I am not saying that every good fighter utilizes the philly shell, but I see tons of fighters move their weight to their back leg, take an even more angle foot position(feet almost paralalel to each other), almost completly turn themself sideways to opponents and then drop their lead hand and keep it at their waste. They dont predominantly fight like this but they tend to utilize it alot(such as lucian bute, andre ward, carl froch). So my question is are these fighters using a philly shell or are they merely dropping their hands and fighting off the back foot? the reason I ask is because people talk about the philly shell as if the only ones currently using it are mayweather/bronner when I see it used plenty of times by other fighters.
An angled stance and an out-streched low left hand isn't quite a Philly Shell. Lots of fighters sometimes shoulder roll and then restart but it's not their primary guard. Having your weight more on the back foot and your chin tucked is just good fundamentals.
I believe you have to have a certain bodyframe to do the philly shell correctly...the fighters who do it best not only rolled the punch but they understand momentum and punch velocity...they often tuck their chin against the shoulder to stop their heads from snapping knockouts occur when the brain thumps the skull so this defense is like the ultimate defense rolling while in the shell takes velocity off the opponents punch and protects you from getting knockout if something does land with that being said you better know how to roll and when...I havent seen this defense be as popular as it is now...a handfull of fighters used it back in the day...fighters who do it now I feel do it because they've seen an undefeated fighter do it on the highest level and have success with it and think its easier to pull off than it actually is
Thank you!! I always look forward to your replies since you know so much. That makes perfect sense. I see it all the time and always wondered if they were doing the philly shell or not.
I kind of assumed that they were copying others. Mainly because every once in a while you will see the opponent who usually doesnt use that style of guard utilize it for a little bit, but quickly gets picked apart.