Establishing your jab is important in a fight and an effective way to do that is to discourage your opponent from throwing his, thus giving you all of the cool benefits that come with having the better and more active jab (much tighter defense, you can control the pace of the bout and where it goes i.e. inside/outside/ropes, easy to maintain a points lead, and a more effective offense). One way my coach taught me to make your opponent less eager to jab is to look to counter each time he throws it. So, some good counters to a jab:
Block a jab and jab - Block the jab with the right hand (my coach tells me to flick it with the back of my hand, not the open palm, but I don't think it matters) and throw your own jab. Easy, probably the first counter you'll learn, but effective to shut their jab up if you can land this with some regularity. This also works to shut their offense down nicely because their jab will often be followed by a right hand.
neat little trick: After he throws the jab and you're looking to counter it as described above, throw your jab at his right shoulder HARD instead of his head. If he's throwing a 1-2, your jab will beat his right hand and stop it dead. Keep your right hand high because if he's doubling up on the jab or hooking off of it you're in trouble. Now his right hand is "pinned" for a split second, and his left was just knocked aside - you've pretty much got an entire arsenal of power punches you can place anywhere you'd please, and he's wide open for 'em. If you can hook off of the jab here's a good place to use it - jab his shoulder to stop the straight right, then hook high and you should land cleanly on his head because a stiff jab to the shoulder will push their right arm back a few inches and open 'em up a bit.
He jabs, you use an inside/outside slip and left/right uppercut to the body/head respectively: If you slip outside, step in behind a right uppercut to the chin (or body, but I prefer to chin in this case). If you slip inside, be wary of the right hand following it, but you are in a good position for a liver punch or a left uppercut to the chin. You can also double up with the left (left hook to the body-head) after you slip the jab inside. If he has to worry about a liver punch each time he jabs, he won't be relying too heavily on his stick. While slipping inside looking for the uppercut/hook, you can also slip in behind an overhand right. This punch should be thrown as you're slipping and travel right overtop of the jabbing arm. Step with your left as you throw the overhand right and slide your back foot in, maintaining your spacing, then before they even realise they're hit with a right, you dig in your chosen left-handed combo.
Lastly, another basic one that is one of my favourites, especially if the guy is bringing his jabbing hand back low (this is also good for teaching newbies to bring their left back HIGH), is to parry the jab with the right hand and then immediately follow through with your own straight hand to their chin down the same path that the jab was delivered. Follow it up with a jab or a left hook.
Once you start countering off of his jab consistently he'll be hesitant to throw it. If he's not jabbing, he's not attacking or defending effectively, and if he's not attacking or defending effectively, how the hell can you lose the fight?
One other little trick you should try with your jab:
Jab towards your opponent's right shoulder. Unlike earlier, you're not looking to smothering his right hand at the "source", just jab outside to his right shoulder and his eyes will start to follow the jab. This will draw his eyes away from your right hand. Throw this a few times and observe your opponent's reaction. This shouldn't be a power jab, just throw it out there and draw your opponent's eyes towards the right. If his eyes are moving to the right, and they usually do, he's open for a straight right. Use this conservatively because he'll catch on FAST once he eats some powerful crosses.
Similiarly, you can jab far at his LEFT shoulder (be sure to tuck your chin behind your left shoulder shoulder-roll style or you may be open for his right hand). If his eyes are straying towards his left shoulder, he is wide open for a left hook. If you can hook well off of the jab, he's in trouble!
Another easy one to learn that is super-effective: Establish a jab to the stomach. Stick it right in his solar plexus with some POP. Mix it up by popping his chest occasionally (knocks the wind out of him, you might even hear him cough or sputter
). Once your opponent realizes you're throwing downstairs often with your jab, you can feint low and throw an overhand right at his head from the crouch position. A note on jabbing low: Bend your fucking knees! Jabbing low can leave you WIDE open for a right hand if you don't! Also, I like to bring my right hand touching my left ear when I jab as "extra insurance", but you have to be quick or you'll eat a left hook to the newly exposed right side of your head
Have fun
