My rear cross sucks in sparring..

I remember from watching your bag work video, you mainly operate from and leave your weight on your front foot, which allows you to use your front arm okay for hooks but not your entire rear side arm.

There's not a whole lot you can do unless you plant that back leg down and sit on it. You need to have your weight being supported sturdily by your right leg and drive off it for your right hand to have any good effect. Dont drive UP like people want to, drive forward and slightly down (sink) being powered 100% with your leg. Practice it slowly. Do it a lot.

Really bend that knee (Edit- bend and strengthen HIP, also knee) to get it used to supporting weight and transferring it smoothly and powerfully without jerking and sliding or pushing yourself UP instead of forward and slightly down (slightly down is to keep it from going up, which it will want to do but that nullifies/dissolves the power)

Most of the problem is in your leg. Keep it under you and not out to the back like a tail. You can still walk or step with little steps. Practice punching that way.

Your punches are decent just dont lean back with your torso when you throw them (robs the power AND reach), lean slightly forward at the waist with a reasonably straight back. Your punches should come out fine.

To make them faster, Relax the arms and concentrate on making them fly out (speed) and then experiment with letting them loose at different times during the drive from the leg/ twist from the torso. Hint: You dont have to feel like you're waiting for your leg to move your arm, you should try moving your arm slightly before that (just try it) but dont forget some rotation on the fist (that will help it naturally snap out with no effort)

Keep practicing until it feels more and more effortless. Stop! when you've made a good tiny bit of progress (this is important). Feel good about it and think about it as you go home. Write down anything you learned and didnt know before is a great idea, even if it's just a new feeling, sensation, or mindset that seems to make you perform better with less effort. Then pick up where you left off the day before and try to get 1 or 2% better (more efficient and easier while getting more effect). This is counter-intuitive but it is key. Most people will never do this and most people suck. Most people try to "grind" and pile on the effort and that may work okay for weightlifting but it works the opposite way for technique.
 
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What is the issue with it? It is blocked, or isn't landing with power?
 
I'll bet he just doesn't feel comfortable in general throwing it, cant time it, etc.


Body knows the conditions aren't right and is naturally hesitant, is my guess
 
Came out of my 6 year lurk for this. I am a tall, long armed fellow so I thought the cross would come naturally to me. It was much the opposite. The important thing is to drill the shift of weight from front to back foot, and sync that with the rotation of your shoulders.

My main problem was never really winging my right shoulder forward enough and committing. Try that slowly, in shadowboxing lots. Make sure you don't lean too forward, just project the cross out there. I watched a lot of Thomas Hearns and Anthony Joshua to learn how to really spear it in there.
 
IT's THAT YOU RESET EVERY TIME! I've been telling you this for years. Stop, like, setting up, and then, punching, and then, resetting., and then, stuff.

Assuming you wrongly mean rear hand straight and not a cross counter.
 
The cross is my favorite punch, just watch some how to videos on YouTube, and just practice, the cross is a invaluable punch once you get the hang of it.
 
The cross is best used in counter-strike

Also see if it's running right.

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Some great stuff here. I fucking love this forum!

I feel like i am too slow to deliver the cross in a firefight. I am a good in fighter. When i am close to the other guy, i can hit with either hand.

But on the outside i only uses jabs and long lead hook. I like to fake punches to get my kicks in.

Maybe i just need to let it fly. Like Bernard is talking about in the beginning of this video.
 
One thing Frankie Edgar does that has always resonated with me: he has an activity counter. If he doesn't attack so many times per round in training, his coaches get on him. This indirectly would help your 2, I think. It would force you to not restart and go back to the jab. Try tripling your punch count for a round on the heavy bag, including realistic footwork, and I bet it would significantly improve your comfort with the 2.
 
Some great stuff here. I fucking love this forum!

I feel like i am too slow to deliver the cross in a firefight. I am a good in fighter. When i am close to the other guy, i can hit with either hand.

But on the outside i only uses jabs and long lead hook. I like to fake punches to get my kicks in.

Maybe i just need to let it fly. Like Bernard is talking about in the beginning of this video.


It could be your more square muay thai stance means lead rights are never going to work well, so you only throw it as a counter punch or after your left hand. Being more square the jab and left hook may always be your stronger lead punches. You can practice being in the right position to throw the right straight as a counter though, shadow box and hit the bag where you drill the right counter.
 
