set up the right hand with his jabs and feints.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqIDl-_5HZY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS-_dI3thlw


I will tell you the Klitschko combination of jab, slap the guard down, right cross works pretty damn well. Also moving the guard of your opponent around by feinting and throwing left hooks will help you out.

Also if you are good with counter punching then avoiding/blocking your opponent's right cross/overhand right puts you in perfect position to counter with your own right cross. And if you slip a jab an immediate 1-2 over the top is a good combination.