Can someone help out with any thoughts on improving punch accuracy. Joe Louis was the most pricise punching fighter ever. Was he taught this or was it natural?
Footwork. Get the target in your killzone and you can't miss. Accuracy problems come from being in the wrong position relative to the target. Louis was so accurate because he would only hit you when you were in his perfect punching window.
His accuracy was really amazing. Loved the way he'd stick his lead leg out, making sure he was in perfect balance and letting his body follow his front foot as a compass. I have problems myself gauging the distance; I'm really long for my size, but find myself reaching all the time. Maybe this kind of approach is what I need to focus on.
Accuracy comes down to mastering your basics. Or those with shitty basics but find the ability to land a lot usually have an over abundance of confidence. Either way, work on better form, better punches.
footwork - it initiates EVERYTHING. mitt work can help too. poster above mentioned tennis ball exercise. haven't done it myself but it sounds like it might be worth a look
Take some grey tape and put it on your heavy bag in places corresponding to the chin, solar plexus, heart, liver, floating rib etc...of an opponent. And then hit them. Throw your jab to the same spot all the time, and your right hand. When you practice slipping and countering, hit the marks.
-double end bag use a rope on top for a linear swing and you can practice slipping at the same time use two bungee/rubber cords for chaotic movement instead of an air filled bladder ball use a tennis ball get a strobe light (check medical) -place athletic tape on mirror and similar piece on gloves so you can match them up when you punch (note that if you turn your hand over when you punch you're going to want to have the tape on your glove perpendicular to the mirror piece so it'll match at the end of execution -focus mitts - i use mitts for accuracy. put all your straight punches into one mitt (most likely the coach's right hand) so the punches land in the similar target, like the nose on a face (as opposed to the mitt style where the jab goes into coach's left and straight right goes to coach's right hand. -no one's head is that big)
^Good advice. I'd add double end bag, but make the rope lose instead of tight, and don't hit the bag stright, hit it only at angles so that it will bounce around, and start by punching the bag down then up then back and forth so its bouncing all around like a real opponent. Now its not like a heavy bag, you need to time the bag (like a real opponent) and hit when there is an opening and its in range as the bag is coming in (like a real opponent), trying to hit when the opponent/bag is going out causes you to miss or have punches of no effect and get countered (a bag coming back in your face) also trains your reflexes and countering skills. If you can hit the double end bag this way, you can hit the most elusive opponent. As for the mitts, have them move during practice like a real opponent. It could also be that you are standing too far back, so move in closer to your opponent if your punches are simply short, if they are just missing be more careful with your punches. Or if your endurance is great then you can just throw like a wild man and up your count, swing for the body and not the head. Of course you could always just become a counter puncher and make the guy come to you like Joe Louis often did and beat him when he tries coming inside, but this generally works best if your taller.