Why don’t these giant SHWs use a cross guard?

They don't have the technical schooling to implement it well and are used to relying on power / size.

Reminder that heavyweight is the least skilled weight division in all of boxing.

 

When Old Foreman did it, he would rely pretty much on his physical strength because when he could get in close he would lean on his opponent and disrupt their posture.

 

Zhang has a great guard, he uses it like a master

 

Doesn't stop body shots well...

 

Stalk ... but not punch.

Cross-armed defenses take away both hands for punching. You're totally playing defense.

By keeping both gloves up by your head, and your elbows in tight, you can block punches while remaining in position to punch with either hand.

 

Difficult system. You need upper-body movement and head-movement, different punching mechanics and shot selection, and you need to know how to shorter your height and at what distance you should start diving under hooks. Lots of technicalities in general.

EDIT: also very few teachers bar the likes of Tim Witherspoon. Doesn't suit the amateur system well either.

 

You absolutely can punch and counter out of the crossguard, unless you really fold those wings (and most of the time you are catching and pitching using a lot of rear hand parries and blocks, while working the lowered lead hand.) The lock, as Archie Moore would call it, is the final defensive move of the system, and even then you absolutely can counter by throwing shots back, or out of a bob and weave/head-movement like Norton, Witherspoon, or Frazier did. Thing is, you need to drill throwing punches out of the various position of the crossguard, and you need to know how set them up out of the position.

Foreman, Norton, Witherspoon, Frazier, Armstrong, to an extent Cooper, Chisora, and even Whyte. Crossguard in various forms has been used by numerous knockout artists.

 

You mostly give and take if you really crossed your arms defensively, which with good timing can still be hella effective. With a proper body movement, which is still a must for the guard, you can still counter plenty, though not in a Mike Tyson manner.

 

HW boxing is basically a different sport.

Things that work at 147 do not work at 247. They try to hit without getting hit much more because the stakes are higher - blocking punches is not nearly as viable.

 

Tim is out there, healthy, and available for hire. Nothing stopping one of them from bringing him on the team. He’d probably love the chance to work with someone like Bakole. Bakole’s defense is crap, and he seems to be able to generate big power with anything he throws from so the cross guard position likely isn’t going to mess with his punch mechanics in a negative way. He might be a real good candidate for something like this. Because the way his defense looked last night? He’s going to end up being KO’d again. Blocking punches with your face isn’t a good plan.

 

it is interesting how it works. If you look at Bivol, who is probably entering the ring around 190, he can do all the stuff the little guys can. His speed and footwork is quite impressive for a guy the size of a Louis era heavyweight.

Yet move up in size a bit and it’s not possible anymore, not even Usyk can do it. Bivol looks like lightning in a bottle compared to Usyk. (Weird thought but I’d bet Bivol could give Usyk a hell of a run for his money).

 

Yep, it's interesting. Most fans don't understand this phenomenon and simply say "HW's aren't skilled".

 

there seems to be something that happens around 200-210lbs. Like above there, gravity notices and is like “nope”. You can see this even with most cruisers. They’re far slower than LHWs, far less light on their feet.