The Boxing Cheat Sheet

Your Ultimate Guide to Ring Survival!

RAY CLAY
© Ray Clay 2017 Fayzfitness.co.uk

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions
thereof in any form whatsoever without the prior permission of the owner
of this book.
 Contents

Introduction

The Mindset of a Fighter

Boxing Essentials

Sparring - Why You Need To Do It

Don’t be Predictable!
How To Use Feints In Boxing
How To Fight A Taller Boxer

How To Fight Someone Faster Than You

How To Fight A Southpaw

How to Fight a Pressure Fighter

Bonus Chapter 1 – How to See Punches Coming

Bonus Chapter 2 – The Treadmill Pyramid
Introduction

Boxing is one of the hardest sports in the world, maybe even THE hardest.
It is not just the physical aspect of the sport which makes it so difficult, but
the mental side of fighting. For this reason it is called 'The Sweet Science',
you must think fast and think on your feet, the best Boxers are the smartest
boxers with a high ring IQ who are able to figure out their opponent and
adjust to what is in front of them. It is my hope, that the advice given in this
book will sharpen your ring IQ and have a positive effect on your Boxing.
You will learn the different ways to feint, how to fight a taller opponent or
one faster than you, how to better handle southpaws and more. The book is
full of tips you can use, whether you are a beginner, amateur or pro, you
will find something inside which will help your game.
The Mindset of a Fighter

No I am not going to discuss THAT sort of mindset, of preparing for a fight.

That's not what this book is about. That is mental preparation for a fight and
should be handled in conjunction with your trainer and your team. That side
is extremely important yes, you need to believe in yourself and think
positively. You have to learn how to handle the fear and the doubts, because
you will experience these emotions, everyone does and it is a totally natural
reaction. There are tools available to help, visualisation, self talk, goal
setting, relaxation and self motivation are just some of the techniques you
can use to combat fear but I want to discuss the strategy inside the ring.

What is your mindset inside the ring when you are engaging your
opponent? The aim should be always thinking and acting one step ahead.
Let me explain. When you first started Boxing and the first time you ever
sparred, what was your goal? I am willing to bet the first time you sparred
you had either one of two mindsets - all out attack, I want to land a one
punch KO or all out defense, I don't want to get hit in the face, especially
not my nose! And you did these one at a time. But as you became more
comfortable sparring, eventually you progressed, whilst defending you are
now looking for a chance to counter attack your opponent, when attacking
you are thinking about getting out of range after landing your shots or
moving your head. This is how your mindset in the ring should be.

Think one step ahead, attack, defend, counter. When you are able to
effortlessly transition between these stages, that is when you know you are
a handful for your opponent. Very likely you are now an accomplished
Boxer.
Here is a basic example of this.

1. Step one is Attack. Throw the jab, now you know throwing the
jab there is the chance your opponent may counter. You don't just
end the move here.

2. So you add in a defensive move such as a slip. Throw the jab

followed by a slip inside. Pre-emptive defense.

3. Now you know by slipping inside, if your opponent misses with

his counter, you have an opportunity to now counter with a
punch of your own. So now it has become throw the jab (attack),
slip inside(defend), screw jab to the head(counter).

Your next move from here will depend on the situation. You can choose to
repeat the process or choose to catch a break and move out of range. A fight
is dynamic so you will have to adjust to what is in front of you but this three
step process of attack, defend and counter is what you want to be striving
for.

You want to be rolling these moves into one so you seam from one to the
other. You're not thinking throw my punches and that's it, now wait for my
opponent to do something. When attacking, think defense. When defending,
think attack. Using this mindset will also help you incorporate feints and
head movements into your style of fighting and you will become a much
more rounded Boxer. This mindset alone and acting on this mindset will
improve your level of Boxing no end.
Boxing Essentials

In this chapter I run through a few things I believe you must have if you
want to improve your Boxing. Sure we all have different goals, not all of us
will want to step into the ring and fight competitively outside of sparring,
some of you may just want to use Boxing for fitness and that’s great too,
but even then, a lot of this chapter will still apply to you because essentially
I teach everyone the same. If you want to just be fit, well you still need to
learn proper technique even if the emphasis will be more on the fitness side
of things, If you are using Boxing to increase your fitness and improve your
health you’ll still need to increase your cardio capability, you’ll still need to
know how to punch properly because it helps to prevent injury and provides
for a better workout. One thing which really surprises me when I see
Personal Trainers on the pads with clients is how they hold the pads 12
inches either side of their head, well unless you want to go to the Zoo to
punch Elephants that’s a pretty pointless exercise, and if they continue to
teach you to punch that far across, you’ll probably still miss with any punch
you throw, whatever your goal, it pays to learn the sport of Boxing correctly
but I digress…and onto some essential tips for the Squared Circle. This is
by no means an exhaustive list, just some guidelines you need to keep in
mind if you want to cover the bare basics of improving as a Boxer.

1. Running, running, running. Yes I said that three times to

emphasize my point. If you want to Box well, you must improve
your fitness. Fighting is an extremely draining sport. Without a
good level of fitness you will not do justice to your talent, you
will not be mentally sharp in the ring which means missed
 opportunities when Boxing and likely getting hit with shots you
wouldn’t normally have. It was the great NFL Coach Vince
Lombardi who said ‘Fatigue makes cowards us of all’ and that is
very true of the ring, if you are tired there’s very little you can do
except cover up and hope the bell sounds the end of the ring very
soon. Your technique falls apart when you are tired, we’ve all
been there, it’s not a very pleasant experience. I don’t care how
hard you punch, if you gas out you will not be punching very
hard at all. Do your running, jogging, sprinting and intervals.
You will need the leg strength and endurance to last the fight,
everything comes from the legs, even the shorter three round
bouts of amateur level is very fast paced and tiring. Don’t fall
short.

2. The Jab. If there is one punch you have to master, it is the jab,
the can opener of punches leads on to any number of punches
after and sets you up for your next shot. No punch is used more
often than the jab so make sure you work on this punch. The jab
can be used in numerous ways, to find your range, to set up the
next shot, to distract your opponent, to feel him out, so don’t
underestimate its effectiveness. It can also be thrown in various
ways, the standard jab, the screw jab, the ‘up’ jab coming from
low to high, the flick jab, the jab to the body, faking high then
low and vice versa. An extremely versatile punch, great Boxers
will always have great jabs, look at the jabs of great Boxers such
as Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes.

3. Head Movement. It doesn’t have to be as extravagant as Pernell

Whitaker, or bob and weave like Mike Tyson. As long as you
 can avoid a punch, even by just 1cm you’ve done your job.
Boxers like Julio Cesar Chavez Snr or Roberto Duran were
experts at moving just enough to slip your punch, economy of
movement, efficient and energy saving. Of course if you find
you are better suited at rolling under and using larger movements
then that is fine too, the point here is to make sure your head is
moving. Boxing is all about hitting whilst not getting hit
yourself. If your head does not move you will be getting hit
much more often. Learn to implement head movement into your
basic Boxing moves, this means adding slips and rolls in shadow
boxing after throwing a punch or combination, and adding head
movement when you are moving around the ring. Don’t be a
sitting target and don’t let your opponent line you up.

