Boxing Footwork: Essential do's and dont`s!

Isn't a.j a plodder?

 

He isn't fleet flooted at all but I wouldn't necessarily call him a plodder either. I'm mainly talking about his control of distance at any rate.

 

Facts. It's a combination of ****. You can't make it in boxing without athleticism same way you can't make it without technique. Both should be appreciated equally. I think that a lot of times we end up pulling too far in one direction or at least I do. Often I'll dismiss someone as being bad if I think they get by strictly on athletic talent. I trash Wilder all of the time for that reason but at least he's...long.

 

I like both ends of the spectrum, good/intelligent footwork can really make up for a lack of explosive mobility.
Examples of this would generally be older, more tactically astute fighters who wish to conserve energy: Moore, Foreman, B Hop even Bellew ha ha.

 

He's not what I'd classify as a plodder, he's light on his feet when he does move and his stance isn't so wide that it limits his movement.

But he doesn't move well. He has a bad habit of just standing in front off opponents and forgetting to move off the line. Wlad had similar issues with his footwork when he was younger, he'd throw then stand right in front of opponents to be countered. Wlad fixed it to some degree by narrowing his stance to make him more mobile and clinching against any aggression but even late in his career he never moved laterally well.

I think Joshua has tried to fix this you see him in training always working on moving off the line and moving laterally but when he actually fights and isn't in total control he seems to forget what he's been working on, it simply isn't instinctive yet. We saw it vs Povetkin, a fight where he didn't have it all his own way and ended up standing right in front of Povetkin for long periods which only made matters worse as it allowed Povetkin to dart in and get his shots off, which would of been harder had Joshua kept forcing him to reset by changing angles on him.

 

Agree totally, some people see quick feet and think a fighter has good footwork because they move a lot. But intelligent footwork doesn't have to be done with speed and explosiveness. Many guys with fast feet just move in straight lines which is fine is your opponent can't reach you but against a fighter than can pressure moving back in a straight line just sees you backed up tot he ropes more than you'd like while a boxer with clever footwork can just keep turning you and keep you in the centre.

If people want to see the difference a good example is Wlad and Vitali vs Pater. Wlad spends lots of the fight on the ropes because he backs up in straight lines, Vitali despite having slower feet, kept Peter in the centre because every time he threw he stepped to the side, continuously turning Peter and preventing him from just rushing him.

Nice call on Foreman's footwork a lot of what he did had thought behind it, much like Vitali he wasn't a pretty fighter to watch but there was thought and technique behind the ugly form.

 

Totally agree, this, along with shot selection, was the main reason Vitali was a more ''natural' fighter than Wlad.
Foreman was a plodder and would oftentimes abandon his ring-cutting and matador techniques because he fancied a scrap (see the Lyle fight). His feet worked perfectly against Frazier however, and coupled with a manipulative lead arm, trapped Smokin Joe and left him no option but to try and throw a left to stun George so he could escape. Didn't work though.
Haggler and GGG are other great ''ring-cutters" imo.