What signifies a defensive technician?

To me a defensive fighter is a guy who makes it a priority not to get hit, even if he does get hit (Malignaggi)

I had a disagreement with someone who tried to say that Roy Jones was not a defensive fighter, I suspect they thought this way because they had not seen much of Jones except for a few HL reel KO's, however what I tried to explain to him, was that Jones was a safety first fighter, was criticized throughout his career for that, he was also a guy that did not like to lead, and even when he did come foward, he mostly drawed leads with head feints so he could counter, which is what set up some of his KO's.

 

Oh!, got ya, I misinterpreted the thread.

Would an Azumah Nelson, Qawi quantify as a defensive technician in your opinion? both had a degree of defensive skill imo.

 

Jake LaMotta deserves a mention too. He could avoid the punishment better than any plodding come forward fighter without exceptional reflexes/instincts had any right to. Technically he was very solid, and a more athletically gifted and defensive-minded fighter would have rarely gotten hit with his techniques.

 

A defensive technician has a seemless transition between offense and defense. The opponent should never know if your going to give offense or defense at any given moment. It's using your physical atributes to take the least amount of punishment without running just to get away from punishment. Example, Pep using his feet move in and out and never let you set, James Toney giving you a shot to his head only to slip and counter using his great vision and fighting instincts.

 

Right, there are three textbook pillars of defence.

Head movement, foot movement and hand movement (blocking and parrying), as far as being a defensive technician goes, I would probably have to add in controlling the range of a bout.

Head Movement

Obviously this is slipping, bobbing and weaving etc... This is probably the most direct way of making your opponents miss and leaves him the most vulnerable but it is the hardest to pull off and has a small margin of error. Good technique here is useful but not entirely necessary, as you can see guys with unorthodox head movement still being successful defensively.

This probably uses the most athletic ability also as you rely on your reflexes and timing to pull it off. The art here for a defensive technician is what they do when they have made a guy miss, say for example fighter A slips a jab by moving his head to the right and letting the jab pass over his left shoulder. He has a variety of options he can choose to counter-punch him with, and it is the ability to choose the best one, he could pop his own jab to the head or body; pivot off his front foot with a left hook and then follow up with a right hand; chuck in an overhand right etc.....

Roberto Duran is a good proponent of this.

Foot movement

This ties in quite directly to control of range but I will discuss that separately later.

This is the act of making your opponent miss by using your feet to change your position, using side steps, pivots etc...

The art here is move enough to make your opponent miss, but not too much that you leave yourself in a position that you are unable to capitalise on your opponents missed shots. You move too much and you are out of range, but if you move just enough you are unable to land superb counter-punches.

Such as if a jab comes at you, you can step to your right away out of the direction of your opponents jabs, taking you out of the arc of the jab but opens up the pipe for your own jab, leaving your opponent a sucker for it.

Pivots are also effective as shots can come in and pivots change your angle, and gets you out of the direction of your opponents attack, ready for an attack.

Pernell Whittaker is a good proponent of this.

Hand movement

Hand movement is perhaps the most basic art of defence.

This is the act of making your opponent miss by either parrying or blocking his punches.

This is effective but requires disciplined hand positioning and a good sense of timing, as feints can really throw a fighter off here and leave themselves open if they react too early to any incoming. A big advanatage is that normally parrying an opponents shot puts him slightly off balance for a split second, and unable to react to the counters coming his way.

Again the art of this is capitalising on the openings you have created.

A jab can be parried with the right hand and then followed up by a variety of punches. Such as your own jab or a straight right over the parried jab.

Harold Johnson is a good proponent of this.

Control of distance

This is something all great defensive technicians are superb in, no matter what of the above three 'pillars' specified above, the fighter specialises in.

This ties in hugely to foot movement as too much distance makes you unable to capitalise on opponents mistakes, same with too close. And the correct distances needs to be selected.

A forgotten factor in this is feints, a fighter uses feints to control his opponent and keep his opponent edgy. Harold Johnson was a master of this as he would use his feints to set up his shots and control his range..

 

Bokaj, not quite a complete post. You make a few good points to add to it, I'm sure others can add extra bits as well.

I sort of address economy by saying you don't want to make someone miss by too much.

 

Sounds like Mayweather and Loche to me rather than Whitaker and Pep.

 

Anyone who knows George Chuvalo or have spoken to him shouldn't be surprised that he believed this fight was stopped way too early. Chuvalo says Foreman's shot's were heavy, but he wasn't in any serious danger believing the ref hasted with this stoppage. Foreman's stamina has always been questionable, especially young Foreman.

Defensive boxing to me combines excellent guard positioning, footwork to escape danger, and counter punching when the time is most opportune without wasting energy.

Jack Johnson, Pernell Whitaker and Willie Pep were excellent defensive fighters. Also, Jersey Joe Walcott was a very good defensive heavyweight.