4. Footwork. This goes without saying, when you build a house,

you must build a solid foundation, without it the house is flimsy
and falls down and footwork is the foundation for your Boxing.
If you have no footwork, you will not punch as hard because you
will not be properly balanced, and by the same token, if you are
not properly balanced, you are easier to knock over. Learn to
pivot, it never ceases to surprise me when I come across people
who have been boxing at a club for a year or more and still
haven’t been taught how to pivot but pivoting will allow you to
punch off angles and fight on the ropes. Practice footwork every
time you train, even the basics of going left, right, backwards
and forwards, it will help you no end. As Sugar Ray Leonard
once said, your legs will either get you into trouble, or get you
out of trouble. Make sure it is not the former.
5. Your chin. As the old saying goes ‘if you step into the shower,
you’re going to get wet. If you step into the ring, you are going
to get hit’. Yes of course, having good footwork and good head
movement will decrease the number of times you get hit but
sooner or later you are going to get hit, whether that’s because
you are tiring or simply because your opponent is very skilled, it
will happen. When it does, don’t cower into a corner or totally
change the way you fight. Mike Tyson proclaimed ‘Everyone
has a plan until they get punched in the face’ so don’t be one of
those who drops onto the back foot every time they get in the
face. If you only want to take things as far as sparring, then
invest in a facesaver headguard which offers increased
protection and protects your nose. It’s safe to say if you cannot
take a punch, you won’t get far in Boxing. Besides, it is never as
bad as you think it will be….

Don't take your eyes off your opponent, look forward, look them
in the eyes like a laser beam. It's the shots you don't see coming
which hurt the most so ensure you're eyes are always on their
eyes, not their shoulders, not their gloves but their eyes. Very
often, when your opponent wants to land a big shot, their eyes
will widen. This gives the game away and if you have your eyes
on theirs you can often read their mind – the eyes are the
window to the soul! In the same way, if your opponent is about
to throw a body shot, their eyes will lower down to your body.
Keep your eyes on them and you’ll be able to anticipate which
shot is coming next.
 Exercises which train the neck will help you absorb punches
much better, so if you are that worried, buy a neck harness which
allows you to attach weights, train your traps and do your
deadlifts.

6. Sparring. I’m going to end it here, and sparring makes it into my top
six essentials. The reason is obvious, you can’t go to war having
played Call of Duty on your ps4 all year and you can’t go into a fight
having never sparred before. Well you can, but neither instance will
end well for you. Everything comes together in sparring, that move
you were practicing all week? Well try it out in sparring against a
live opponent and see how it goes. Bruce Lee famously said in Enter
the Dragon ‘Boards don’t hit back’ and practicing on the pads or the
bag, whilst it is great for training, things don’t always go your way
when you are against an opponent who will be hitting you back.
Sometimes the best way to ensure you are moving your head is to
actually experience getting hit in the head, that makes you remember
what you should have been doing! Sparring is essential because it is
where you learn your range, distance and timing. No more wasting
punches and valuable energy by throwing them when you are 5ft
away from your opponent. Anything you want to practice, try it out
in sparring first. It also helps you to learn ring awareness and
recognize punches, it really is the finishing touch to all of your hard
work.
Sparring - Why You Need To Do It

If you want to be a good boxer, and indeed proficient in whichever combat

sport you participate in, you must engage in live sparring. Nothing is closer
to the real deal than sparring, in my opinion it is a must. No matter how
good your technique, how good you are on the pads, if you are not taking
the opportunity to spar against an opponent, it will count for very little. I
don’t want to compete I hear you say, it doesn’t matter, you don’t need to be
competing to spar, it makes all of your training worthwhile, it all comes
together and you owe it to yourself to realize your potential, you started
Boxing for a reason didn’t you? Even if you started Boxing more for the
exercise and weight loss, I have yet to come across anything as effective as
sparring at burning fat….

Bruce Lee when discussing Jeet Kune Do commented ‘Remember, actual

sparring is the ultimate, and the training is only a means towards this.’ It
would be like sitting your theory test for Driving but then never bothering
to take any lessons to learn how to drive, you need to put it all into practice,
aren’t you curious how good you can become?

We’ve all seen it before, someone looks great hitting the pads, or hitting the
bag – sometimes they are hitting the bag so hard or the pads are producing
that loud snapping sound that it makes you worry they hit so hard, what will
they do to you in the ring? Well, if they haven’t sparred much, they won’t
do much to you at all….

Without sparring you will be missing out on arguably the most important
aspect of all – Timing. For those of you who do spar, you will know exactly
what I’m talking about when I ask you to think back to a time you didn’t
spar for a few weeks or a few months and then stepped back into the ring
after the layoff. I’m pretty sure you were missing the small windows of
opportunity to land a punch, your eyes could see it and your brain knew
what to do, but by the time you threw a punch, the chance was gone. This is
called a lack of timing produced by ‘ring rust’ and if you don’t spar
regularly you won’t get your timing down. This results in a ‘messy’ fight,
punches missing, and getting hit by shots you normally wouldn’t have.

Sparring also allows you to get used to hitting a moving target, it’s very
easy to hit the pads or the bag which is a stationary target, but try landing a
clean punch on someone who moves around the ring and it takes some
adjusting to. You might land some bombs on the bag, but setting your feet
and summoning up enough power is much harder when your opponent is
moving around you.

You need to experience how it feels getting hit, like Mike Tyson said
‘Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face’ if you haven’t
taken a punch in the face before, you could have perfect technique but as
soon as you get a stiff jab in the face or a cross, it’s going to knock you off
your game because you are not used to having someone hit you back and
are not used to throwing punches the same time someone else is trying to
land punches on you. You’ll soon discover getting hit is not as bad as you
were expecting….besides, when sparring you should always be wearing
both a head guard and a gum shield, especially the latter. For your own
safety do not spar unless you have these two pieces of equipment, if you
don’t want to turning up to work the next day sporting black eyes then
invest in a facesaver head guard, these are larger than your standard head
guards so do present a bigger target for your opponent and can obscure your
vision so takes some getting used to but they protect the nose and have
more padding around the head, you will not get hurt wearing one of these.

Sparring helps to slow it down – when you 1st begin to spar, everything
feels like it is going at 100mph, but the more you spar the more it slows
down, with this you will notice your thinking quickens up too, at the start
things are happening so quickly you don’t know how to react and you miss
lots of chances to land punches or counters, but the more you spar the easier
it gets, you will begin to see punches coming, land counters, set traps and
use feints.

You will also conserve energy once you are used to sparring, sparring is
extremely tiring, but the energy I am speaking of is mental energy, these
‘nerves’ burn a lot of energy and tire you out that much quicker because
you are so tense as you haven’t experienced it before, it can be daunting
facing off to someone across the ring who wants to hurt you and you have
no way out, but as you spar more you will notice the nerves lessen and you
quickly settle into the swing of things and won’t burn unnecessary energy.

Technical sparring. Everything you practice on the pads, shadow boxing or

on the bag you need to practice in sparring and find out what works and
what doesn’t. If you are dropping your hands on the bag, once you’ve
sparred and caught a punch in the mouth because you dropped your hands,
you will very quickly find you won’t drop those hands again, pain makes a
great teacher and so does experience. Technical sparring and slow sparring
is a great way to ease into sparring. Newbies to sparring should ideally start
off with slow sparring, this means everything is done at a slower pace to
allow you to get used to sparring, it also allows you to pick up on
tendencies and to recognize which punch is coming, see your opponents
right hand cocking? You know they are going to throw the right hand soon,
see their right hand dropping? Chances are they are going to throw an
uppercut if they are an orthodox boxer or hook if they are a southpaw
(technically you shouldn’t drop your hand before hooking but plenty of
people do) learn the body movements for each punch.

