Keeping your hands farther from your face?

Having your hands a little bit further makes it easier to catch and parry the straight punches.

By "rolling it" do you mean blocking the punches and rolling in the direction of the shots to take some of the sting off? If that is what you are referring to, maybe he wants you to only block when you absolutely have to because even blocking shots will take a toll on you. Not sure if I answered your question correctly or not.

 

Sounds like he's trying to keep you fighting outside to me. Using shells to block punches is not as slick as keeping punch away completely. Opens up a differant kind of fight.

 

I do it a lot as well. Make sure you tuck your chin well and watch out for hooks around your guard. Especially if someone can hook off the jab it can be dangerous. But it also enables you to counter well, slap away the jab and blast a straight right over it, things like that.

 

One of the guys I spar with does this alot and it makes it really hard to hit him with straight punches.

He'll catch everything out in front and then when he sees someone try to throw a hook he just takes a little step back and he can get out of range and counter with little short punches up the middle.

 

Its a defensive style for sure.. The only problem I see with it is guys who use it either punch weaker from where their hands are or pull them back to punch which makes it easier to defend.

 

more or less but it depends on how they adjust it, if they are hopping around alot like pacquiao then they would definetly lose some power cause they arnt sitting on their punches, but if they have a more grounded footwork style while using this set like say cotto then they are gonna be very powerful counter punchers

 

I know this is an old thread, but I am doing the same thing under a new trainer's advice like the OP. It's kind of like how Stewart changed De La Hoyas hands when he started training him.

Before, I would slip punches, but my prime defense techinque would be blocking punches. Either with a single guard or a shell and then trying to counter off of that. With stronger guys, sometimes they can straight up punch through your guard or hurt you even if you block the punch. And my counters would able be slow. I would typically keep my right gloves on my cheek, and my left (lead) hand would be about 2 inches from my face.

Now, they are maybe 6 inches away from my face with the lead glove slightly in front. Both palms face forward and slightly down to catch and parry. I hold them high, with the palms about eye level and I slap the staight shots down. My jabs and straight rights feel great. They are actually faster shots since they are a few inches closer to the target. And when the punches are thrown there is less movement that telegraphs them. I havent sparred enough to assess the power, but it still feel good. A little less from left hooks maybe.

The problem is learning to defend against hooks and body punches. My coach says only use this at long range and tighten up the guard for inside fighting.

For those of you that use this style, any more suggestions for hook defense. I'm working on the block, duck, step/lean back.

And to the OP, are you still using this guard and how is it working??

 

I think keeping you right glued to your cheek and having your left 'out there' is a very effective style. It's a good balance of defense and offense, if your an outside fighter such as myself, you can catch the straight punches with your lead hand and not forgo the potential power of a straight right as it's coming from a further distance.

Two weeks ago I sparred one of the better boxers in the gym with a more 'peekaboo' style with a counter punching edge and according to the trainer would have lost the round 4-3 in the amatuer ranks. Than one week ago I used the style detailed above and just perplexed the guy, I was winning rounds like 2-0 or even 1-0, he couldn't hit me.

 

The next Wladimir Klitschko.


He must be shot.




:spy

 

That's basically the same style I use. It makes parrying simpler and it's easier to beat the other guy to the punch with the jab. The disadvantage is you would need to adjust the hand placement for inside and mid-range fighting, but it's a well-balanced, textbook style nonetheless.

 

It appears this is a very effective style for ametuer competition. As you know, most of the scoring comes from straight shots to the head. Body punching and inside fighting isnt too prevelent, and the scoring can get a little muddled there. Its more of a duel of long to medium range with straight shots. Mostly. I'm going to continue to use this style at long range range and mix it up. So far, It feels good.

 

Are we talking ala Wladamir Klitschko?