Shoulder Rolling

[canary]

this stance and positioning of the hands invite a wide array of attacks from your opponent. an overright hand, looping hooks, and long and swing uppers. you cant possibly defend yourself well using this.

That's the beauty of it. It invites whoever goes up against it to throw everything including the kitchen sink. Although he looks open in everyway open, in reality he's isn't. I know that this is hard to believe being that today's accepted stance is the hands up on the cheeks (or higher), arms bolted tight to the body, body hunched over, chin tucked and standing square to your opponent. Now what this sadly leads to is a perpetual state of blocking when your hands could be used much more proactively, say jabbing, feinting, capitalizing on opportunities as well as creating them. This is harder to do when your arms are commited to blocking, you can see this is a problem with Jeff Lacey and even more recently Joshua Clottey.

inviting attacks from any conceivable angle is not really a good idea in boxing, especially if youre up against a well-rounded fighter who can deliver punches on almost all directions, throw them in volume, and operate with superior footworks.

(see barrera - hamed) damn! im still figuring out how to embed youtube vids.

hamed has his left hand low all through-out the fight. reason? his gameplan was obviously to lure barrera to come inside, trade punches with him and force (or wait) barrera to commit a mistake along the way. but it never happened. what came from barrera were looping right hooks that rarely (or never?) missed the target. it costed him the fight.

we all know what kind of a fighter hamed was. hes capable of throwing big punches from odd angles and he can end a fight with just a punch. youre idea of shoulder rolling off that loughran stance fits perfectly to hameds style. but against somebody who moves in and out pretty well and throws volumes of strong punches from any angles like barrera, it was a bad idea. i dont think using a very open stance is a good way to start your rolling. you cant possibly trap a Level A opponent with your head and body all open.

now, a great trap and roll is what thomas hearns has shown the world of boxing. left hands low and swinging back and forth and left and right (for quick hard jabs he could throw in different angles) and a killer right hand up to cover the chin/head wc was always ready to deliver the kill. he always held his left hand low to invite an opponent to come inside. and once they were in his range, theyre dead. and if they managed to survive the killer right and succesfully closed the gap, hearns would just roll away from their range. hearns always got away with that stance precisely because his body and head from the right side were all well covered and his opponents had only one side/angle to exploit with (the left side with the left hand low). was this effective against fighters of all styles? the answer was the two leonard fights and the duran fight.

its good to leave certain parts of your body/head open as a trap, but to leave your body all open is not really a good idea. its not even a trap to begin with.

now, lets look at the stance of joe louis. similar to that lougran stance save for the hands that are positioned relatively higher. his right hand up to cover the chin, and his left hand a little low to block jabs, body shots and uppers. louis was a master of oppense-oriented shoulder roll. the positioning of the feet and the hands were perfectly designed to economize movements, exploit the rooms, keep opponents within striking range, prevent them from using lateral movements to box him out and most of all, allow him to close the gap for his killer compact hooks and uppers.

Normally you don't have to close the gap in order for the shoulder roll to work. To do it effectively you do however have to make your opponent commit to their right hand, it's even better if they have to step in or reach to try to hit you. What Thomas pointed out to me is that the right is a natural counter for a right (likewise how a left hook is also naturally countered by a left hook). As you roll the punch to the inside you're right hand is loaded while you have the added bonus of hitting them while they're coming forward.

shoulder roll comes in two. one was going along with the punch to lessen its impact or to avoid getting hit by that punch, the other was working your way besides and under the punches and jabs while closing the gap for your offensives. tyson and dempsey were masters of this. joe frazier and rocky marciano were honorable mentions. moving in while ducking punches and throwing killer uppers and hooks when the gap is closed. again, you cant possible pull-off the offense-oriented shoulder roll with youre body and head wide open.