One of my bugbear’s with Boxing clubs is that many of them will often
throw complete beginners into the ring for sparring which commences at
full pace with an opponent far more experienced than them, this is not the
way to train someone, you should let them build their confidence by
slowing the sparring down, too often ego gets in the way and clubs end up
losing customers because they don’t want to go back having been
embarrassed in the ring by one of the clubs regulars who has been training
there for a few years. If you’re going to throw a rookie into the ring for full
on sparring, at least let him compete with another rookie with similar
experience until they learn the ropes.

Technical sparring is great because it allows you to practice one thing at a

time, I almost always start off my clients with rounds in which only jabs are
allowed, it’s easier to concentrate on one aspect at a time and then build
from there, you might for example then progress on to left hand only, so
jabs and hooks and then the jab and cross. If there is a specific move you
want to practice such as the jab, pivot, hook, then technical sparring is the
place to try it.

Other important aspects Sparring will teach you is distance, no more

throwing punches from 6ft away, you’ll soon learn when to engage and
when not to bother wasting punches because you’re not in range, quick tip –
try to keep yourself at a distance of one and a half steps from your
opponent, then when you step in to punch you will be in range to land and
when you step back you will be out of range and able to counter. It will also
help your focus and reactions, lose focus in a fight and you’ll quickly get
caught out and sparring more often means you’ll learn to react and
hopefully evade punches.

Sparring is great for teaching you discipline and controlled aggression, it is

not a street fight or a test to see who can land the biggest punch, it will
teach you to stay calm even if you get hit because if you are street fighting
in the ring, that’s when you are most likely to get caught with a big shot.

So those are my key reasons on why you need to start sparring, Boxing is
great for self esteem and confidence in yourself, but you can take it to the
next level by stepping inside the ring, there’s no quicker way to improve
and progress than sparring, it will force you to sharpen your skills and use
every one of your attributes, do it for yourself.
Don’t be Predictable!

To the untrained eye, Boxing to many is just a mindless slug fest, two men
(or women) step inside a ring in front of hundreds or thousands of fans and
commence to pummel each other until one is defeated, there’s no thinking
involved, just a battle of brute strength to see who hits the hardest and who
lands the most punches.

But nothing could be further from the truth, Boxing is like a game of
Chess(albeit a very painful game of Chess), the aim of the game is to hit
and not be hit back in return because lets face it – no one likes to be hit in
the head by a trained fighter.

Boxing is full of defensive masterminds, you may know the more

famous names such as Floyd Mayweather Jnr, undoubtedly one of
the greatest Boxers but also arguably the greatest ever defensive mind to
grace the sport, but there are others who deserve mention, Willie Pep,
George Benton, Nicolino Locche, James Toney, Pernell Whitaker
(incidentally he was coached by George Benton), Wilfred Benitez all
immediately spring to mind. These are Boxers who will pick up on your
patterns and use your own patterns to counter against your attacks and
even your movement.

This is what I would like to point out here, it not just the punches you
throw, or the punches you block which must not be predictable, it is also the
way you move and slip. A good Boxer will tend to pick up on a pattern
having seen it twice from their opponent, once they have figured this
pattern out, they will be waiting, sometimes even baiting you into the same
movement, and will then either beat you to the punch or counter punch once
you have completed your move (whether your move be a defensive or
attacking manoeuvre).

Here are two examples of what I am referring too. A common way of

defending the jab is to block the jab with your left glove (if you are an
orthodox/right handed puncher), if a Boxer is continuously defending the
jab in the same manner, their opponent can quickly change tactics to exploit
this same defense. What you should ideally be looking to do, is to defend
against the jab in different ways so your opponent cannot pre-empt their
strike knowing exactly how you will defend to it. You can block the jab
with your left glove, or block it with your rear glove, you can slip outside,
duck down or slip inside – mix it up. From these moves you can counter in
a different way, if you block the jab with your rear hand, throw your cross
(using the same hand you blocked with) or return fire with a left jab of your
own. Slipping outside can lead into you throwing your cross, slipping inside
means you can throw a screw jab, a left hook to the head or wide right hook
to the body, ducking down would enable you to throw a jab to the body.
Blocking with your left glove (for orthodox/right handed fighters) you
could either parry the shot and go straight into a jab, or block the jab and
throw your cross, all of these options are available to you – use them! Of
course fighters have 1 or 2 they will inevitably favour but keep your
opponent guessing, if you can win the battle of the jabs, there’s a very high
chance you will win the fight.

The 2nd example involves your movement, as a Boxer you should always
be looking to move, not just moving around the ring, but moving your head
too, even when out of range – a moving target is much harder to hit, as the
legendary Muhammad Ali famously roared ‘Your hands can’t hit what your
eyes can’t see!’ When moving around the ring, keep your head moving, put
a slip in or two, roll under, for example move, stop, bounce, slip inside, roll
under, move away then your next movement could be a simple bounce and
slip outside, then continue and perhaps try slip outside, slip inside, roll
under. This constant movement and change up of how you move will
prevent your opponent getting proper timing down on his punches and
prevent them from being able to key in on a strategy to break you down,
try your own combinations of body and head movements but always
remember – keep them guessing and don’t ever be a standing target!
How To Use Feints In Boxing

To become a capable boxer, you must learn to use feints. Feinting is a

necessary advanced skill all Boxers will need to learn. If you are not using
feints against a decent boxer, the chances are your opponent will pick off
and defend pretty much every shot you throw, this is because Boxers are
drilled in defending basic punches (jab, cross, hook, uppercut) and basic
combinations (jab, cross or jab, cross, hook etc) so if you are throwing
combo after combo without using any feints, your opponent will know
exactly what is coming, making it not only easier to defend but counter
attack too.

You may have seen fights where at the start of round one, the boxers will
come out circling each other and throwing ‘light’ punches at each other,
these are basically feints, they are throwing light punches to see how you
will react to them and are feeling you out, and from your reaction they will
determine their next move or set up a harder shot. Feinting is not simply
throwing light punches or half punches, feints can involve a number of
different body parts. Before we go over them, we’ll look at the reasons why
you need to be adding feints into your boxing arsenal.

Feints hide your intentions by using deception to trick your opponent.

Different types of feints can be used, depending on the situation and on

your tactics.

Feints should ideally be quick and provoking.

Feints should be used in the appropriate distance, there is no use in a feint if
you are 6ft away from your opponent.

Feints can be used to either close the distance when attacking your
opponent, or to draw your opponent in to counter attack.

Feinting can be used to set up your opponent to respond with an attack that
will create an opening for your own counter attack.

Now we can go over the types of feints and the different parts of the body
used for each feint:

Head Feint

Moving the head slightly forward and then retract to illicit a response from
your opponent so you can counter punch. Moving the head side to side can
also be used as a feint. Your head is the key target, so moving your head
and feinting using your head should be an integral part of your Boxing.

Eyes Feint

When fighting, you are most often going to be looking into your opponents
eyes so it makes sense you can also use the eyes to feint an opponent out. If
you are fighting someone, you will often pick up when a big right hand is
coming (left hand if the opponent is a southpaw) because instinctively many
fighters will widen their eyes getting ready to unleash a bomb, or if an
opponent is going to throw a straight shot to the body, often their eyes will
look at your body, so use this to eye feint – look to the opponents abdomen
area and throw up top instead. You can also look to the opponents feet and
feint or throw a punch.

Arm Feint
Throw a half punch to see their reaction or extend the lead arm slightly
towards your opponents head or body and then retract. From their reaction,
if there is one, you can determine your next punch ie if you throw a jab and
your opponent ends up reaching to your jab as a block, you can either throw
the double jab feint or throw the hook off the jab feint

Body Feint

Moving the upper body, primarily the shoulders towards your opponent or
even sideways to imitate the intention of throwing a punch and then return
to your normal position. An example of this would be almost shrugging
your lead shoulder forward in a rolling motion in an attempt to feint the jab.
Stepping in whilst doing this, so combining this with a feint of the feet is
also effective.

