When I was a boy I got beat up a lot so my father put me in a boxing gym. First thing they showed me was to bounce. I worked on it at home and jumped rope, all sorts of things. Anyway, it seems to me that De La Hoya and Sugar Shane are the only professionals who employ this footwork regularly. And we can say that a bad Oscar fight is one where he did not bounce. How effective is this to a good jab and defence, and if effective why is it not used as much nowadays, almost seems like a fighting style from the sixties (I always thought of Oscar's stance and technique, even shorts, as very old school.) I never followed through with boxing training but as a fan this question always makes me think, especially how the new stance like Floyd's and Judah's seems prevelant, that is, side standing shoulder outward rather than sqaured up.
Basically times evolve, and the guy on top generally leads to how people learn the sport. When Garry Kasparov was Chess Champion, the Sicilian Najdorf was extremely popular. Now that he is no longer Champion, it is on the wane. Floyd's style will be prevalent today because people desire to emulate the best.
I don't know about bounce, per se; but being on the balls of your feet in my opinion is hugely important. It's how you're able to move quickly and easily rather than plodding; and makes it much easier to turn on your punches and pivot off and get angles. I can understand guys who fight in a much more slugging style not seeing it as being as important; but for someone who relies a lot on technique and setting punches up, having very good footwork and being on the balls of your feet and able to move quickly is really important.
Being on the balls of your feet and ready to move quickly at anytime is essential but there is a difference between that and bouncing around. Bouncing is bad! If you are bouncing around or worse, bouncing on the spot in front of your man, trying to look spritely and full of energy you are putting yourself at serious risk. That is because when you are at the top of a bounce you are in no position to move as you don't have any weight on your feet. You have to wait for your weight to come back down before you can move and thus you are vulnerable to attack at that moment. Not to mention it wastes valueable energy.
When I fought as an amateur, I was trained not to bounce on my feet like Mosley does. It keeps you from being in a position to punch all the time and it leaves you vulnerable for split seconds. Don't waste your energy with unnecessary movements. Stay on the balls of your feet and don't stand flatfooted and plod. I always believed that the jab was the most important punch in boxing. Because I was short, I used the jab to get on the inside (where I was most effective). But when I fought shorter guys, I would use my jab to control the distance and set up my combinations from the outside. The jab is extremely important - I can't stress that enough. I always threw the double jab. What I found out is that if the first jab didn't hit my opponent, the second usually would. Going back to being on the balls of your feet; push off the backfoot so your jabs don't fall short because your opponent will likely take a step back or to one side or the other.
Depends on what you mean by "bounce." Bouncing up and down is a waste of time. Bouncing back and forth from one foot to the other is sometimes called "getting into your rhythm." It is a way learning the process of boxing.
Some interesting replies, I think the "bounce" is spoke about because that what should happen "bounce" as you move around in the ring, footwork is a massive feature of any boxer, without good footwork, forget being a top boxer, the key is the front to backfoot weighting as you move from attack to defence in the ring, the stance is of huge importance as it gives you a solid platform and lowers your centre of gravity. Bouncing for the sake of it is pointless, but to bounce between positions and stances is very important, as you get there quicker. Many a decent puncher who can also take a punch as been doomed to fail because he was "lead footed", so it is a huge area of importance.
You have different schools of taught, some trainer like the bounce becuase it force you to stay light and on the ball of feet on your back foot..the leverage foot, I might self prefer the slide..I teach my boxer the slide, slide give you a better balacne in my opinion sicne you keep your pivot or power foot grounded, even though you are also on the ball on your back foot....I beleive that sliding also offers more flexibility for weave and bopping ...now if you notice SSM bounces up to the point he becomes a puncher them he slides and stay in the pocket, now ODLH being taller and angular the bounce help his jab which you notice he did so well on the rounds he won against PBF...
Thanks guys, your answers were great and helped me understand this technique better. Wish you all luck in the sport. It was nice to see dialogue on ESB besides why Ricky/Floyd/Oscar/Bhop/Winky sucks and how everyone is dumb for not liking the boxer they like.