Push and Pull in Boxing

[Chris Nagel]

Push and Pull in Boxing

Push and pull techniques and principles are abundant in many martial art disciplines. Although not associated with boxing, it's there nonetheless as some boxers have come to realize its usefulness in different situations. Contained in this post are some examples of push and pull in boxing.

David Tua:
“I want to mess with their biomechanics as much as possible. In close I’ll press against my opponent, and get them to resist a bit. Then I’ll nudge them slightly with my shoulder. I use their forward momentum which is the natural body reaction to fighting the pressure, I call it recoil. I catch them moving in on the recoil from the slight shoulder nudge, and toss the ole left hook out there and see what happens.”

Fred Welsh’s Modern Scientific Boxing:
“I often mislead an opponent by placing my left hand on one of his shoulders, or sometimes upon his forehead, and pressing against him. Invariably he resists this pressure as he can against it, perhaps to convince me of his strength. This is just what I want, for not only is he partly off his guard, but when I quickly release the pressure and strike with my right, he plunges with full force into the blow. This little stunt nearly always works.

It is the same with pulling, for if I cannot get my hand on his shoulder or head, sometimes I hook my left wrist in his and start to pull. Immediately he forgets about boxing and commences to pull hard against me, so that while his left arm is locked in pulling against mine, I can usually shoot a right uppercut under it to the face or a cordial and well meant right hook over in to his face.”

Knowledge of this can also be applied to freeing an arm that has been tied up by an opponent (see fig. 1).


Let’s suppose that your opponent has your arm in a clinch and you're trying to free it from their grasp. Push forward against your opponent, giving him a strong quick nudge with your shoulder. Then start pulling your arm in a screw-like motion at the moment that he is off balanced, thereby freeing your arm.