Grey & Thomas's Fountain of Knowledge

[Chris Nagel]

Training tips:

Shadow boxing is entirely about developing technique and the mental aspects of the game. The mirror lets you see and correct your flaws. Then get in the ring and fight three rounds against an imaginary opponent and really work. ALL of the old-time trainers said that, if you could only do one exercise, shadow-box.

You know, so many guys train so much that they neglect the most important part of the body: the brain. I know what you are talking about- guys that hit the bag, do the same combination over and over again, then stand and wait after they punch. They don't realize that you build habits that way. You always have to envision an opponent throwing punches back at you.

I saw this guy in Phoenix back in 04 that really caught my attention. He probably weighed 112 or 115 and he was kind of tall, working the heavy bag. He was watching himself real close in the mirror and working on a series of moves. He'd do them one at a time dissecting them until he was satisfied. Then he spent a couple rounds stringing these moves together, with head feints to get in, stepping around the bag, the whole shot. He really knew how to get the most out of a bag.

Well, you can't be thinking that you'll land all three and he'll stand there and take it Just for fun let's run through a couple of scenarios you might work through.

You jab, jab again. At some point he'll try a right over your left- pretty likely, yes? When he does you stiffen your left arm to "leverage" his right up and away from your head while you drop your weight to your right leg- tucking your head behind your left shoulder- then throw a right upper cut to his solar plexus and a left hook to his liver. To get out, get your right glove behind his left elbow and turn him to your left while you step out to your right.

Or, you jab then feint the jab to draw his jab. When he jabs you slip inside it with a short straight right to the heart, then weave to the outside while hooking his body with your left. From the outside you straighten and cross your right to his head and follow with a left hook.

See the idea? You always work your way in and out, always imagining a response from a guy trying to win. Don't just stand there and punch.

We use the double end bag to get a similar mental excercise,every time you hit it its moving,now if you force yourself to move and circle it...........

That's a good way to use the double end bag. Control its movement with your movement and jab and always hit it while its coming towards you.

[Chris Nagel]

The low left hand:

Many- I would venture to say most- of boxing's great defensive fighters fought with a low left hand and in terms of "proper" technical boxing using the shoulder to defend against the right hand is the superior technique as it provides better counter-punchingopportunities and it leaves both hands free to counter. Also there is less damage done tan there is when putting one's left glove against one's head and blocking the right. The idea is to avoid or to deflect as much impact as is possible.
If you watch tpe of Charley Burley, Archie Moore, Walcott, Charles, even James Toney they jab from the hip and it is anything but a light flicking punch. Eddie Futch was discussing the great Holman Williams in an interview and made reference to his rising jab, which hedescribed as a sort of "back handed uppercut." Tape of the fighters that utilized this punch will show that while the left was low they carried their chins well behind the left houlder, fought out of a semi-crouch and had their left hip and shoulder so far forward- towards their opponent- as to be almost sideways.
This makes one very hard to hit with right hands, and makes an opponent walk around and into your right hand if he tries to land his hook. The 'rising jab' comes into play as the opponent jabs; either slip or parry so that his jab goes over your left shoulder, stepping in with the left foot by slightly pushing off the right. The left glove, the left arm straight, comes straight u7p from the hip, timed to meet the foe's cin as he steps in behind the jab you made him miss. This is a very jolting blow, and over time causes considerable damage.
I would also argue that , if done in the manner described above it makes one less vulnerable to right hands, due to the stance and the crouch. In fact it lends itself to drawing and countering the right with a return right to head or body.

[Chris Nagel]

More Advice:

When you take up boxing its very easy to get worked up and anxious, picture yourself knocking opponents around like Popeye did Bluto. But flexibility trumps big muscles more often than not; today we are infested with a bunch of bodybuilders trained for show not go, but if look at film/pictures of the truly great ones they look like strong wellconditioned athletes but you rarely see a muscle defined until that instant before contact. Also keep in mind that the ultimate objective is to not get hit and to hit. Some people reverse that saying but trust me don't get hit then hit. Keep this in minsd; as you develope as a boxer your strengths and weaknesses and your mindset will come to define your style. Whether you end up swarming forward madly, scurrying and floating jabs, whatever, ALWAYS BE A COUNTERPUNCHER. The best were all counter punchers, even the pressure fighters. You come forward in such a way as to draw a particular response- a jab, a right- that you can slip to get close or land a blow to the opening it provides. I tend to be longwinded and in a hurry and lose my train of thought , but I really hope that that last bit made sense to you? If not feel free to get at me and I'll try again.

