I guess it’s the Muhammad Ali trait that old school trainers don’t like. Yet Mayweather also does it. The main reason I hear that it’s bad is because of combination punching. Yet I rarely see it punished because of that. Can anyone think of any examples where a guy leant back/pulled back and was punished because of a combo? The only time I remember seeing it punished was Naseem Hamed against Kevin Kelley. In the first round for the first knockdown Hamed tries to lean back on the inside and gets clipped and knocked down by Kelley’s southpaw lead hook. That didn’t seem like a failure of the lean back as much as he was using it at the wrong time, that said you could make the argument that by using the lean back at range he could accustomed to it such that he did it on the inside via force of habit.
I guess it's both because of what you've said regarding combinations (and if you lean back once you can't go any further but have to come back forward) but i guess it's also because if you "do it proper" you set yourself up to throw a counter punch. From a leaned back position you don't have the power or the advantegeous position that a roll or a slip would generate.
I would think that the biggest risk would be your opponent throwing a feint and then stepping forward and timing your lean with a real punch.
I like what Angelo Dundee said about Ali "he does the wrong things right" which perhaps wouldn't get Angelo a good grade in English grammar but for me translates that Ali had the talent to pull it off ? Exceptional fighter I.e. Ones that pop up every 20 years or so are able to break the rules that some purists treasure for most however those rules are a good foundation .
Wladimir did pulling back all the time in combination with jabbing. The point is that you never stay in a pulled position, pull back has to be followed by a next slip, duck or a counter punch.
I just looked it up. Maybe a little bit, looked like he was leaning back slightly. It was like he slipped to the side then came back central but he was too close to lean back and got caught. It wasn’t the classic lean back once, then you try to move again and have nowhere to go.
I guess because it's risky, some coaches just don't like their fighters doing it. It can leave you a little flat footed, so again depends how your coach wants you to fight
