Ali footwork

[Chris Nagel]

Although, I don't recommend emulating Ali's style, here's a good move that coordinates 1-1-2 with footwork:

Lesson # 3:
“The 1-1-2with fast circular movement”.

Muhammad Ali used to dance revolving around his opponents while simultaneously hitting them.

His famous expression “Float like a butterfly sting like a bee”, came from these movements.

This is one of Ali’s classic combinations:


Figure 1.- sequence.

Let’s suppose that you are dancing on your toes around your opponent (see picture # 2).


Figure 2.- See the line, you will be moving away from it during the sequence.
Throw a fast jab crossing your back foot as seen in figure 3.


Figure 3.- Try to block your opponent’s vision with an open hand.
Retract your arm or glove, but not much (see figure 4).



Figure 4.- Your back foot lands and crosses over the front one.
Throw a second jab uncrossing your feet (see figure 5).


Figure 5.- You connect with this second jab while your front foot is still in the air. Once your front foot lands, follow with a right, and let the inertia work for your body. Just move with your inertia, flow and don’t worry that you may get hit as you have disrupted their pattern and their timing while attacking (see figure 6).


Figure 6.- This punch is aimed a little to the right where your opponent’s face should be because of the angles you made while circling.