The Art of Feinting

[southpawed]

do you think feints should only be used when you know you can land the follow up shot? it seems like the only time they are most useful is right in beginnings of the round or when you have your opponent respecting the punch you're going to feint. i always heard and read that you have to work off the feints, or its just kinda wasted i guess. or perhaps the opponent would time it if he caught on.

[Chris Nagel]

do you think feints should only be used when you know you can land the follow up shot? it seems like the only time they are most useful is right in beginnings of the round or when you have your opponent respecting the punch you're going to feint. i always heard and read that you have to work off the feints, or its just kinda wasted i guess. or perhaps the opponent would time it if he caught on.

I think that there may also be more to it than simply feinting to find an opening, it can also have a part in affecting how your opponent fights you. I believe that the most frequently used feints are tied to the jab. If you mix in stiff jabs, or hard jabs you can make your opponent react to the rest of your jabs, including jab-feints. In this case it, you can then feint the jab even if it's not for the sake of a follow up shot, because your opponent is eventually going to react to it since your harder jabs have their attention.

I also think that it's important to get into a 'feeling out' mode to begin with so that you can get a feel for your opponent's reactions. Scrap and Thomas mentioned shadow boxing with a partner, I think that this would would be an excellent way to get into the feeling out process as well as becoming more aware of what's happening. I've tried it a couple of times and found that it was good way of getting a feel of where to move and even working on feints. I'll write something up on it sometime soon.

[El Kabong]

I guess I use the "shift feint" damn if it don't work everytime! If you set the right hand up it will work like a charm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8x14b9az1M

That's the guy to follow if you like feinting

[Scrap]

I remember Willie Pep, after watching me Spar come up and say, He who fights and runs away Lives to fight 270 times. I remeber thinking at the time, what the F**k is He talking about

[Youngblood]

I guess I use the "shift feint" damn if it don't work everytime! If you set the right hand up it will work like a charm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8x14b9az1M

That's the guy to follow if you like feinting

What a character. That's great Lyle.

[Trainer Monkey]

do you think feints should only be used when you know you can land the follow up shot? it seems like the only time they are most useful is right in beginnings of the round or when you have your opponent respecting the punch you're going to feint. i always heard and read that you have to work off the feints, or its just kinda wasted i guess. or perhaps the opponent would time it if he caught on.

Youve got to have a follow up in mind,its just saving you the time energy and effort of having to throw a throw away punch.
Lets face it,a full combo has this in mind,if I throw to A) his hands move to block so B) is open now,and thats really what I wanted to hit anyway.
A good feint makes sure your punch gets to B) alot faster