Weve covered blows to the left side the ribs toward the heart can affect a man, and how digging blows driven upwards under the short ribs can reach the vital organs, but it should also be noted that the short ribs can be a target itself. The short ribs, also known as the floating ribs are not directly connected to the sternum and therefore can be easily broken. Perhaps the best punch to break the short ribs is a quick short left hook because of the sudden snap at the point of impact. At the very least repeated blows to their ribs in conjunction with precise blows to the targets along their midsection can be very tiring to your opponents, while it also would be a sure way to bring their guard down. The pain from taking hard shots to the ribs can linger on for days, while a couple of broken ribs will stay with you for months.

To keep your protect your ribs you can stand nearly sideways to your opponent using your thick part of your forearm to block punches. Now if youre standing sideways like so you can easily bring your left shoulder into play when you need it. Also if you notice that your opponent throws their hooks wide you can roll/shift inside of them; although you ought to be sure not to expose your liver and back while doing so and keep your arms in close to your body and shorten up your punches. The last thing on earth that youd want to do is square up in front of your opponent, giving them more targets to choose from.

The last body blow that Id like to go over before moving onto the head is a punch to the bladder. It took an epiphany one day during a training session to get me to consider it as a secret weapon so to speak. Anyways what took place that day was that a friend and I were tossing a medicine ball back and forth at our stomachs until the unthinkable happened... I threw the ball a little low hitting him right on the belt line and just like that my friend drops the medicine ball and runs like hell straight to the bathroom! Oddly enough as it so happened, the ball hit him right on the bladder. As you may imagine theres potential for this punch, say for instance if you notice that your opponent sitting across the ring is drinking a little too much water youll have an answer for that.

Now lets move onward to blows the head. The target that is probably the most sought out has to be the chin. It goes without saying that a well timed punch onto the chin can knock a guy out. Now I wont go into any of the different explanations of what happens after being struck on the chin, but Ill go over some of the defensive aspects to prevent it. To avoid getting hit on the chin you want to keep it slightly tucked in; however it should not be pressed down against your collarbone. Your chin should be just be about as tucked in as if you were holding a ball or a small orange in between your chin and collarbone. As said before its important that you stand almost sideways to your opponent. On the other hand standing square, or square shouldered you wont be able to use you shoulder to defend against punches to the chin and there fore would have to designate one of your hands to do a job that would otherwise be setting up your attack. All the other defensive moves need to be practiced as well. Your footwork and moving in a circle is just as much a part of your defense as it is putting you into a position to attack.

Now with a severe body blow a fighter will usually double over, but with a hard punch to the head theres always a chance that the fighter may fall over backwards and bang their head hard against the canvas. Sometimes its the fall that makes a difference on whether or not a knock out occurs. This was the case when Glen Johnson knocked out Roy Jones Jr. Before the safety of using a stretched canvas, it was not unheard of to find out about a fighter that died as a result of a head injury caused by landing onto the back of their head. This may also be brought into effect by also hitting an opponent while they are in the act of falling.

Anyways there are other targets such as behind the ear, and the temples which are also weak spots. These days hitting behind the ear fall under the category of rabbit punching which is a foul. Getting hit hard behind the ear can stagger you and can also affect your eyesight. The ear itself can be looked at as a vulnerable spot because if a blow lands just right on the ear it can rupture the ear drum which would end any fighters boxing career. I remember one time I when was sparring with a friend, we werent wearing headgear and he caught me with a left hook right on the ear. It was painful, and I could hear a sharp ring in my ear. After a couple of those I became pretty sharp when it came to avoiding his hooks. Its also well known that repeated blows to the ears can cause blood clots that can become the scarring known as cauliflower ears.

Although the nose might not be as significant as the other vulnerable spots along the body and head, it shouldnt be disregarded. Who wants to live with a busted up looking nose anyway. I like my nose the way it is without any distinguishing characteristics. I suppose that breaking your opponents nose in some instances can amount to a psychological edge, in other instances caused by a foul it had become infuriating to the opponent. Anyways our noses are very delicate consisting of a roadmap of nerves and blood vessels. Now I suppose that with some people it doesnt matter so much, but with most getting a good hard bump on the nose is all it takes to feel it go numb with pain, and/or to start bleeding like a faucet. Ive been told that when you have a bloody nose that you are not supposed to blow through your nose as that would lead to swelling. If a bloody or flattened nose comes along all we can do is let our corner men do their job and not get a bloody nose get in the way of the task at hand. Ive heard that theres even a medical operation to remove the cartilage in your nose.

Bloody noses are probably one of those inevitable lessons that every boxer has to go through, but hopefully most of us should gets the message and thinks to ourselves that we dont want to get hit there. I remember in one post talking about broken noses Thomas Tabin mentioned the extraordinary fighter Benny Leonard. Ive seen the pictures and videos myself but I liked Thomass description, lots of people are scared to break a nose and to that I say, Benny Leonard had 212 bouts and a nose that stuck out like a sun dial, but one look at the man and you see not one bend or twist on that sucker. In 212 bouts not one man could hammer that monument of a nose on his face. The moral of the story is: defense, defense, Defense! Now this isnt to say that you should become over protective about it, but if everyone were able to slip, roll and counter with impunity I think it would be safe to say that their noses would be a lot harder to hit. The Keep-your-hands-up-high defense of fighting out of a squared up semi-crouch stance and going straight at an opponent is they way to end up getting hurt. I bet you that Floyd Mayweather Jr. doesnt have trouble breathing through his nose after a hard day of work.