Some great stuff here. I fucking love this forum!

I feel like i am too slow to deliver the cross in a firefight. I am a good in fighter. When i am close to the other guy, i can hit with either hand.

But on the outside i only uses jabs and long lead hook. I like to fake punches to get my kicks in.

Maybe i just need to let it fly. Like Bernard is talking about in the beginning of this video.

landing right hands on the outside is all about foot positioning. i can only relate from my own problems, but i never used to be able to land rights unless it was a counter. i highly recommend studying marciano, he would parry the jab and take a short step forward and to the right, putting himself in the perfect position to land a hard right. ever since i learnt how to do this, the power on my right has gone throught the roof. i could always throw a hard right on the bag, but not in sparring unless they ran into it.
 
I remember from watching your bag work video, you mainly operate from and leave your weight on your front foot, which allows you to use your front arm okay for hooks but not your entire rear side arm.

There's not a whole lot you can do unless you plant that back leg down and sit on it. You need to have your weight being supported sturdily by your right leg and drive off it for your right hand to have any good effect. Dont drive UP like people want to, drive forward and slightly down (sink) being powered 100% with your leg. Practice it slowly. Do it a lot.

Really bend that knee (Edit- bend and strengthen HIP, also knee) to get it used to supporting weight and transferring it smoothly and powerfully without jerking and sliding or pushing yourself UP instead of forward and slightly down (slightly down is to keep it from going up, which it will want to do but that nullifies/dissolves the power)

Most of the problem is in your leg. Keep it under you and not out to the back like a tail. You can still walk or step with little steps. Practice punching that way.

Your punches are decent just dont lean back with your torso when you throw them (robs the power AND reach), lean slightly forward at the waist with a reasonably straight back. Your punches should come out fine.

To make them faster, Relax the arms and concentrate on making them fly out (speed) and then experiment with letting them loose at different times during the drive from the leg/ twist from the torso. Hint: You dont have to feel like you're waiting for your leg to move your arm, you should try moving your arm slightly before that (just try it) but dont forget some rotation on the fist (that will help it naturally snap out with no effort)

Keep practicing until it feels more and more effortless. Stop! when you've made a good tiny bit of progress (this is important). Feel good about it and think about it as you go home. Write down anything you learned and didnt know before is a great idea, even if it's just a new feeling, sensation, or mindset that seems to make you perform better with less effort. Then pick up where you left off the day before and try to get 1 or 2% better (more efficient and easier while getting more effect). This is counter-intuitive but it is key. Most people will never do this and most people suck. Most people try to "grind" and pile on the effort and that may work okay for weightlifting but it works the opposite way for technique.
good post about generating force on the right hand. i really like your thoughts on the technique. bruce lee had similar thoughts.
 
landing right hands on the outside is all about foot positioning. i can only relate from my own problems, but i never used to be able to land rights unless it was a counter. i highly recommend studying marciano, he would parry the jab and take a short step forward and to the right, putting himself in the perfect position to land a hard right. ever since i learnt how to do this, the power on my right has gone throught the roof. i could always throw a hard right on the bag, but not in sparring unless they ran into it.

Good stuff. I was going to include something on foot positioning but then I forgot to. I'll do that now.

So Frode-- when you throw your right hand you need to have your toes pointing in the same direction as the impact of your punch (with the same side hand as the leg whose toes we are pointing) is going to be. You can do this two ways:

1. By turning your rear foot AS you punch, which has become standard.

2. By having your foot ALREADY pointing where you want to punch, which is actually quicker.

Both of them work. I like the 2nd one alot because it keeps my rear foot from turning sideways. Having the tendancy to turn your rear foot sideways is very common, and a very common reason people dont feel comfortable throwing their right, because it's not going to fire from there-- its just too far to twist to the front from like that. The rear foot tends to want to point sideways so you can do footwork to the sides or backwards, to escape, but it's not great for punching, it robs you of your right hand.

So you can point 45 degrees by default and twist it when you need to, which is common practice, but I've found it works faster and better to turn it ever-so-slightly more forward, then it feels much more solid and launches quicker (and also doesn't tend to go sideways/useless when you're not paying attention directly to it, like it does for most people) all this for just a few more degrees of rotation towards the front.

