Help for defense against left hands

[StrictlySP]

Hi Rocky,
You wrote:

But with my right hand high I always seem to forget about left hooks and am always caught by them. I need help ... what should I do?

Salty wrote:

I think the best lesson to learn for a guy new to the sport is that you are going to be caught. It's the frequency and severity of these punches which matter. This is why sparring is so important, you've identified the weakness in your defence and now you and your trainer go about rectifying it.

Very nicely said...

Successful boxing consists in part of "properly" trained/ingrained "automatic" responses; so with a specifically identified problem, it can be rectify through lots of conscientious "isolation drilling" and "isolation sparring" (done in a variety of ways). With that said, don't overlook/underestimate the "power" of drilling and put all your marbles in sparring. While sparring is THE ultimate preparatory exercise in boxing; functional, objective-driven drilling goes a long, long way in developing and ingraining the proper responses that are required to compete successfully in the sport. So, you'd do well to incorporate plenty of it in your regimen alongside gradient sparring.

Anyway, hope you're doing well. Take care and good luck ("luck" equating to when preparation meets opportunity).

Best Regards,
Lito