Leg Feints

Bending the knees slightly to lower the body to feint either a body punch or
that you are winding up about to spring into a big shot such as the uppercut
or screw jab. You can also stutter step or half step to feint a jab before
retracting into your normal position or flex the knee of the lead leg to
pretend stepping forward.

When performing your feinting movements, you must also be thinking

about your own defense because you will have to take into account and
anticipate a counter attack from your opponent. On top of this you will also
have to consider your action after the feint. A feint should be used as
preparation for your main attack and should come before throwing the
punch, the follow up action after a feint should be quick to take advantage
of your opponents reaction to the feint.
Here is a breakdown of how effective a feint can be. By feinting my right
cross using a simple turn of my right shoulder I can choose any one of four
punches to follow up with.

1. Throw the jab, feint the right cross,(turn the shoulder quickly to
feint the cross or throw a half extended right cross) throw the
screw jab down the middle.

2. Throw the jab, feint the right cross, throw the hook off the jab.
(jab, turn the right shoulder, left hook)

3. Feint the right cross, throw the lead left hook.

4. Throw the jab, feint the right cross, throw the right cross!

If you are a southpaw boxer then simply reverse the above ie throw the jab,
feint the left cross, throw the screw jab down the middle.

Arguably the most famous example of a feint was Sugar Ray Leonards bolo
punch against Roberto Duran in their 2nd encounter famously labelled the
‘No Mas’ fight in 1980. whereas this was a more extravagant use of feinting
(Sugar Ray Leonard would wind up his right hand and throw a left jab)
Roberto Duran quit shortly after, the real reason has never been determined
for Durans quitting but Leonards use of the bolo punch reportedly angered
Duran enough to play a part in his not wanting to continue fighting,
believing him to be clowning around and trying to make him look like a
fool. Duran claimed that he quit because of stomach cramps, which started
to bother him in the fifth round. He said the cramps occurred because he
took off weight too quickly, then ate too much after the morning weigh-in,
but his manager, Carlos Eleta, said Duran always ate that way before a
fight. ‘Duran didn’t quit because of stomach cramps,’ Eleta said. ‘He quit
because he was embarrassed.’

What is ironic is if I was to recommend one Boxer you should watch if you
want to see proper Boxing feinting at work, it would be the great Roberto
Duran, he was a master of feinting. Other names which come to mind are
Muhammad Ali, Roy Jones Jnr and Manny Pacquio. All three of these
Boxers who used feints extremely effectively are also all time great boxers.

So there you have it, how to use feints and be sure you practice feinting to
take your game to the next level!
How To Fight A Taller Boxer

One of the most difficult fights in the ring you can ever experience is
against an opponent who has a significant height advantage over you. You
may be the better boxer with more technical skills in the ring, but a tall
boxer can overcome all of that and leave you feeling incredibly frustrated
by not even giving you the chance to showcase your ability by fighting just
outside of range using their jab to keep you at a distance.

In this chapter I am going to give you a few pointers on how to handle

Boxing against a taller opponent. Before I begin, I want to stress you must
be physically fit to effectively handle a taller Boxer. More so than you
would be against any other opponent, with the possible exception of a
pressure fighter. The reason being is you will need to have great footwork
to quickly step in and out of range against a taller opponent and without
being very fit, your footwork is going to fail you. These are mistakes I have
experienced in the past so before you take on a fight against a much taller
opponent, make sure you are in great condition and have practiced
beforehand against a taller Boxer in sparring – it will help you no end.

OK so let’s get to it – the 1st and most important tip is you must be able to
close the gap against someone taller than you. There are different ways to
do this, the most common way to do this is the double arm block, keep the
head low by using the duck and simply move in quickly walking down your
opponent to get in close. Does it work? Yes, do I think it’s the most
effective method, No. If you are tiring or don’t possess great footwork then
maybe this will work for you, be careful of eating hooks around your guard
though and you should be proficient in cutting off the ring if you are going
to use this method.

I prefer to advise closing the gap using quick footwork to get into range.
The following may sound like basic advice but believe me a lot of Boxers
are not putting this into practice, when you are closing the gap you MUST
move your feet first, and then your hands. Sounds simple enough doesn’t it?
If you are fighting outside of range, and you decide to throw a double jab to
get into range, your opponent has his eyes on your eyes so they will quickly
see your jabs coming, making it easy for them to step back out of range
again, or even counter you because they have picked up your punches. If
you move your feet first, it is much more difficult for them to see this since
it is not in their peripheral vision, then you follow with your shots. An
example of closing the distance would be move your feet first, so a longer
step than usual, almost lunging into range but using a dip to go off your
opponents eye line, you would then punch off the dip and then you follow
up with your shots so dipping in, punching off the dip, step in jab, step in
jab, cross if you wanted to throw the double jab cross after moving into
range. Moving in behind a double or triple jab is another great way of
closing the gap, just be sure you always finish your punches with a head
movement.

Another way to use footwork to get into range against a taller Boxer would
be to slip and slide into range, this involves an almost diagonal method to
your footwork as you slide from side to side whilst bobbing and weaving.
Head movement will obviously come into play when fighting taller
opponents especially when fighting on the outside and looking to get inside
so ensure you are keeping the head moving. Use the double roll followed by
the hook and cross or roll, left hook, roll, right cross(if you are
orthodox/right handed, reverse if you are southpaw/left handed).

Proper footwork is essential in all fights but more so against a taller Boxer,
else they will just use their height and reach advantage to fight on the
outside never letting you get close to them so increase your work on your
footwork before you fight a taller opponent.

Speed. Focus on speed and not power when fighting taller opponents.
Constantly fire off quick punches to the chest, especially the jab. Make your
opponent drop their guard by going for quick shots to the body. The body is
always in range and when it comes to reach, it is easier to punch the body
than the head. Taller fighters will have longer arms, which means it takes
longer for them to retract their punch, timing your punch as their arm is
retracting is a great way to get to a taller fighter so this means stepping in
with your shots. Once you see the guard dropping from body shots, this is
when you go up top with your punches. When you decide to throw your
shots up top, use the overhand right, because of the angle it is thrown, it is
very difficult for a taller Boxer to pick up on this, increasing your chances
of a successful shot. Switch levels with your punching, this means go low
and then go high to the head, this works great against fighters taller than
you ie throw a body shot followed by an uppercut to the head.

Throw punches in bunches, you will be moving in and out of range, so

when you do get into range using the above, make it count by unloading a
high number of punches. Same as above, use low, high combinations.
Another good example of this is throwing the jab to the body followed by
the cross to the head. Once you have thrown volume punches, tie your
opponent up with a clinch so they are unable to free their longer arms
because there are two areas you are most at risk of getting caught with a
punch, on the way in and on the way out.

