A straight and a cross are basically the same thing. An overhand is basically a hook that is thrown at a downward angle.
A straight is obviously straight, an overhand right loops around the guard. I myself have done it just by watching and looping the shot, but people might aim it different ways and I'm curious to hear that. I don't really throw it with my fist aimed the same way, I kind of turn my hand sideways as well and throw it in a pawing arc, but with the intention of landing on the knuckles anyway. The way Mosley and JMM throw it.
Straight goes straight here we call it Direct. Cross is something between straight and hook, we call it "Kroše" here, word that comes from Cross Overhand is like Speech and Bogo said. I throw overhands when facing taller opponent with faint jab to the body. They lower their guard so the overhand is easily landing. Even if it lands on block it can still hurt or at least put him out of balance because of great power that comes from sitting on that punch.
No they arent the cross is the cross because it specifically goes over the opponents jab/lead arm UP AND OVER THERE ARM
A straight is a called a cross when thrown in conjunction with a leading jab - the latter being punch number one and the former number two in the ol' 1-2, as it's called. The idea behind the name is, when both opponents jab at the same time, whoever releases the straight power shot with their rear hand quicker has theirs "cross" over the opponent's jab before landing. An overhand right can also follow a jab in combination but is, definitionally, never a cross.
I've always thought of the straight and cross as interchangeable words for the same punch, really, although I think what @IntentionalButt said is true. Overhand is a looping / bent arm punch thrown in a high arcing fashion that's completely different (and the type of punch some fighters can become ATGs without ever throwing it, while others make a career out of it), not to be confused with a rear hand hook which is a much more natural punch for most.
It is really a difference in vernacular and it is, to some extent, geographic. I have heard a 'right cross' described in different ways. Some people say that it is a punch that crosses over the opponent's jab, hence the word cross. Some people that advocate fighting out of an angled stance say that the 'cross' refers to punching across your own body- do you see why? When you fight from an angled stance and throw a right hand in that fashion, the right hand will extend a good 8 inches beyond the reach of your jab. I have never understood why every right hand punch is called an 'overhand right' and, in over 30 years over training fighters, I have never used the term myself. Nor have I ever talked about a 'right hook' at least not when working with an orthodox fighter. Years ago there was a fight- I believe that it was Gabe Ruelas v Jesse Leija- and two knockdowns were scored via right uppercuts. And the writer in the LA Times- Steve Kim?- called both punches overhand rights.
Excellent post. Right hands should be thrown the same way, shifting weight to the front, turning the hips and shoulders, the fighter just angles the right hand so that it has the best chance to land on the opponent. It could be short, long, over, but it's the same punch.
My practice when discussing the action in RBR threads has been to always refer to "crosses" only when thrown immediately behind a set-up jab. If a straight right (or straight left for southpaws) is thrown without a leading left (or right, for southpaws) jab, I typically just say "straight right" or "lead right". This follows how the punches are referred to, from my experience, in American boxing gyms - although I've never heard a coach explicitly say proscriptively that it has to be that way. @greynotsoold is right, it could be more common in some areas to use cross for all straights, and I wouldn't say anybody that did so is 'wrong'.
