Crab/Philly Shell Guard (Western Boxing)

[Katriona1992]

Long story short: a guy came to drop-in at our gym yesterday and utilized this guard during their sparring bout to great effect:

Now, I am only used to the good old fashioned peek-a-boo style guard and have just started to experiment with the cross-arm method (which I found offered good head defense but am currently having trouble with counter punching and weight distribution- the constant leaning to avoid body shots is taking time to get used to).

Thus, I was wondering what the pros/cons of employing the crab card in relations to either the peek-a-boo or crossguard would be? Is it true that peek-a-boo is really the best guard for someone short like me?

Thank you!

 

[fightingrabbit]

Learn to use them all.

 

[Katriona1992]

Learn to use them all.

I eventually will hopefully. But I was curious to its pros/cons versus the other two.

 

[fightingrabbit]

Well, the peek a boo, i've never been able to use to much effect. Probably because i don't know how. But unless you have head movement and the ability to change elevations like Mike motherfucking Tyson or have freakishly long arms and a small torso, i'd abandon fighting when your gloves glued to your face like that altogether. I really don't recall many boxers who fought with a 'peek a boo' guard to the level of the D'amato fighters. Though i'm sure there are. To me it's just another set of defensive tools, just as all 'guards' should be. You see Mayweather use all three of these. Just in different ways.

As far as the pros of it, i don't know if there really are any. Besides the fact that your gloves block punches that you shouldn't be taking in the first place. I think Cus D'amato initially trained Tyson to hold his hands that way so that he could get his punches as tight and compact as possible, while using his head movement to avoid punches. Having them there to block punches was the last resort. So that means, to you, keeping your hands there to take punches should also only be used as a last resort. Unless, like i said, you can move like Mike motherfucking Tyson. Maybe you can i dunno.

Too lazy to post more.

 

[AustroBoricua]

^^ ?!

Detroit (or more specifically Michigan Falls) Shoulder Roll -> James Toney, Roger Mayweather, Floyd Mayweather Jr (maybe Sr) too... not philly shell?!

 

[Vincent86]

I'm not too familiar with unorthodox boxing stances, but quite interdasting.

There was a thread a couple of weeks ago about the philly shell, I always thought Roy jones jr was the perfect example of this style,

 

[Chex31]

^^ ?!

Detroit (or more specifically Michigan Falls) Shoulder Roll -> James Toney, Roger Mayweather, Floyd Mayweather Jr (maybe Sr) too... not philly shell?!

George Benton from Philly used it when he fought during the 1950s-1970.

Benton trained Whitaker, McCallum, and Holyfield. Who all somewhat used the shell.

Whitaker and McCallum both train fighters now.

 

[Sinister]

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f11/benefits-philly-shell-defense-ala-floyd-mayweather-jr-1814341/

 

[MisterT]

Look at Post #11 in this thread: http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f11/break-down-philly-shell-defense-me-425667/index2.html

It's a very good breakdown of the pros/cons of that style.