What I would recommend is something a little odd at first but you point your rear foot directly forward towards the bag as you practice (or in shadowboxing, just forward). This makes your punch feel and be available and rock solid at all times. If you practice this way, your foot will naturally end up pointing a little more to the side during spars or fights, but it wont go sideways where it nullifies your rear hand.
 
So much good stuff in this thread. Thanks again guys. I will try to film some boxing sparring tomorrow.
 
make sure your back is straight and lower your center of gravity when throwing it.
 
Don't have vid to diagnose issues, but so so often it's simply "don't lead with it, set up or counter" and "put as much emphasis on the return as you do on the throwing".
 
-Go boxing.

-Don’t be afraid to over-commit on it at times and lean forward (but try to dart out of the pocket after a-la Eddie Alvarez or TJ Dillashaw).
-Don’t be afraid to lead with it. Lots of guys only try to 1-2 or 1-1-2. You don’t always have to set it up. A cross can be used as lead to surprise people, or you can feint a jab and throw it (check Klitschko’s knockdown on Joshua. Simple and high percentage sequence. Flicks a jab feint and immediately goes for an elbow out cross. Masterful).
-Speaking of this, Klitschko is the master of the rear cross in boxing. McGregor in MMA (Al Iaquinta also, and he’s not a southpaw, so it’s easier to learn). Doumbe has a great cross in Glory. Petrosyan’s also great.
-Try the different variations of it. Not every cross has to be the textbook one you are thaught on day 1.
a) There’s the arm-punch cross which McGregor makes a lot of use of (the first strike he threw in the Aldo and Alvarez fights. Simply turns the shoulder and extends the arm, almost no leg movement/weight transfer. Great for leading. Pacquiao also does it a lot, destroyed De La Hoya with it).
b) The elbow up cross is also great. Comes up from a higher angle, increasing reach and power while protecting your chin. McGregor, Klitschko, Diaz all do it often. My coach used to make me visualize throwing it by saying “Make the cross come from above, not from below. Picture it starting at your chin, moving slightly upwards while twisting the elbow outwards and then having it come down, impacting with your two knuckles, and the thumb facing almost completely down”. Yeah, hard to imagine just by reading, but it’s my go-to strike. It’s worth mastering.
-Drill it. Partner and bag drills. The main way I drill and land it in sparring is the cross counter. I lean back slightly to avoid the guy’s jab, then immediately throw the cross at his chin. McGregor vs Diaz II shows dozens of textbook cross-counters. Petrosyan also did it a lot.
-Lots of crosses on the bag. LOTS. I mean literally 5 sets of 50 crosses on a medium-heavy bag after training. In a few weeks, it will be MUCH faster, more powerful and easy to land. You’ll have confidence in throwing it.
-Don’t rely much on combinations. I mean, they aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s that the rear cross most complements a very specific striking style.
Great rear punchers are often KO artists. They pick their shots, avoid getting hit, counter, hit hard, have low output volume and high landing percentage. Like snipers pot shotting the vulnerable, wild infantry trying desperately to close the distance. They avoid the pocket and fight on their terms. Few do it, but it’s worth attempting it. It’s how I learned at my old boxing gym, and since then I’ve been outstriking 99% of guys at other boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai and MMA gyms all over the world.

Good luck.
 
Watch your own videos. You are always way too close to the bag so you never fully extend and twist your body into it. You mainly just pop your arm out without. If you throw it with power you turn your hip, but “chicken wing” your elbow up as you don’t have room to extend out fully. Your cross should be one of your longest punches, but if you always throw it short on the bag it will always be short in sparring.
Also think about your jab, if you always step forward with your jab and transition your weight to your front foot, your weight has to come back before you can put any fizz on your cross. Arm punch a Jab with your weight on your back foot, then you can transfer the weight forward on your cross
I don’t think there’s anything technically unsound with what your doing, just a few tweeks
 
i used to be hesistant to throw it, using the R hand opens you up alot more than the lead, which is why many people, myself included didnt/dont use it much because they feel open/less protected.

Pivot more on your puch, it will give you some extra reach, which in turn will keep you safer due to the extra distance created.
 
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