How to neutralize a jab?

I guess Cus D'Amato asked the same question and came up with peak-a-boo principles: instantaneous slip of a punch with a head movement and a counter punch. AFter Mike did it few times, most of his opponents stopped jabbing with him

 

There are a whole bunch of ways, but consider this...If he stops jabbing, he'll probably stop throwing, in general, and that gives you nothing to work off. He'll go into a shell, just keep away and cover up, and you can't counter-punch that. And counter-punching is the best way to land clean, damaging blows.
But to neutralize his jab...Watch what he does with his right hand when he jabs; if it pulls away from his face, jab when he jabs. Even with him punching first, you can get your jab there first by taking a short pivot to your left as you jab- cuts that distance and gets your punch there first. Remember to catch his in your right glove. Slip inside his jab- as you slip throw a short straight right hand to the heart. That will shorten his arms pretty quickly.
If he is really stepping in with his jab, catch it a slide back a couple times, get him stepping real strong. Then parry it, with your right glove over your left shoulder. Push off your right foot as your bring the left hand up from your hip, driving that arm straight. That will generally discourage him stepping with the jab.

 

I've got just the thing!

From an older thread:

Bogotazo:

There are a bunch of things you can do.

-Learn to parry and catch his jab, and come back with your own. This is a basic, all around good skill to have.
-Jab at the same time he does; depending on your reach or whether you can step in with it, it can work to discourage him from throwing it.
-If he doesn't throw his right hand with authority or as a lead, circle in that direction so that he can't time his jab.
-When he flurries, time hard single or double shots in between his out of your guard to start finding holes.
-Learn to step while smoothly moving your upper body; don't twitch and waist energy, but don't stay stagnant.
-Cut the ring off well by closing his exits and hammer him to the body, throwing right hands over his jab as you come in, and that should slow him down.

What are the size and dimensions like for the both of you?

Mr. Troll:

He's a bout 2 maybe 3 inches taller. More of a lean build whereas I'm a little more stocky.

Ths seems like some good advice. I guess I've gotten myself mentally to the point to where I'm too paranoid because I worry too much about defense and don't let my hands go enough.

Bogotazo:

Ok then. The tips I've suggested still mostly apply. Do you think you can step in while he jabs and close the gap to land your own as he unfurls his? That's a good way to get inside.

If I were you, I'd practice a lot on a slip rope. Do you use one? It's a great tool for building the muscle memory necessary to get under and use your smaller height to your advantage. Move forwards while bobbing and weaving, backwards while slipping, envision yourself throwing counters, etc. This is much more conducive to moving and defending while still staying in position to punch, instead of shelling up ineffectively.

Try drills that make sure you can close the distance and take away his space to work. Side-stepping while maintaining balance, closing off the exits, etc. Try this with a partner who can move a lot, maybe do it without punches or with only jabs.

Can you body punch? Once you're flexible up top and efficient enough with your footwork, hammering this guy to the body after you get past his jab will be key. He'll slow down, become nervous, waste energy trying to get away, while you control the center.

To be successful, as you said, a lot of it is mental. As the stockier fighter who must press, you have to go into that ring thinking you're going to be the boss. It's not easy, but if you can tell yourself that no matter what, you're going to make him pay for every attempted flurry and make him work to keep moving just to keep you out of his face, then you've won half the battle.

Take this fight for example (even just the first 3 rounds). Yuri Foreman is known as a mobile fighter who fights in quick bursts, and Cotto is the stockier man. From the first round, he keeps his right glove up high, and times his own jabs upwards when Yuri starts to unleash his, or steps to the left to slip or parry it, while opening up the angle for his own. He has an easy rhythm going in his legs and upper body, and has to move much less than Yuri does to get some offense going, or to duck under his shots. The more Cotto quickly goes to where Foreman is about to be, the more energy Yuri starts to waste, and the more sloppy his shots get in an attempt to keep him off and make progress on points; all the while, Miguel is chillin. He knows he's the man with the more dangerous offense, and it shows in his body language.

[ame]***.youtube.com/watch?v=pwAAJI7oqfg[/ame]

Obviously, you're not Miguel Cotto, but you're opponent isn't Yuri Foreman either. Practice these fundamentals, and become more afraid of losing the round than you are of getting hit. Even if he gets the best of you again, you will have improved.