An oldie, to be sure, but an interesting one to drunks on Friday nights To do this combo properly you need to begin in a proper stance; feet under your shoulders , left leg rotated inward , left foot flat, right heel up @ 2" As you jab push off of your right foot, drive the jab arm into complete extension, remembering to bring your right foot up with you, throwing the right as it arrives. Your weight should be over your left leg. Take this opportunity to slide your right foot @ 11/2" to the right, drpping it flat as your weight shifts back and you torque your body back to the right, throwing the hook. Changing the weight on your feet will really help your balance.

[Chris Nagel]

Right hand counter:

Here is a very very simple way to shorten the arms of an opponent with long arms and a busy jab; the funny thing is that it is THE natural counter in boxing and very difficult for him to counter.
Here is the premise: the motion you make to slip his jab so that it passes over your right shoulder- slipping it to the "inside" position- is the exact same motion as you make to throw a straight hand. He jabs, you step slightly forward and left with your left foot shifting the wt to your left leg, etc...Your step far enough to drop your body low enough so that you are able to drive a straight right to his heart; in the early days of boxing this was a legitimate ko punch and still would be were the average "modern" fighter schooled well enough to throw it. Throw this punch and come back with a left uppercut or weave outside with a hook to the body or chin. However you do it this punch will discourage his jab in short order.

A straight right to the heart is the "natural" counter to a left jab. It works wonders to "shorten" an opponent's left arm, really discouraging him from using that punch. Very simple to execute, as well, because in essence all you are doing is throwing a straight right hand: when you put your weight on the left foot (slide it forward and left a bit if you choose-how much depends on what you intend to do next) and turn your hips and shoulders it should lower your body enough to let the jab go by.

A parry is nothing at all like the Karate Kid. Based on timing- entirely on timing-it is always a minimal movement, often a flick of the wrist. Never reach out to parry- let the punch come to you. Buddy McGirt used to parry a lot and Julio Caesar Chavez used to parry a ton of right hands with his left glove. James Toney, at 168 and 175 especially, used to parry jabs over his left shoulder then bring his jab up and under while pushing forward off his right foot. He scored a knockdown in the 2nd Hembrick fight in this manner.

[Chris Nagel]

Counterpunching:

any series of punches is to be considered one block of movement and in this way there are often numerous ways to counter him as he transitions from movement to movement.

however, youre worst problem is randomness -- the natural enemy of the counterpuncher. when he randomizes his punches you sink into confusion as he becomes so unpredictable you cant never plan the proper counter to throw. at the bottom of this is your inability to control the tempo of the bout. to do this you got to understand the concept of coercion and persuasion. all strategy from boxing to machiavellian political thought is based on this principle. you see youre opponent is constantly prioritizing in his mind what he should do, what he should not do, how he should do it, when should he do it, why should he do it; all of which based on the information you show him. to demonstrate this effect you need only to look at the example you gave in your post:

"I find its alot easier when countering single shots i.e. the jab but when the opponent throws two or three punches in quick succession i find myself always trading with them."


by succefully countering his jab as you say you have, you must realize that your opponent takes in this information in the form of, "geez this guy keeps nailing me when i jab, i need to stop doing whatever it is that keeps getitn me hit with that counterpunch, i better stop and try something else"

this is the universal effect of counterpunching i.e coercion. by way of penalizing him for certain punches he throws by use of your counterpunch you are forcing him to opt for a different approach because he is getting penalized for his previous efforts. you must understand he isnt just going to keep on doing what it is that allows you to counter him. this manifested itself in the form of your opponent opting now to throw a "1-2" instead of that single jab you penalized him for earlier. realize that you have forced his hand in this option and that it was you that caused him to do this by way of coercion. i stress this greatly because it is important that you understand this fundamental tenet of boxing if you want to be a real counterpuncher as you say.

ok so now that your opponent is throwing this 1-2 of his and you must find a way around it. as noted at the start of this entry, any series of punches is to be considered a single block of movements. in this case you cannot simply counter the jab as a right hand is now coming along with it. you must find a way to negate the effectiveness of the right hand. to do this you may simply use your counters for the right hand creating for yet another coearcion effect if not knocking him out completely, block it with your shoulder so that it is useless of him to throw it, or circle away from it so that it never lands. the key idea to take from this is that you are telling him "hey, dont you see youre right hand isnt being productive for you?" in which case he must yet again choose something else to do as you are penalizing him for his efforts. when you say that you trade with him as he throws his random shots at you, you are failing to implement the effect of coercion and thusly you fail to control the bout. no matter what he does (throw a 1-2 or any random string of punches) you must be able to establish the effect of coercion, realizing that he only ever does what you let him by way of this principle.


i really do wish i could go in greater detial for you here (i didnt even touch on the effect of persuasion b/k/a the act of drawing punches, or what happens when you meet somebody smart enough to draw/trigger your counterpunches and then use them to counterpunch you) but to do this i would have to exapand this post into what would be a 7 page essay. i hope that you grasp the core idea though.

