Handspeed, accuracy and sharpness.

[StrictlySP]

Hi Donny,
First off, good luck ("luck" meaning when preparation meets opportunity) on your upcoming bout...

Okay, SOLO TRAINING-wise, here are some suggestions:
Speed:
*The number one factor for speed is to RELAX and use only the muscles you need for the punch. With that said...
1) Shadow box with speed and flow in mind.
2) Hit the heavy bag with the same above mentality.
3) Shadow box with first-half movements, meaning instead of fully extending any of your shots, do half motions, ie. half-jab, half-straight right, half-left hook, half-right uppercut, half-overhand right, etc; I think you get the drift. Anyway, this works INITIATION SPEED and "explosiveness."
4) Do the same as 3) except do so with second-half movements, meaning start from the end of the first-half movement and complete the second-half with an emphasis on the retraction. Do this with all the punches in your arsenal, body shots and all. NOTE: when doing this exercise with straight shots, do it on a heavy bag so you don't hyperextend your elbows on the follow-through. This exercise works your follow-through and retraction speed.

Accuracy:
1) Tape up a heavy bag with small duct tape pieces at various heights all over the bag and sharp-shoot your punches on these small targets. Start slow then build up speed...
2) Expanding on 1), you can number your duct tape targets, make a tape/CD recording of yourself calling out numbers in random order and use it to work your hand-eye coordination and speed-of-thought-to-action attributes.

Sharpness with Combinations:
1) Use the above solo exercises with an emphasis on combos.
2) Videotape yourself throwing random as fast and hard as you can with no thought to the sequence of punches. You can also do this with pre-planned combos but this takes away from finding out what your natural predilections are. Anyway, after getting about, say 20 minutes of footage, watch it and evaluate yourself. Look for any combos that stand out from the others in terms of sharpness and flow.
3) Talk to sparring partners and get feedback from them on the combos that seem to catch them/hurt them more than others.

Well, that's it for now. I gotta run and take my kids to swimming practice. If you're interested, I'll share some recommendations with partner training/sparring when I have more time...

Again, good luck...

Take Care,
Lito