The "Philly Shell"

The Philly Shell is perhaps a natural evolution of the cross arm defence. With the left hand low, sometimes covering the body and even held below the right elbow, the right hand is high alternating from the side of the jaw which is under more pressure. The chin is safehoused behind the leading shoulder.

Most importantly the rear leg is retracted, revealing less of a target and resulting in a very "side on stance." This is the key difference from the cross arm stance and when coupled with the mobility employed with the Philly Shell it is an excellent counter puncghing style as the heels are raised from the floor and speed of foot is encouraged.

The idea is to keep your head (and centreline) outside of the opponents left shouklder, meaning the jab is easily alluded and the opponents straight right is a reaching blow. Other more practical defences include the right handed parry and a "rolling slip."

Offensively, the low left hand can serve to generate a snakey jab or lead left uppercut. Inside fighting can be problematic as the body is exposed and balance may be sacrificed. The Philly shell can also be susceptible to counter punching as the hands again take time to set.

This technique takes years to make viable and a lot of damage is absorbed in learning it properly. Fighters such as James Toney and Floyd Mayweather use this defence to excellent effect and in terms of Toney, the problems with bodywork are not applicable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7V97...eature=related
In this Toney video note the withdrawn right foot, the low hands and the flicking jab. Just before the 5 minute mark some defence is shown which demonstrates "rolling."