gaurds/stances

www.how-to-box.com/boxing/boxing_training

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Guard:
The three guards are full guard, half guard and no guard. Variations of these guards are peek a boo and open guard for full guard and cross guard for half guard.

Stance:
There is only one text book stance, from which you can employ any guard. You will find guys tweak their stances as they look to get different things from it. These two variations of stance are the angled off stance and the squared on stance. Example of angled off stance is Paulie Malignaggi and example of a squared on stance is Joe Frazier.

 

Any examples of a No Guard? Could it be... Ali????

 

Oops, I forgot that one. Yeah, Ali is an example. Pep and Jones also employed it. As do many other fighters like Calzaghe. You drop the hands and use your feet, head movement and shoulders to be elusive. Can be very effective.

 

Question(s): what's the point of having your hands down at all? Being able to see punches better? Aren't your hands going to be faster if they are up around your face? What's the advantage of keeping your hands down?

 

Don't you have a coach? A coach is the best source for boxing.

 

There is alot of reasoning to it. It does depend on your talent, assets and mindset.

You can be more fluid, move your head easier, conserve energy by not having to hold your hands up, you can punch from unorthodox angles, you can make a guy commit to a punch because you look open but then you counter him, you can give your opponent a new look to keep him guessing, your peripheral is increased and much more.

There is alot you can do.

Your hands will get from A to B quicker but many of the people you find in no guard do it because they are so fast i.e. calzaghe, ali, jones etc

 

Wow. That's what I figured too. Especially about the peripherals part. No obstruction to your view, and no obstruction to your body, clears the way to punch from all angles. It also seems that a person in no guard can force you to commit yourself more deeply to the punch. MAking it difficult to gauge their range consistently.
I presume that video of whitaker doing his thing against DLH was a good example of No Guard?

 

Thing I dont get is, that the hands down guard continues to be critiqued by Boxing even today, when there are examples of fighters who have pulled it off with success. Why does No Guard get so much flack? Is it considered showing off?????

It's the 'keep your hands up!' I constantly hear being fired all over gyms... I thought a true Boxing gym would be able to teach people to fight in all guards, stances and variations.

Any clarification on this would be good.

 

99 percent of fighters would get destroyed if they tried the hands down guard. Only the most athletic boxers like Jones, and Ali can pull it off. If average talented or rookie boxers were taught that stance they'd be killed.

 

How is Calzaghe in the same sentence as RJJ and Ali, achilles?
Tut tut!

 

Arguably the best super middleweight in history!