Lost Arts of Boxing

Jose Napoles

 

Educated pressure.

 

Inside Fighting and ring generalship. They just move foward or back, inability to cut the ring.

 

Infighting and proper defense.

Footwork I think as well, these days a lot of fighters think that footowork just means aimlessley bouncing about. This is partially a result of the amateur rules, guys like Amir Khan, Yuriorkis Gamboa and even Manny Pacquaio still do this. The reason this is bad is because they don't have the control if the distance and are giving up control due to just boucning aimlessley. Good footwork should be used to control distance and therefore the timing and rythmn, you shouldn't move pointlessley but rather move to maintain the control. Mayweather is a master of this form of footwork, Marquez is another guy I feel who has good footwork.

 

Parrying & opening the glove to catch shots.

Pressure fighters & good inside fighters are a dying breed

 

Yes! There is an art to pressure fighting and in-fighting, it doesn't just mean you plow forward swinging punched at your opponent. Ie-Brandon Rios.

 

General defensive skills, catching shots, slipping shots, stepping off to the side.

Seems like boxing has lost some of the art in place of athletic ability. So you see fighters in amazing shape able to go the distance without too much trouble but without the skills to be able to stop taking more punishement then they should.

 

I agree :good

 

Completely agree with this. That's why it makes all the more hilarious when posters looking only to support their current favorite fighters declare that everything is better than ever in boxing and that it's impossible for there to have been a decline in skills because trainers have videotape today.

 

Head movement. I blame the amateur game, because people arnt learning to move their head because they have a big weight protecting them from the bad damage that can happen. This is making them lazy when it comes to proper movement. Also, another thing is they miss out on the really good openings in a boxers guard because they are always looking dead ahead, and missing the chance to exploit angles that arnt usually available.

Nowdays, most fighters box for a little bit then start brawling. Obviously its what the crowd want, but its lowering the standards of the actual boxing. Everyone loves a good scrap, even the purists, what makes a scrap great though is when the boxers are showing a high working skill level, pulling off great moves rather than just throwing 100 haymakers and hooks.

People are forgetting how to use a jab, and are throwing it like they would any other punch, with no thought behind it. When used well its an extremely effective tool to keep in control of a fight, even against a much bigger opponent who is out muscling you and pushing forward.

Inside boxing is disappearing, again with boxers wanting to become brawlers, with them standing just outside or even squaring up and becoming reckless. This is making their movement around the ring suffer, and is leaving them open to punches they shouldnt be taking.

The last thing, which is actually one of my fave things to see in a boxing match, when your opponent is stunned, instead of seeing red and going straight for the kill, boxers should stalk their opponent, still throwing the jab and wait for a chance to counter for the knockdown. When your opponent is on wobbly legs they arnt thinking about their defence when they throw, they will drop their other hand when throwing a punch, leaving you with the space to return and score a heavy knockdown and possible KO

 

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Was going to say parrying, DrMo got there first.

 

Agree regarding the footwork issue. Defense tops the list, though. So very few top notch defensive fighters around--what ever happened to the cutie pies?

Another big problem w/ footwork is having balance to throw punches. For all 12 rounds. Some guys have it somewhat, but are falling in once they get fatigued. Higher the weights, the less likelyhood you'll see a guy with the tools to throw combos while moving his feet. It's alamost always 1 or 2 steps only & then it's clinch or stop and cover up time.

Angles via footwork. Slide over to the side and continue peppering a guy.Pryor did this as seamless as anyone and when is the last time you heard anyone complimenting Aaron for his footwork? But even he had to have that top notch skill at his disposal as a base.

Or turning an opponent. Anyone in the higher weights capable of turning an opponent is going to have a difficult time getting opponents to sign contracts. And balance can tie into this because all we see is jab/right hand/left hook. 3 punches. It is so rare to see a southpaw with a big righthook aside from Manny, and his is about absent. Or a conventional fighter capable of throwing a nice left uppercut from the outside.

We just seem to get jab/right hand and the third part of the combo is duck or a left hook. Now I understand guys with a complete set of tools like Ricardo Lopez don't grow on trees, but we could see wider arsenals if the footwork and balance and emphasis was on things other than the heavy bag.

 

Totally agree

 

Here's another skill not yet mentioned--the ability to throw punches while not making ones self susceptible to counterpunches.

Recall years ago when there actually were guys almost impossible to counter? Where did they go? I think by the year 2020 they will be as common as a mint shape 1951 Kaiser Frazer.