Is one year still too early?..

[Dizaster]

A couple of tips.

Practice them a lot doing shadowboxing as well... Imagine your opponent doing a certain attack which would lend itself to a nice uppercut counter or a nice hook. Try watching some fights a couple of times over and analyze whenever a fighter does a nice hook or uppercut, the circumstances that led to it.. What the opponent was trying to do that put them in the position to be hooked or uppercuted (is that a word?)...
The main factor is probably the reading of your opponent.. Looking for things that are going to put them in the situation where your punches will connect and be effective.
Have someone in the gym run through very slow sparring session.. Like right back to sqaure one learning, have them come in close, and in slow motion throw something, which you react to with an uppercut... Very slowly. Do this over and over building it into your automatic response...
It's kind of easy to get straight punches built into your automated reactions, but you need to get your body and mind used to reacting to certain action from your opponent, with hooks and uppercuts from yourself..
Once you've got that working in very slow simulated movements, then you can slowly speed it up a little... Then make the simulations longer. Have them throw a left and right and you the same, THEN come in with the uppercut.... Again, very slowly,,, but it's building the uppercut into your attack, and into your arsenal that comes out IN REACTION to your opponents movement.
That's probably the best way... Even if you just spent a single day rehersing JUST this thing of adding uppercuts into slow simulations,,,, you'll feel more confident to use them in real sparring situations..

Good luck!!!

Another thing you can do while watching fights is shadow box in front of the television or computer, and pretend you are one of the fighters reacting to the other fighter... Look for that uppercut or hook opportunity... Get you're mind used to looking for it and recognising when the opportunity comes.. Once it becomes a little more automated - You'll be anticipating them... Hell, you'll be WAITING for them... Then that split second comes, and BAM, your automatic response system has already thrown it before you logically even realise that the moment to throw an uppercut has come...
That's what so good about a big knockout punch.. Your automated response see's that opportunity coming like 3 punches away, and your opponent is laying on his back before his 4th punch, wondering how his 4 punch combo got interupted by him being knocked the f'k out...