Countering/defending the jab

[Touchedbythejab]

What are some methods you guys use to defend against the jab?

Other than slipping to the side, here are some techniques that I use.

When my opponent(if we're both orthodox) jabs, I turn my right hand so my palm faces him and place it in front of my face. I sort of "catch" his jab while I throw out my jab. If I'm still holding on to his hand, I can push his hand down so it'll create a little opening, then I'll shoot in a right straight over his left arm. The problem I've encountered with this method is my opponents left hook. One of the fighters at the gym I go to told me not to use it because it'll make me vunerable to left hooks. He showed me by feinting a jab and throwing a left hook when I moved my hand in front of my face. I've only been successful against guys with less experience.

Another one I use is slapping the opponent's jab hand with my lead hand. If I see an orthodox opponent throw a jab, I'll smack it down so it'll create an opening for my right. I think this works better for south paws since a straight is one of the weapons against southpaws. Sometimes I feel an overhand instead of a straight would work better because of the southpaws rear hand would be guarding his face. I've never done this sparring yet (I don't throw a lot of overhands), but I feel the overhand right can land over the southpaw's left hand. It also creates an opening for the lefthook because it exposes the right side of the southpaw's head. I can smack the right hand down and fire a lefthook before he can retract his hand back.

 

[gza]

you must be new

 

[ambertch]

He showed me by feinting a jab and throwing a left hook when I moved my hand in front of my face. I've only been successful against guys with less experience.

I can smack the right hand down and fire a lefthook before he can retract his hand back.

Yeah. you've probably realized by now that in boxing nothing's constant. You never keep doing something, and you have to just keep pulling out stuff from your bag of tricks. Maybe one time you react to your opponent's jab one way, next time the other.

The cool thing about parrying downwards like the second defense you mentioned is that as you mentioned as well, you can throw your right immediately over it.


The first thing with defending a jab, in my humble inexperienced opinion, is finding out if your partner is throwing real jabs or just pawing, pussy jabs. Since if it's the latter shoot you don't have to defend at all.

Cause there was a guy I sparred against who kept doublejabbing to get inside. His first jab was actually pretty stiff but his second jab was half assed. So after a few times I just ignored that second jab and threw my right over it and popped him.

 

[No Quarter]

Are you referring to defending against the jab in a boxing match, or defending against the jab in MMA?

The counters will differ depending on which one you are referring to.

 

[Soul Rebel]

Combat sports extend beyond the physical realm, they are highly mental. There is guessing involved and resorting to the same old bag of tricks over and over again in the course of a fight will see you eating leather. The reason your repertoire of tricks only works on less experienced opponents is that they are not as inclined to look out for movement and attack patterns. The secret is to mix it up a little, I myself am new to combat athletics and have a very shallow bag of tricks but I do my best to be unpredictable. For example, your opponont launches a jab, you parry it with your left hand and counter with a cross. He jabs again, you react the same way. He jabs a third time, expecting the cross but you nail him with a stiff left instead.

Lol I really hate making posts like this given my lack of experiance, I am always paranoid about giving shitty advice.