Let your opponent come to you. Sometimes you won’t even need to close
the gap because you can draw your opponent in. Taller fighters tend to fight
on the outside because they are so used to keeping the opposition at range
on the outside of their jab. Try to bait them in and have them closing the
gap themselves, this is something a taller fighter may not be used to so can
work in your advantage. This is also where you want to time your punches
as they retract their punch as was mentioned earlier in the article because
fighting on the back foot you will be looking to counter their shots. I will
say here though, in order to pull this off successfully you must have
explosive leg strength not only because fighting/moving on the back foot
takes more out of you but because you will need to explode into your
punches from moving backwards. How do you bait your opponent in? An
example would be dropping your jabbing hand just enough for your
opponent to see that side is exposed and bait them to throw a punch. Floyd
Mayweather Jnr is a master of this using the pull counter. Mayweather Jnr
will drop his lead hand (the jabbing hand) and invite his opponent to throw
a punch. When his opponent does, Mayweather Jnr will pull his head back
to avoid the punch and counter attack with a right cross. You can also
counter by stepping back instead of pulling back, and then stepping back in
to counter with your shot. If your opponent throws their jab, you counter
with your cross. If they throw the cross, you counter with your cross. You
can also counter stepping in with the left hook followed by the right cross
(orthodox). These counters can be used against any opponent, not just taller
fighters.
Fighting on the ropes. Often a taller boxer will use his height to weigh
down on you, aiming to sap your energy further. If this happens on the
ropes and it is two orthodox fighters what you want to do is take your right
glove and place it under the left elbow of the Boxer leaning on you. Pull
their left elbow towards you, this will have the effect of essentially spinning
or turning your opponent on to the ropes allowing you to throw your
punches in return. If your opponent is a southpaw, then commonly you will
pull on their right elbow.

Feinting. This works great against any kind of fighter and is an essential
skill to have. But against certain types of fighters, such as taller Boxers or
those quicker than you, it has added importance. Use feinting combined
with punching off the dip to close the gap. With Feinting your aim is to
draw a reaction from your opponent, once they have reacted you need to
capitalise and quickly close the gap to land your punches.

So those are my top tips for taking on taller Boxers, some fights you can
view to see examples of the tactics you can use are Floyd Mayweather Jnr v
Diego Corrales and Manny Pacquio v Antonio Margarito. I hope this is of
use to you the next time you are in the situation but just remember, this
won’t help a bit if you don’t keep yourself fit!
How To Fight Someone Faster Than You

There is an old saying in Boxing – Speed Kills….

If I was to ask you to name any two boxers in history, chances are you
would name at least one probably both of the following names, Muhammad
Ali and Mike Tyson. Both boxers were fast with quick hands, Ali changed
Heavyweight Boxing for good, his unique blend of size and speed was a
first for a man big enough to be a Heavyweight. Boxers with blazing hand
speed have dominated the sport, the ‘Sugars’ Ray Robinson and Ray
Leonard, are also considered two of the fastest punchers in history and both,
along with Ali almost always appear in lists of the top ten boxers in history,
Robinson and Ali often in places 1 and 2. Most recently, Manny Pacquio is
known for his fast hands, another boxer with great speed headed for the hall
of fame.

So what happens when you find yourself sparring or fighting someone in

the ring who is quicker than you? How do you counter act their speed to
give you a better chance of winning? Before I go on, I will touch on some
advice to help you get set up, so here’s what not to do…..

Don’t Flinch – if you find yourself instinctively shutting your eyes when
someone is throwing punches at you or turning your body around to defend
your head, stop sparring and get out of the ring. I don’t like it when people
cover their head and look down at the ground whilst punches rain in on
their head either, always keep your eyes on the opponent. Flinching here
and there is forgivable, sometimes a punch catches you by surprise (usually
when you’re countered) and you might flinch or momentarily close your
eyes, but if you’re doing it more often than not, you need to start again with
slow sparring and more technical sparring(such as jabs only) and look to
gradually build from there.

Relax – if you’re the type who goes crazy when someone hits you and you
get drawn into a brawl, you won’t have much luck against someone with
fast hands, it is not a street fight, you might be able to kick their backside in
the street, but here in the ring, you’re going to get pummelled if you lose
your cool, especially against an opponent with fast hands. You must relax
and keep cool whoever you are fighting but especially so against a Boxer
with hand speed, we’ll get into why shortly….

Keep your gloves up and guard tight – Try not to drop your hands against a
faster opponent, we’re not all blessed with amazing reflexes, they may be
able to jab faster than you can move your head to slip it and I don’t want to
find out whether I can until I have had some time to get used to the extra
speed. Ensure your hands are OPEN in your gloves when your guard is
high, don’t clench your fists in the guard position, because if your opponent
punches you and you catch it with your gloves using clenched fists, there’s
a good chance you will end up punching yourself and that’s not nice.
There’s a reason every time you see a Boxer shadow box in the guard
position their hands are open.

OK so now we’ve covered some basics you’re good to go and we’ll move
on to some key concepts to keep in mind against a faster boxer. I hope these
give you some ideas to give you a better chance of avoiding punches and
hopefully coming out on top when facing an opponent who is faster than
you.
My rule no.1 when it comes to fighting a faster opponent – Body punching.
You must work the body, faster boxers tend to have a high work rate, they
can usually overwhelm you just through sheer volume of punches and speed
of combinations. If someone is constantly firing out punches, you must
attack their body, preferably with the jab or cross to disrupt their rhythm.
Body punches add up, you might land and think it hasn’t effected your
opponent, but believe me even if it doesn’t appear to, it adds up and shots
delivered to the body slow your opponent down. Landing body shots also
effects the cardio system, so a high work rate or volume puncher will end
up slowing down as a result.

If you are fighting on the inside, speed tends to be negated somewhat as a

fast boxer needs space to throw their arms so you can consider throwing
hooks and uppercuts in close range. Once you have fully adjusted to their
speed, you can also try getting the hooks in which we’ll cover below. I
would rather advise you keep everything short and sharp inside. Gain
dominant position inside by getting your hands on their chest, this means
whichever punch they throw, with your hands inside theirs, you are in prime
position to land a punch before they do. Short uppercuts, short straights to
the body. These short punches are delivered with none to minimal
movement of the shoulders so your opponent has an even harder time
picking up your punches.

Earlier, I touched upon keeping your cool and remaining relaxed, the reason
why? Because timing beats speed, and if you’re not relaxed there’s no way
you can time your punches especially against a faster puncher. Floyd
Mayweather Jnr is the perfect example of this, he is quick of course, but he
has handled plenty of quicker boxers in his time, Manny Pacquio being the
most famous of these, the reason being Floyd has an uncanny sense of
timing. Two weight World Champion Julian Jackson who fought between
1981-1998 in an interview with Ringtv confirms the importance of using
timing against speed. ‘Terry Norris was naturally quick. It was amazing. It
seemed as though he was gonna throw one jab and the next thing you know
you’re getting hit by two or three jabs. His hand speed to me was the best.
My timing was the key to combat his speed. I wasn’t as fast, I was quick,
but I wasn’t as fast, my timing was the key, putting on the pressure to
combat that speed.’

I would suggest taking at least a round to get a good look at your opponents
speed, don’t go jumping in trying to out punch them in the opening round.
Most Boxers have patterns, pick up on their patterns, a fast boxer for
example might throw a lot of quick 1-2 combo’s, you need to see them do
this, keeping a tight guard and then look to time your punches in return. If
you know after the cross your opponent will step back and come again,
after that cross, as soon as you feel their glove hitting yours, either fire back
your cross to their head or fire your rear hand uppercut to their body, or
head if they are the sort of Boxer who leans into their right cross.

If your opponent is throwing a lot of quick jabs, you might prefer to block
with your lead hand and throw your jab over the top of theirs (all in one
motion). There is also the cross counter, which involves slipping to the
outside of the jab and throwing your cross over the top. Your counters
depend on the pattern you have picked up from your opponent. Some
boxers can time you so they are punching you as you are drawing your hand
back from punching, whilst this is great, it takes a lot of skill and practice to
get to this level but this is something else you can work on.

