Improve my jab against tall fast counter puncher?

[mozilla2004]

I use to train a lot in gyms and have a couple amateur fights. These days, I like sparring friends for fun, and just appreciate the art of boxing.

I have a friend who just learns for fun, and I like using him as a training partner outdoors. We've been sparring about once a week for the past 3-4 years. Lately, I wanted to improve my jab. Although I use it a lot against fighters my height+reach, I tend to not use it as much against taller fighters. The friend I mentioned is tall, fast, counter puncher, likes to run AND he knows me well and how I move. In the past, I just have to close the distance, cut off the ring (aka parking lot), and go to work. But lately, I wanted to be more "technical" and more of a "boxer". I wanted to use my jabs more and work my way in, instead of brute force rushing him.

However, it isn't working. My friend sees me coming in, I'm telegraphing too much, and he's not afraid of my other shots because he knows I'm not going to use them much. So he just tees off on me the moment I try to make a move. He sees my feints, pumps, and knows when I'm actually going to commit.

I watch Mayweather Jr. and I'm impressed by how easy he can land that jab on people. It's like he can win a fight with just the jab. How does he do it? Is it timing? Intellgience? Knowing where to be?

Is there some fighter I can study, some videos I can watch, to help me better understand how to improve my jab?

Here's a video of me and him when I CAN use all my punches. I'm in white gloves, my friend in red, and you'll notice that he will be more gun shy, but towards the end, he lets his hands fly.


I'll try to upload something from my training yesterday, where I was using predominantly jabs. Video to come soon.