The last targets that well go over are the shoulders, clavicle (collarbone), throat/neck, and the front biceps. Although these targets are not vital, the advantages gained from attacking them should be worth your consideration. Theres always a time and a places when it comes to using any technique or tactic in the ring.

In regards to the shoulders I remember as boys me and my friends had a couple games that wed play, some you mightve heard of, such as Two for Flinching and Hit for Hit. In the game Two for Flinching, one of us would feint a punch to the other guy when they expected it and if they flinched theyd get a two hard hits on their shoulder. The other game was just a black and blue game of trading hit for hit on the shoulder or biceps to see whos going to quit first. Our shoulders would get so numb from the punching that it was painful and difficult to bring our hands up.

Recently I started thinking why not attack the shoulder or the biceps itself? Although this wont add to my score, it might give me advantages by the way that my opponent reacts, and make them think twice.

What if my opponent is apt to use his shoulder to block punches instead of rolling with them? Why not then hit their shoulders with some hard shots and see how they keep it up. Maybe after several hard punches on their shoulders they might be thinking more about their hurt shoulder than they would be about protecting their chin. Even without a hard punch say a quick noncommittal punch on the shoulder may be enough to get your opponent thinking, its tactics like that Benny Leonard would employ to break his opponents focus. Alternatively looking at the way that a lot of guys holds their hands up high you can achieve the same thing much easier with a quick jab to their right glove, this can break their concentration which can make it little harder for them to see whats coming next, and can also mess with their biomechanics of how they throw their right hand and jab.

You can also attack their bicep if youre having trouble getting around their jab, and by following their jab back as it retracts you can attack it while it gets back to guard, or go for the more important openings. When hitting the bicep its best to punch at the underside of the bicep of where it connects to the arm. Unless you can achieve the desired effect within a short period of time I dont see hitting the arms/shoulders as an effective tactic in the amateurs which on top of that would not add any points to your score. Attacking the shoulders and arms would probably be better suited for the pros due to the longer time.

The clavicle or collarbone is vulnerable to breaking and can be crippling to an opponent putting them out of commission for a long time. It might be broken with a punch, but it is more likely to be cracked with a hard downward chopping blow using the part of the glove with less padding.

One fighter that comes to mind when thinking about hitting on the arms, shoulders, neck, etc. is Rocky Marciano. Just look at the punishment that he dished out to Lastarza to the point where Lastarza couldnt raise his arms. I think it was Ezzard Charles or Archie Moore that stated it was like getting hit with a blackjack all over their body. I remember watching Marciano turn his hands over while he threw his punches, this caused his punches to land with the side of his glove where theres less padding. I can imagine how that added to the punishment his opponents received.

The neck and throat can be targets too. For one its harder for most people to avoid, and it can accomplish either of a number of things. Your opponents biomechanics would be affected if in effect that they bring their chin down. At the least you caused them to react and gave them something to think about other than looking for the punch that you have planned. They might even take a step back which can be good for you if you were having trouble keeping them off of you. Besides hurting your opponent, Ive heard in other martial arts that a chopping blow coming down on the side of the neck can disrupt blood flow. I imagine that this would be difficult to pull off, and under most conditions unnecessary when there are better targets to pursue. There is one sneaky way to bring in a punch to their neck and this is what can do while youre clinching. I seen Sam Soliman use this move... (unfinished)

By having precise targets to place your punches you can improve the effectiveness of your punches, but to make the best of it you need to punch hard at the openings that youve created.

Now if you have spent a lot of time intently studying fights and from drawing from your own first hand experiences looking for things that will tell you what theyre trying to do, what their intentions are, etc, then from these insights you can begin to make infer what to do or not to do when youre fighting them. Of course when you are fighting them youre actually putting yourself right into the equation. To an extent there should be a need to desensitize oneself of the emotions of getting into a fight, or in other words as Thomas Tabin put it, dehumanize boxing. Dont look at boxing as two guys out to do each other in, but rather two skilled players who are opponents to one another and who are working off each others responses the to effect of determining who is going to win.


Note:

I know that this is far from finished and unedited but seeing as I might not be around this forum I thought that I would share some a few pages of what I have written. I regret not going over countering, punching power, and training but I would feel most guilty if I didn't post anything at all. I'll be in the Philippines soon and busy with my own matters.

Although I won't be around to cover everything I'll tell you that most of the information is out there, in the books, in the words of wisdom of fighters/trainers, on fight footage and many difference sources. It's all up to a smart hungry fighter to find and figure out most of it on their own. In regards to some of the training methods I recommend greynotsoold and Thomas Tabin's posts that said to tape targets onto a mirror or punching bag. This way a boxer can practice hitting hard at the vital targets when going over any counter or set up. The various techniques can be found in many of greynotsoold's posts that can be found in the 'Useful Posts' section, and in Edwin L. Haislett's book. More counters and set-ups can be found in many fight footage by clever fighters, or by your own encounters with professionals. I hope that some of my notes here can be entertaining and/or helpful to those who read this.

Good Luck
Chris N.