Volume Punching v Pot Shots

FightGuyOpenMind

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These two different styles of boxing can both yield positive results.

A volume puncher can push forward through a defense and create a TKO victory. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, if the opponent can not get off of the back foot effectively, fatigue and panic can settle in, causing accumulated damage.

A boxer who pot shot (picks their shots) can wait for the opportunity to strike, and capitalize on an opening. This shot can be hard and fast and a great counter punch to forward momentum. There is usually no wasted energy, and the goal is to be accurate and precise with the ability to cover or move out of range immediately after. A pot shot can be a fight ender as well.

I understand we have fighters who do both. However, let's look at them as separate styles for this thread.

Which style do you prefer to watch or use?

Who is your favorite representative from each style? Examples below:

Amir Khan (volume puncher)
Canelo Alvarez (volume puncher)
Manny Pacquiao (volume puncher)

Floyd Mayweather (pot shot)
Archie Moore (pot shot)
Evander Holyfield (pot shot)
 
The problem I have always had with volume punchers is that they generally sacrifice defense to throw a bunch of meaningless shots. Bad judges like volume punchers, IMO. Obviously there are exceptions.
 
The problem I have always had with volume punchers is that they generally sacrifice defense to throw a bunch of meaningless shots. Bad judges like volume punchers, IMO. Obviously there are exceptions.

They do make for exciting fights. However, as you said, you can leave yourself open. I always think of Marquez knocking Pacquiao out cold as an example of that. He was all over Marquez and had the forward momentum, and then suddenly he was face first. I agree. It can go bad in the wrong context.
 
I don't know if I'd consider Canelo a volume puncher because he's best when he's countering. I tend to think of a volume puncher as leading the offence. But I suppose he did lead in his latest bout, but it is out of character with his usual style.

The best current volume puncher for me is Lomachenko, he just overwhelms opponents with punches and movement. And the way he mixes up hard shots with softer punches is sublime.
A close second for me is Usyk. His output for such a big man is phenomenal.

For a potter shotter I'd pick Wilder, he can lose lots of rounds to his opponents but when he does fire he gets results.
 
I don't know if I'd consider Canelo a volume puncher because he's best when he's countering. I tend to think of a volume puncher as leading the offence. But I suppose he did lead in his latest bout, but it is out of character with his usual style.

The best current volume puncher for me is Lomachenko, he just overwhelms opponents with punches and movement. And the way he mixes up hard shots with softer punches is sublime.
A close second for me is Usyk. His output for such a big man is phenomenal.

For a potter shotter I'd pick Wilder, he can lose lots of rounds to his opponents but when he does fire he gets results.

Canelo is an example of someone who can do both. He can lead the offense, and come forward. For the sake of examples he was placed as a volume puncher. Thank you for presenting other examples.
 
People often mistake a good combination puncher for a volume puncher.

I was not mistaken. Alvarez at times shows different styles. He is more of a boxer puncher in my view. He can swarm if he chooses, he can counter punch if he chooses, he can jab, he has power. He just happened to be placed as a volume puncher for sake of examples that people would at least be familiar with. Yes, he can come forward and apply the pressure. If you have examples please share. Thank you.
 
Canelo is an example of someone who can do both. He can lead the offense, and come forward. For the sake of examples he was placed as a volume puncher. Thank you for presenting other examples.
I don't know if I'd truly consider him a volume puncher because he doesn't have the greatest cardio and work rate. In his last fight GGG threw more punches than him but I wouldn't consider GGG a volume puncher.
 
I don't know if I'd truly consider him a volume puncher because he doesn't have the greatest cardio and work rate. In his last fight GGG threw more punches than him but I wouldn't consider GGG a volume puncher.

I can accept that. Would you consider him a boxer puncher? Would you agree with the others listed? I like the Wilder selection, and Lomachenko I didn't think of those off the top of the head.
 
pot shotting is lazy, it's also what old fighters do when they get lazy and just old. roy jones did it, if you have that kind of power you can dominate fights with the threat of a bomb, ali did itwith foreman, he tried to do it with holmes because he couldn't throw more than one punch at a time in that fight. It's also simpler defensively, if you rattle off 3 punches or more, more than likely there will be some coming back.
 
I can accept that. Would you consider him a boxer puncher? Would you agree with the others listed? I like the Wilder selection, and Lomachenko I didn't think of those off the top of the head.
Yeah boxer puncher would fit him well. The others on your list all fit the part, particularly Khan, Manny and Floyd.
 
I was not mistaken. Alvarez at times shows different styles. He is more of a boxer puncher in my view. He can swarm if he chooses, he can counter punch if he chooses, he can jab, he has power. He just happened to be placed as a volume puncher for sake of examples that people would at least be familiar with. Yes, he can come forward and apply the pressure. If you have examples please share. Thank you.
I was not referring to you, and yes people lump the one two fighters and the swarmers that can’t bust a grape in with the wicked combination punchers.
 
pot shotting is lazy, it's also what old fighters do when they get lazy and just old. roy jones did it, if you have that kind of power you can dominate fights with the threat of a bomb, ali did itwith foreman, he tried to do it with holmes because he couldn't throw more than one punch at a time in that fight. It's also simpler defensively, if you rattle off 3 punches or more, more than likely there will be some coming back.
Bah! Go soak your head! All you see is the one shot, not the subtle nuances that set it up.
 