 

Start using pawing jabs at his lead hand. Watch Rigondeaux vs Donaire. Donaire has a vicious left hand so Rigondeaux pawed his jab at his lead hand to neutralize leads and jabs. This also gives him the ability to keep a close eye on Donaire's right hand which unfortunately he doesnt use a whole lot of. So Rigondeaux, just by pawing at Donaire's lead hand, Got rid of almost every punch Donaire could use. Also watch Mayweather vs Guerrero. Before Floyd would throw leads, he would paw at Guerrero's lead hand. You can also paw at his lead hand and jab at his head or drop jabs at his body out of nowhere.

 

^^ Pawing like that is pretty much just for southpaw-orthodox match-ups.

 

You would be surprised at how often just being busy and getting off with your jab will stop someone from jabbing themself, even if you aren't landing.

 

Your opponent throws one, you throw three. Pretty simple.

 

-Slip right and stick a hard jab to his heart (doesn't hurt much but it scores and it opens him up)
-Slip left and do that thing Jersey Joe did to Ezzard Charles
-Catch and jab (the easiest and best. Throw 2-3 jabs so he doesn't counter)
-Catch and right cross (in one motion, tough to pull off)
-Left parry and right cross (this is risky but it basically squares the opponent up for your right and sort of pulls them into it)
-Pull counter (lean away from the jab or absorb it and then fire back...I prefer watching Duran and Matthysse do this because they have a much more realistic and powerful way of doing it than Floyd)
-Move back and to the right when he's about to jab (see Hopkins/Cloud)

Basically just punish him when he jabs, it's basic psychology.

 

nice post

 

Watch Joe Frazier, he is probably one of the best at neutralizing the jab.
-Cross the right arm over your face so that the inside croch of your right elbow is just 2 inches away from your chin, your right hand at that point should be about 6 inches from your left shoulder. When the jab starts coming swing your right arm down and across and quickly jab back. Ken Norton vs Ali might be a more clear example because Norton is taller.
-if you are south paw just slap down the guys left forearm before he raise it up, a good southpaw should never get hit with a jab as long as he moves to his right.
-step back
-step sideways
-bob joe frazier style, it makes you basically impossible to hit with multiple jabs or hooks. If you practice this style enough you can do it for rounds and not get tired. And once you see a jab over your head pop up and nail him with the hardest hook you can. The one vulnerability it leaves you to is uppercuts.
-kill something gave good recs
-nvseven gave good points. Mike Tyson was a fighter in an era when the top fighters were all 6'3 and had good jabs (pinklon thomas, larry holmes, trevor berbick, michael spinks etc). These guys were all coming out of the angelo dundee school of stick and move jab a guy to death with your reach, turn sideways so there is little area to hit the jabber back with. Cus d'amato solution was inside of having a boxer who fights turned slightly sideways, lets turn the boxer square. Turn him square and he can now punch that jabber with both hands. The jabber usually turns sideways and can't really land the big right hand easily and usually lacks power in it anyways. There are just a few great jabbers who had great right hands liek liston or foreman. Also by turning square you can bob and duck, and get torque from bobing and weaving and come back with a harder shot. But you need to come forward and be forward leaning in your attack

 

parry and head movement.

or you jab first

SIMPLE

 

You feint and you disrupt their rhythm. If they really like to jab alot, esp to head, you jab to the body, then they either drop their guard to defend their body and leaves them open upstairs. Or you can also cut the ring off, use lead rights, and use lateral movement and pressure to make it an infight. Bobbing and weaving in the center of the ring works great vs jabbers.

 

Personally, I love me a jabbing contest. I usually don't try to neutralize it, but learn and better myself off those occasions.
It's like a staring contest.

 

The jab is hard to neutralize. Especially in the hands of a guy who can use it well.

You can slip outside and fire your cross.

You can slip inside and hook the body.

Keep up your guard, absorb|parry the jab, close distance immediately.

Feint and have a better jab.

The jab is called the most important punch because it s so safe, fast, and effective. Unfortunately few guys like to train it to perfection.