[Chris Nagel]

Gloves:

I don't like any glove larger than 8 oz. Any larger and you begin to stray from a real fighting experience and you develop your fighting style based on those experiences. But I can see why people wouldnt want to use realistic gloves for something like day to day sparring. Even though you would learn more from one day of realistic fighting than you would from a whole year of a inaccurate simulation. Your defense would improve for one thing.


I myself hate the feel of a big glove and I don't see how anybody can stand them. Some of them (I guess many of them) won't even allow you to make a closed fist or at least not with great effort first. They end up not only weighing down your arms but they also force you to clench the muscles in your forearm and wrist tightly just to make a fist. You have tense up your arm just to punch and because of that you tighten your arm up and you slow yourself down. This also makes your movements stiff.

One way around that is to take some tape and wrap it around the glove so that the fist area is wrapped down to make a closed fist. This allows the glove to remain closed by default so you don't have to squeeze down hard just to punch. This also reduces some of the bulk which will give you more fluidic movement and reduce the feeling of being weighed down by large objects on your hands.

Or you could be even slicker than me and stitch down the finger tip area to the palm creating a nice clean fist.

You will notice the difference immediately.

Way back when Ringside first introduced their 12oz bag gloves I bought a pair and they were the best gloves I've ever used. You could make a good tight fist in them and the long wrist cuff gave added support to the wrist. When I wore them out I bought another pair of the same and they were slightly different but still good gloves. Recently I bought a third pair (this being 2 years ago,now) and they are crap. The new and improved attached thumb makes it impossibleto make a fist or to throw a punch properly. Given the odd angles dictated by the claw instead of a fist in the glove, wrist problems became inevitable so I threw them out. At the gym where I worked at the time I experimented with a variety of gloves, tendingtowards the 12oz and above thinking to protect my now sore hands.

I ended up with a pair of Everlast bag gloves, straight off the shelf and I love them because I can make a fist. That is the most vitalthing in keeping your hands sound: make a tight fist. Keeping your wrist straight is technique and strength of wrist and forearm. Do the approriate exercises.

How you wrap your hands matters more than the glove, I think. You want to be sure and do two things with the wrap: support and strengthen the wrist and keep tight the myriad small bones in the hand. Wrapping too much around and across the face of the fist-padding the knuckles- is counterproductive as the more times you cross the palm the less tight a fist you can make. The padding is in the glove and that won't do much good if your hand is only loosely clenched. The wrist band of the glove is no substitute for a good wrap and good technique. Make a tight fist and do the work to stengthen wrist and forearm and you don't need bag gloves; loose hands and wists and the gloves don't matter.

[Chris Nagel]

Training Advice:

To sharpen your wind, run 'rounds'. Say you expect spar 3 rounds: walk a time or two around the track at a good pace to warm up then, using a watch, spend the next 3 minutes as follows: start off jogging at a good pace for 30 or 45 seconds then run for a minute then jog for half a minute then sprint for 30 seconds and finish jogging to 3 minutes.(any variation of the above is fine- you see the point of it all?) Spend one minute walking briskly then three minutes as before but changing the pattwern and the durations. What you are doing is sharpening your wind and enhancing your ability to regain it quickly.
There are a few things that could help you once its 'that time'.

Don't stand around in punching range as that is how you get hit. Stay just out of range and you can ignore a lot of the leather flying about; step in to punch and get backout. If your opponent hits your gloves when he jabs you are in range and need to get away or to begin punching or ducking. Try to move around and jab a bit, get used to the ring at first. Let him lead and get a feel for what he's doing or trying to do, hit the openings his leads create. The whole idea is to enjoy it and that is best accomplished by relaxing and taking your time, not being tight and having to fight for your life.

Also don't forget to breath and I am not kidding. Lots of people-pros included- forget to breath when throwing punches. This is especially true when they get somebody hurt or are involved in a prolonged exchange; punching one's self out is the term. It is especially true among guys in the ring for the first time- the tension gets them. Breath.

Getting hit sucks but that only makes a successfuldefensive move that much sweeter. Chin down, elbows in and don't stand around in punching range. You'll do alright.