I've been trying to catch up on fights with some of the new faces lately, and I've been blown away by how vulnerable some of them are to uppercuts. Not tricky shots set up in an artistic way either, just garden variety, stand and deliver uppercuts. This is kind of a weird question to ask, but I was wondering if anyone could reach into their memory banks and throw out some fights with sequences that display strong defense against an uppercut, or fights where one fighter very consciously worked to take away the uppercut from an opponent who was known for having a strong one. Recently, I'm thinking of Hopkins - Trinidad where Bernard repeatedly came forward with his left arm tucked in tight ready to block the uppercut and counter over the top, and probably Mayweather - Judah, but I'm looking for better examples.
I know Eddie futch devised the stratergy for Joe Frazier against Ali to purposely make him throw the right uppercut as much as possible so as to come around the side of it with the left hook - as far as avoiding it I think Frazier was more accepting of having to soak one or two up to reap the rewards of tagging Ali with that vicious hook - as far as fighters with a great defence against it?? No ones really coming to mind straight away?? It strikes me as a punch which is nigh on impossible to defend against coming from below your line of vision (which is maybe why uppercuts like Jack Johnson's presented such a problem for opponents) - question for any amateur or pro fighters out there - am I right in that - thinking the uppercut is one of the more difficult punches to block? It looks it
Uppercuts suck to receive. If a guy kept throwing one, I would always lean to the outside of it and really tuck my chin. Then again, guys in the amateurs weren't too good at uppercuts, or so I remember. But my trainer was!
I think the reason why my question essentially sucks is that defending against uppercuts falls into the same category as a whole bunch of general defensive principles, e.g. keeping the elbows in, chin tucked, not getting square, not leaning in, etc. But Futch's gameplan for Ali is exactly the kind of stuff I was thinking about here. Next time I watch those fights I'll keep an eye out for that. Off topic, is there a decent bio of Futch out there? If there is, I really want to read it. Although there's an argument for the damage all punches can do, I've always thought the perfectly thrown uppercut does straight up vicious damage. One of the huge drawbacks of Khan - Maidana for me is that even without being invested in either one of them, I thought it was disgusting how totally incapable of defending the uppercut Khan was. Sure it made the fight more interesting, but it left me wondering what the hell Roach had been teaching him about defense. I think your trainer did you a favor. :good
I'd add if you're a much shorter opponent pressuring a taller man, stepping off to his side and using angles instead of being right in front of him will make you far less susceptable