Just thought of another great pot shotter, Naseem Hamed. He had such great power and a real ability to land just that one punch that would have his opponent in all sorts of trouble.
 
I really wouldn't call Canelo a volume puncher. He punches extremely well in combination, but he's a methodical fighter. I definitely wouldn't call Holyfield a pot-shotter, either. Holyfield could do a lot of different things, but he was often quite aggressive, and put his punches together as well as any HW in history.
 
I was not referring to you, and yes people lump the one two fighters and the swarmers that can’t bust a grape in with the wicked combination punchers.

I did not see anyone else post in the thread at the time. Sorry if I made an assumption. Thanks for your input, it is valued. Do you think swarmers just throw to have their hands out there, and combination punchers are actually trying to set up a finish? 1-2-3(hard) 1-1-2(hard) etc as opposed to trying to simply touch their opponent?
 
I really wouldn't call Canelo a volume puncher. He punches extremely well in combination, but he's a methodical fighter. I definitely wouldn't call Holyfield a pot-shotter, either. Holyfield could do a lot of different things, but he was often quite aggressive, and put his punches together as well as any HW in history.

Holyfield threw combinations but I look at his style and he seems to really pick his opening. There is not too much wasted movement, and the shots can drop guys with one punch. Head, body, head but not in combination all the time.

This was definitely an aggressive approach. The combinations did not come off as fast to me a lot of the time. This is why I considered him to be picking shots. The speed difference could just be attributed to the weight class.

I can respect that view. Who would you choose as a good representative of each style?
 
Holyfield threw combinations but I look at his style and he seems to really pick his opening. There is not too much wasted movement, and the shots can drop guys with one punch. Head, body, head but not in combination all the time.

This was definitely an aggressive approach. The combinations did not come off as fast to me a lot of the time. This is why I considered him to be picking shots. The speed difference could just be attributed to the weight class.

I can respect that view. Who would you choose as a good representative of each style?

When I think of pot-shotters, three guys that come to mind are Floyd when he went up in weight, Roy Jones Jr., and an old Hopkins. I think of pot-shotters as fighters who like to mitigate danger and exploit an opponent's over-eagerness with well-placed single shots. All three men could fight in a variety of different ways (Floyd could fight extremely well behind an active jab and could throw great combinations when he wanted to; Roy could do pretty much whatever he wanted to in his prime, but tended to fall back on using his athleticism and staying on the outside while pot-shotting against his most dangerous opponents; towards the very end of his MW reign and throughout his LHW run, Hopkins' style became very defensive and goading his opponents into over-commiting, landing a well-timed right hand, and then smothering any work coming back), but when they wanted to fight safe, pot-shotting from the outside while taking minimal risk tended to be what they'd fall back on. I'd say that someone like Adonis Stevenson could probably be classed a pot-shotter, as well.

When I think volume puncher, guys like Paul Williams, Antonio Margarito, Joe Calzaghe, and, to name a current fighter, Jarret Hurd, come to mind (Calzaghe was more skilled than the rest, but he was still very much reliant on volume). Volume puncher is a pretty broad category which can encapsulate several different kinds of styles. Some guys are high-volume from the outside (guys like Khan, Usyk, or Santa Cruz would be good examples even though all three have distinct styles), whereas some guys are volume punchers who like to get inside (think guys like Armstrong, Qawi, Duran, or Frazier).
 
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Bah! Go soak your head! All you see is the one shot, not the subtle nuances that set it up.
how do you know what I see? I know they wait for the distance and the timing to pull it off and it's not necessarily a bad thing but it is a sign of getting older just like moving to the ropes is a sign. If you knew how draining it was throwing combos, you'd know why they do it. Roy Jones could reel off some awesome fusillades when he was young, that was all gone by the time he was 31 or 32, then he played a game where he'd intimidate a guy with just the threat of getting popped and fight at a slower pace that way. Mayweather tried to potshot Pacquioa (not to blow my horn but I predicted that he would attempt a sharp right to see if he could duplicate the marquez ko, he couldn't) and he didn't throw like he used to either, that's just father time. I've seen a couple fighters, foreman is one, camacho is another who actually had some very close fights as older fighters against younger guys, the only difference was they just couldn't keep up a good enough pace, Foreman/holyfield is a great example and for macho it was trinidad, he actually looked damn good but he was just a little bit more gassed than trinidad the whole fight.
 
I like training volume punching and have Floyd Mayweather defense style turn on all the time and Conor jump with left leg to close distance or go back from opponent punch also. But you must have great cardio to do this all 12 rounds
 
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