Until you have fully adjusted to the speed, I would suggest keeping your
punches straight, this means jabs and crosses, the fastest route to a point is a
straight line, if you haven’t yet adjusted to your opponents speed, the
chances are if you throw a hook, they are going to land their own punch
before yours does simply because they are quicker than you. If you want to
work the hook in, then you need to feint the cross and then throw your
hook. For example, if you are a right handed (orthodox) fighter, to feint the
right cross you need to throw the right cross without actually throwing it, so
your body turns in position to throw the right cross, but don’t fire it, just
turn your shoulder so you are in position to throw it, you can throw the right
cross only half way if this helps you get into position, from there you throw
your left hook, off the right cross feint. It is debateable whether you should
feint the cross until you have actually landed it previously during the fight,
some may say there’s no use in feinting a punch which hasn’t yet landed but
I would suggest using feints from the start, just to see how your opponent
reacts and as long as you aren't putting yourself in any danger.

Going back to my earlier point on throwing the cross or rear hand uppercut
off your opponents right hand, once you’ve got used to the speed you can
then slip outside of a cross and throw your shovel hook to the body. This
will be down to timing and anticipation; you've adjusted to their speed and
their patterns so anticipating the next shot becomes 'easier.'

Cutting off the ring. Efficient footwork will be necessary against faster
boxers who tend to enjoy having the space to free their arms and fire off
their shots so cut off the ring and take away their space. George Foreman
was once referred to as ‘The Mummy’ by Muhammad Ali due to his slow
plodding style of hunting you down, but Big George was a great Boxer who
was great at cutting off the ring, this helped him beat many Boxers who
were quicker than him and when he got older, beat Boxers much younger
than him, of course it also helped he had arguably the heaviest punch in
Boxing history. In simple terms, cutting off the ring is almost like mirroring
your opponent, move side to side, if they move to the left, so do you, if they
move right, you do too, keep them in front of you. Don’t just walk forward
following them, this allows your opponent to get around the side, back up
instead, so you are keeping them in front of you. A great tip is to use your
left shoulder as your compass (right shoulder if you are a southpaw) this
serves as your guide and is pointed directly at your opponents chin.

Feinting. This is used to draw a reaction from your opponent, if you can
force your opponent to hesitate in any way, especially one who is faster
than you, then that split second they flinch in reaction to your feint, may be
enough to slow them down just enough for you to make up for the deficit in
speed between the both of you. You are also forcing them to think about
what you are doing, and when they have to think about your next move,
you've gained the upper hand and that in itself will slow them down, even if
it is just a little, it is often all you need in a game decided by milliseconds.

Head Movement. This goes without saying, it will help against any
particular fighter, but against faster boxers who also have a high punch
output, the ability to move your head and slip punches, added to landing
body shots will tire them out much quicker, punching air and missing with
your punches wastes a lot of energy. Ensure you are moving your head, not
only does this help your timing because many shots can be thrown off a
slip, it helps to disrupt your opponents timing if they are trying to land
punches on a moving target. A good example of this was the fight famously
referred to as the fight of the century when Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier
met for the 1st of their illustrious 3 battles in 1971. Ali was the faster
puncher, but Frazier’s legendary trainer Eddie Futch was able to come up
with a plan to ensure his smaller and ‘slower’ boxer, Joe Frazier won the
fight and inflicted Ali with his 1st defeat. Frazier was constantly bobbing
and weaving, moving his head to avoid Ali’s jab and famed 1-2 combo. The
fight is also an excellent example of using timing to beat a faster opponent,
in the lead up to the fight Eddie Futch had noted that Ali technically threw
his right uppercut incorrectly, leaving himself open to the left hook in the
process as it often came out wider and lower than it should. What Frazier
did was time his left hook when Ali threw his right uppercut, the punch was
to land on several occasions, including the one which floored Ali in the
15th round.

So those are my tips on Boxing against a faster puncher, it’s not going to be
easy but I hope this gives you more to work with when sparring and if you
want to improve your own speed, keep an eye out for my forthcoming book
Strength and Conditioning for Boxing where I will go over routines to help
improve your speed.
How To Fight A Southpaw

Here is a quick rundown of some key points to remember when boxing

against a southpaw. Fighting a southpaw is never easy if you are an
orthodox boxer, simply because we just do not come across them often
enough, whereas for a southpaw he is most often fighting against an
orthodox boxer so the advantage here does lie with the southpaw.

The 1st point you must work on is to aim to get your front foot on the
outside, this is probably the most essential tactic you need to do when
boxing against a southpaw, without this your distance and timing will be off
and the southpaw will be in control. It sounds pretty simple but it isn’t, it is
not easy to gain outside foot position without the southpaw knowing this so
you sometimes find your fighting becomes rounds of just trying to gain
control of who gets their foot positioning on the outside. Depending on the
strengths of the fighter themselves, you may also establish you want to keep
away from their cross, in which case you want to keep that lead foot outside
and circle to your left mixing in pivots to the left as well.

The next point is trying to out jab a southpaw isn’t the greatest of ideas, this
is because of the angles involved in when you have two boxers jabbing with
opposing hands, one with his left and the other with his right. Your best bet
would be to mostly jab at their glove, just to try and create openings.

Don’t try to out jab the southpaw, jab at their gloves, short and hard, and
throw right hand leads to the head off your jab to their gloves. Once you’ve
got the lead right hand going and the southpaw is conscious of this, feint the
right hand and throw the lead left hook, mix it up, jabs to gloves, lead right
hand, lead left hook.

To counter the southpaws jab, use the parry and then coming over the top of
the southpaws jab with your own jab as your main counter – be sure to keep
your right hand free, the right hand is going to be your most important hand
against a southpaw due to the angles involved, and then throw right hand
leads off a jab to their glove. Right hand leads is just advice I feel you
should be using against any style but it can be especially effective against a
southpaw due to this angle. This was very evident when Floyd Mayweather
Jnr fought against Manny Pacquio, it got to the point where Manny looked
very hesitant in committing because he was worried about Mayweather
Jnr’s right hand lead after being tagged by this a few times early in the
fight.

I also like the extended jab in this position, but the jab goes to the body, so
as the southpaw jabs, you bend your knees and jab into their solar plexus.

The other counter I recommend against a southpaw, is slipping to the

outside when the southpaw throws his jab, which leaves you to then throw a
straight right hand into the southpaws solar plexus, this is probably my
favourite counter against a southpaw, especially if you are facing a
southpaw with a high jab output, constantly firing jabs at you, this works
well to slow them down. To throw this, it is imperative you get your front
foot on the outside, else you will not be able to fire off this punch and you
stand a high chance of being unable to slip outside of their jab. You may
have heard of a very popular counter against southpaws which is a straight
right to the body followed by a left hook to the head, so this is something
you can also work on. Another variation of this is instead of slipping to the
outside and throwing a straight right to the body, slip outside and throw the
straight right to the head – this was something Floyd Mayweather Jnr was
very effective at doing.

You have to watch out for the southpaws left cross, if you find yourself
struggling to avoid this, I would advise ducking down almost going down to
your right to ensure their left cross goes over the top of you, this is not a
roll, it is almost like a slip to the outside of their cross but bending at the
knees to allow yourself to duck down.

The last tip is the lead right hand followed by the check hook, so throw the
right cross at the southpaw, and then pivot whilst throwing the left hook to
the head. A bonus tip here for general advice is if you ever find yourself off
balance after throwing the cross, follow up with the hook, it helps to reset
your balance!

So those are my quick tips on fighting southpaws, practice these one at a

time and see how they can help you – good luck!
How to Fight a Pressure Fighter

Another of the most difficult opponents to face in the ring is a Boxer who
constantly brings the pressure, always walking forward, cutting off the ring
and getting you into a corner or on to the ropes where they unleash a volley
of shots aimed at your head and torso. Currently Middleweight Champion
Gennady Golovkin is a prime example of a pressure fighter, in the past
there have been the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez Snr, Joe Frazier and
Roberto Duran. All were a handful in the ring and relentlessly pursued their
opponent and in the process, wearing them down.

So how would you go about handling a pressure fighter? Firstly, it is never

easy. Pressure fighters are extremely difficult to fight against and the very
first factor you need to have is to ensure you have high fitness levels. If you
are not extremely fit, there is a high chance the pressure fighter will wear
you out. You will also need to be moving a lot when faced with a pressure
fighter so you must have a lot of gas in the tank. More than any other kind
of Boxer, a pressure fighter will expose any lack of fitness you bring into
the ring with you.

Speaking to a former Champion and noted Ringside Analyst for TV, they
likened fighting a pressure fighter to fishing. When you are out fishing and
you catch a big fish, you will feel the strain on your rod as you are reeling
the fish in, as a result you let the rod reel out, wait and then attempt to reel
the fish back in. This back and forth process continues until eventually you
are able to weaken the fish and reel it in.
The same is with a pressure fighter. You must reel them in, attack them,
'feel' the effects of your punches, and then back off. You need to throw
punches in bunches and feel when the time is right to extend your attack.
Can you feel your opponent weakening? If not, you reel them back out and
try again later, if you do, maybe you felt them sag from a body shot, then it
is time to apply more pressure, throw punches in bunches again, extend
your attack and reel them in.

Movement. You will be doing a lot of moving against a pressure fighter but
you have to make sure you are not moving back in straight lines because
you will only end up in the one place they want you to land - the ropes.
Your goal here is to constantly create angles for your opponent. This means
moving off the centre line, step back, step back, move off the centre line (go
to your left or right). You must be using pivots to move either side of your
opponent. This forces a pressure fighter to interrupt his line of attack, stop
and start again. If you can pivot quick enough, it will give you precious
time to throw punches whilst your opponent is resetting to face you at the
angle you have created. Lateral movement, circling your opponent,
pivoting, use all of them when faced with a Boxer who likes to apply the
pressure, prevent them from settling into the groove of coming forward,
throwing punches and fighting in straight lines.

The jab. We know the jab is an important punch in Boxing, the most
important. But it takes added value against pressure fighters because they
are constantly coming forwards which means the more you use the jab the
more annoying it becomes for your opponent to navigate around it. It has
the added value of upsetting their punch combos. If a Boxer is throwing
shots at you, the moment you see them winding up for a hook, you have
your chance to throw a straight shot such as the jab, it will get there first
and upset their rhythm, forcing them to reset. Ruin their natural flow of
pressure punching. It’s the same as using pivoting and angles to upset their
natural flow of always coming forward, the jab will upset the natural flow
of their pressure punching mid combo. The aim against pressure fighters is
to prevent them from getting too close to you, the jab is your range finder,
use it to keep the fight on the outside.

You do not always have to land the jab, use it as a decoy. It can be aimed at
their gloves at times, tap the gloves with a jab from time to time. Against a
pressure fighter you have to constantly throw the jab, keep firing it and
keep it in their line of vision, it doesn't always even have to be a stiff jab,
vary the pace and power of the jab but always make sure they know it is in
their face.

Switching Levels. We go back to the jab here, but use it to both the head
and body. Body shots add up and have an effect on the cardio system of a
fighter, it takes a lot out of you and the effects will be seen on your
opponent the longer a fight goes on. You need a good jab and good straight
shots against someone constantly walking towards you because chances are,
a fighter who likes to apply pressure and come forwards, knows how to slip
and roll punches. So switch levels with your straight shots because the body
is a bigger target and attack up and down, high and low.

Clinching. Learn to smother your opponent, if the pressure fighter gets too
close, smother them behind your straight shots, throw the one, two (jab,
cross) and then clinch. Prevent them from freeing their arms to throw
punches back at you. This will also frustrate your opponent if they are
unable to apply pressure because every time they do, you pivot, throw a
one, two and then force them into a clinch. It also helps to conserve
valuable energy you will undoubtedly need against a pressure fighter. Break
their momentum by getting them into a clinch.

Feinting. Here you will use feinting to draw an attack from them, for
example feint stepping in, see what their attack is, you want to draw them
into a lead and get them to overextend to your feint. Once they have thrown
their attack and you haven't committed, then you commit and step in with
your attack. If you are pumping your jab, you should be feinting it to, build
your attack from the feint depending on how your opponent responds. You
want to get them into a position you want them to be in, which you
accomplish with a successful feint, once this happens, you're waiting to
pounce on them with a big shot!

It goes without saying but get used to fighting on the back foot against a
pressure fighter, if you don't, then get used to applying a lot of clinches as
you stand your ground. Good shots for throwing on the back foot would be
your jab and your uppercuts. The rear uppercut would be effective
depending on the kind of pressure fighter you are facing, if they like to lean
in a little more with their punches, especially the cross, then that's the
perfect opportunity to counter with a rear uppercut.

Not so easy throwing the hook off the back foot but an example of an
effective hook on the back foot would be Floyd Mayweather Jnr's perfect
execution of a check hook(whilst pivoting) against the pressure fighter
Ricky Hatton. The cross can come into play off the back foot but more so
because straight shots are effective against come forward fighters, don't
worry about loading up on the cross if it is thrown off the back foot, just
'pepper' your opponent with straight shots.
Bonus Chapter 1 – How to See Punches
Coming

In the movie Spiderman, there is a scene where Toby McGuire who is

playing Peter Parker, hasn’t yet discovered his superpower abilities and gets
involved in a fight by the lockers at school. As his superpower abilities
suddenly kick in, he realizes everything has slowed down and he can see
and react to the punches being thrown at him by the school bullies,
naturally this makes the altercation that much easier for him and he easily
dispatches of his opponents.

So the question in this chapter is – how can we see punches coming?

Unfortunately we can’t say we are Spiderman with his amazing powers but
there are a few things we can do which will increase our own ability to
dodge or block a shot.

THE EYES ARE THE WINDOW TO THE SOUL

The old saying is old for a reason – it’s true! When fighting an opponent,
looking in to their eyes will often give their game away. It also helps you to
stay focused. What you don’t want to be doing is looking at your opponents
gloves because you’ll end up looking at it smash into your face. By
focusing on the eyes you will often get hints to what is coming, if your
opponent is lining you up for a big right hand, watch his eyes instinctively
widen as he (or she) gets ready to punch you. The same will happen if
they’re are angry and are gearing up to throw a power punch. If they are
about to hit you in the body, their eyes will often focus on where they want
to punch so you will see their eyes drop to your sides/body so keep your
eyes focused on your opponents eyes and read what they are doing. It will
also help your peripheral vision by focusing on the eyes, you will still be
able to pick up slight movements such as the shoulders turning or hands
dropping signalling an incoming punch.

SLOW SPARRING

No one ever became good at something the 1st time they tried it, sure they
may have shown a natural talent for it but there is a big difference between
the two. It is essential, for whatever you are doing, to become better and
more confident, you must ease yourself in first. You cannot just jump into
the deep end. If you started a new job, they put you into training for a week
or two or have you sit with a more experienced team member so you can
learn the ropes before you start fully and work alone. If you are playing a
sport, for example cricket, if you haven’t batted before, if there is a quick
bowler they will bowl slowly to you, if you haven’t bowled before you will
be the one bowling slowly as you get used to the mechanics of contorting
your body into position to be able to bowl. The same is true for Boxing, you
must start slow and gradually build up to a quicker pace. If you step into the
ring for some sparring at full pace, you will not be able to handle the speed
resulting in a number of bad habits being formed. Slow sparring will allow
you to recognize each punch and the way it is delivered, this in turn will
help you see punches coming and avoid or block shots, picking up the
movement of the hands or the slight of shoulder. Start slow and gradually
go quicker as you become more comfortable with sparring. This may take a
few weeks or it may take a few months but the result will be a much better
defense and a better ability to see a punch coming.

TECHNICAL DRILLS
Defense is a fundamental part of the game and you must drill in the
fundamentals. This means you have to practice certain drills over and over
again so that it becomes a part of you, do it so much that it becomes
instinctive, you can do the move without even thinking about it, that is the
point you want to get to. If you throw a basic one two three at a Boxer(jab,
cross, hook) the Boxer is so used to defending these basic combo’s that they
don’t even need to think about how they are going to defend it, they are
automatically in position to block or slip these punches one after the other.
So practice certain defensive moves against the most common
combinations, catch a jab with your rear hand, roll the left shoulder with the
high guard(or holding the telephone as some would say) for the cross and
roll under the hook or slip the jab, slip the cross, roll under the hook. You
can even add defense into an attacking drill, jab slip inside, jab, cross, roll
under, this is pre-emptive defense, you know a punch is coming back after
you have finished your punches so why not add a slip or roll after the end of
every one of your combinations?

FITNESS

I know I am always going on about fitness when it comes to Boxing, and

that’s because it is such a huge part of Boxing and I have been in the
situation where I ran out of gas and when you run out of gas, your
technique goes down the drain. How many times have we seen the last
round of a fight develop into a slug fest because both Boxers have no
energy left, they cannot even keep their guard up to block punches let alone
have the energy to slip or duck under a punch. So make sure you are fit, you
will not avoid punches if you are tired because you need to be mentally
alert and mentally sharp to see punches coming. Run, run and run some
more, you need to strengthen the legs so jogging, sprinting, swimming it
will all help. I should also mention that slipping and rolling does take a lot
of energy out of you so if you are going to using this, you will have to get
fitter, there’s no easy way around it. And lastly….

RELAX!

Try to relax when fighting, you will see things that much better if you are
not panicking. Keep calm and take a deep breath, if you happen to get
caught with a shot, don’t go into survival mode and think you have to land
two back. Step back, get out of range, clear your head, take a few deep
breaths and then go land two back! If you have done the slow sparring and
gradually increased the pace from there and you have got yourself fit then
you won’t have a problem relaxing in the ring. Try not to worry because it
only burns nervous energy which will tire you out further and much quicker
which will effect your ability to not only see and react to punches, but
pretty much everything else too.
Bonus Chapter 2 – The Treadmill Pyramid

I know I have mentioned the importance of fitness a number of times

throughout this book so I decided it would make sense to include a cardio
routine you can try to help with your fitness. I’ve fallen foul to poor fitness
when sparring or fighting and it is not a pleasant experience, running out of
gas early but having to force yourself to carry on whilst your lungs feel like
they are on fire, not to mention your legs turn to lead as you plod around the
ring, which now feels like quick sand sucking you in so you decide to settle
on the ropes instead because every step becomes an effort. So more than
anything, you must be fully fit before fighting. Without a good level of
fitness you just are not doing justice to your talent. Very often a Boxer will
win on fitness alone and when your fitness fails you in a fight, so too does
your technique. Technique disappears when a fighter is tired, the hands drop
and the head stops moving, so always, always get your running in, both
long running to aid recovery between rounds and regulate weight and sprint
intervals to help you adapt to the high and low intensity of a fight.

The Treadmill Pyramid – Get Fighting Fit with this Work Out HIT!

Here’s a work out I devised which I use on some of my clients and also use
myself. This work out is great for various reasons, it is a form of high
intensity interval training which means thanks to excess post-oxygen
consumption or EPOC for short, it continues burning calories for up to
24hrs after you have finished exercising due to an elevated resting
metabolic rate, which of course means more fat loss for you. Also, because
of the pyramid factor in this work out, the ’rounds’ get faster and faster,
which means as you get more tired it becomes harder and harder. I like this,
because like Boxing, as the fight goes on you get more and more tired and
are forced to dig deep. This work out replicates this and just like Boxing
where you have moments of high intensity coupled with periods of lower
intensity, this interval work out will take you high before coming down low
again.

Let’s get into the work out and I will explain after. I like to do at least 5-6
rounds of this work out, each round lasts 3mins just like Boxing. The first
two rounds are essentially more of a warm up but taxing enough depending
on how quickly you want to reach top intensity. An amateur or white collar
bout will last 3 rounds, and each round is 2-3mins so you want to train for
more rounds than you actually be fighting so when you come in on fight
night, you’ve got those extra rounds in the bank and have enough gas in the
tank.

Round 2 – 3mins

1min – 8.5kph

1min 15-45 seconds – 12.0kph

back down to 8.5kph

2min 30 seconds – 3mins – 12.5kph

60 second cool down

60 second rest

Round 3 – 3mins

1min – 8.5kph
increase speed after 1min to…
1min 15-45 seconds – 13.0kph
back down to 8.5kph

2min 30 seconds – 3mins 13.5kph

60 second cool down

60 second rest

Round 4 – 3mins

1min – 8.5kph
increase speed after 1min to…

1min 15-45 seconds – 14.0kph

back down to 8.5kph

2min 30 seconds – 3mins – 14.5kph

60 second cool down

60 second rest

Round 5 – 3mins

1min – 8.5kph
increase speed after 1min to…

1min 15-45 seconds – 15.0kph

back down to 8.5kph

2min 30 seconds – 3mins – 15.5kph

60 second cool down
60 second rest

Round 6 – 3mins

1min – 8.5kph
increase speed after 1min to…

1min 15-45 seconds – 16.0kph

back down to 8.5kph

2min 30 seconds – 3mins – 16.5kph

60 second cool down

60 second rest

*Always set the treadmill to an incline. I use 1% – this is to reduce stress on

the knees and shins.

As you can see, each round has you working faster and harder than the
previous round. There are many variables here you can alter to suit your
needs. If you find your top end speed is different, for example 14.5kph and
you have reached your top end speed after 4 rounds, then do the next 2
rounds at the same top speed. If you want to start off at different speeds, for
example 7kph to 10kph and increase the speed each round from there, that
is fine too, as long as you are progressively increasing the speed and
pushing yourself. You can also vary the incline and the number of seconds
you are sprinting at your top end speed or running at your base speed ie 20
seconds sprint, 20 seconds jog. Do factor in it will take the treadmill 10-15
seconds to increase the speed, if you are going from 8.5kph to 15kph, it will
take the treadmill probably 12 maybe 15 seconds to hit 15kph.
Sprinting is one of the best forms of high intensity and explosive work outs
you can do, what is more explosive than Sprinting? This will not only help
your endurance but the High Intensity Interval Training with Sprints will
increase speed and power too.

The total time for the work out above is around 30mins if you are doing 6
rounds. Combine the above with other forms of cardio to prevent
stagnation. If you are preparing for a fight, then you have to allow days for
longer runs consisting of steady state cardio such as jogging, on days you
are not jogging, mix in the work out above to keep your running routine
varied so you are not getting bored looking ahead to the same work out
each time.