How do I deal with jab spammers (boxing)

[Znap]

I'm a short guy with a kickboxing background who has now decided to focus on boxing.

Its fair to say I have very limited grasp on footwork and head movement and I am really struggling getting inside against rangy boxers who are keeping me away with straight punches. Any advice?

 

[Pugilistic]

Try to think of what the jabber is trying to accomplish. Imagine you’re the guy throwing a million jabs a round, why are you doing that and what would you stop? Your opponent spamming jabs at you means he’s trying to figure out the range and has, or trying to, seize the initiative and set the fight at his pace.

You can jab back or counter. Throw a right hand over his jab or catch him with a left hook when he steps in. Give him something to think about so he doesn’t throw jabs at will without getting punished for it.

Feint. If he’s reacting to your feints, he will have less time to throw jabs.

Don’t be in front of him at jab range. Be out of range, or step in so close that he can’t jab you, or be off to the side.

Jabs are used to collect information. Sinister has a great thread on this. You can use the opponent’s jab to gauge his range as well by picking it off.

A tactic I use to assert myself in the jabbing contest is to pick one off with my rear hand and immediately pump a double jab so every jab is answered back with two of my own. Or I change elevation and slip under his jabs and drive one of my own in his body to stop his momentum.

 

[abgmma]

I don't know if you're a southpaw like me . If you are you can just take a safe distance and pretend you are countering and as soon you see him trying to come forward explode with a quick step to the outside of his leg and throw the left cross while keeping your head slipped to the outside. Everytime i spar with someone i tag him with this same punch since it has 0 telegraph
Another way but it is little bit advance is to throw your hands down and bait him . He will likely throw that jab as soon as he tries it slip your head to the outside and throw the cross . It works too but you need some timing and distance management

 

[PivotPunch]

Try to think of what the jabber is trying to accomplish. Imagine you’re the guy throwing a million jabs a round, why are you doing that and what would you stop? Your opponent spamming jabs at you means he’s trying to figure out the range and has, or trying to, seize the initiative and set the fight at his pace.

You can jab back or counter. Throw a right hand over his jab or catch him with a left hook when he steps in. Give him something to think about so he doesn’t throw jabs at will without getting punished for it.

Feint. If he’s reacting to your feints, he will have less time to throw jabs.

Don’t be in front of him at jab range. Be out of range, or step in so close that he can’t jab you, or be off to the side.

Jabs are used to collect information. Sinister has a great thread on this. You can use the opponent’s jab to gauge his range as well by picking it off.

A tactic I use to assert myself in the jabbing contest is to pick one off with my rear hand and immediately pump a double jab so every jab is answered back with two of my own. Or I change elevation and slip under his jabs and drive one of my own in his body to stop his momentum.

A good jabber doesn't only jab to get range or set up his offence. Really hard jabs can be a punishing offence on their own if the jabber gets power into them and is confident to throw them to do damage.

 

[j123]

cross counter? (cross that comes over the top)

 

[Vergilius]

It's always hard to deal with guys who have better reach and a good jab. What to do about it depends on your own attributes and the rules of the contest: if you have good timing and the jabs get a bit lazy, you could try coming over the top. Otherwise you can try to cut off the ring, move them to the ropes and tee off once you get in your own range. Or you could try moving away from the jab (to the side) and if your longer opponent takes more time to reset than you do, you may have an opportunity to get inside. I'm 6'2 and really hate the rare occasions when the other guy has longer arms - espescially if I'm not allowed to kick.

 

[DoctorTaco]

It's also important to not let them get started. @Pugilistic touched on my favorite response which is to stuff the first jab and fire a combo off right away. This works best if you manage to do it to
Your partners very first jab out of the gate. Make him hesitant to throw the jab, let him know your looking for it and have a plan in place. Reverse psychology, hey won't be as confident throwing them if they think it's what you want them to do

 

[Kickzilla]

I have some simpler advice, make the catch and parry from your rear hand second nature. Every time your opponent is jabbing just start to imagine that jab homing in on your rear hand which is about to take care of it. You already have some skills and experience from kickboxing, they aren't completely useless, but once you can get comfortable with the fact that the jab IS going to be there and you KNOW how to deal with it, it will open your thought processes to what else is going on, as mentioned by other posters.

And off of that the simplest thing for me is level change and jabbing back.

Edit: And a final thing.. if they are in contact with your hand you are in range to hit them back, always. It has to be fluid and immediate right as you anticipate them jabbing you.

 

[AndyMaBobs]

I'd also recommend dropping your right hand while covering with your left hand to bait a jab, especially if he's already jab happy, hit him with a hard counter and that should make him think twice.

 

[Znap]

Thanks for the advice, I'll try employing some of these in sparring tonight. I always have trouble with the straight punchers but I think its largely movement based and my tendency to not step off after throwing or movement before throwing.

However the guy I really have trouble with is the guy who has his left hand half a foot out in front of him (and is quite a bit taller) and is pawing with his jab. There isn't much power on the shots (we are sparring fairly light so I don't feel right walking through the shots) and I do have some success throwing a right over the top or slipping to the left while throwing a left of my own. The trouble is once I've thrown this single shot he has already run off and I am back on the outside again. The more I think about it, the more I think it has to do with cutting off the ring. Although it may just be the fact that I am trying to outbox a better boxer and I will always lose.

 

[Pugilistic]

My guess, based on your posts and my experience, is that you’re having the same trouble I’ve had with taller fighters. One of the mistakes an offensive guy can make is moving forward into range and staying there as a target. You’re moving forward, getting hit, perhaps trying to move your head reactively to avoid getting hit, and the other guy is moving out of range again. Then you repeat the process except to only get a few shots in. Threaten the guy with feints and attacking the center line, and he won’t feel as secure throwing with impunity.

Here’s a sparring video of Ruslan Provodnikov sparring someone way taller but keeping him in place with feints which allows him to step into his range.

The trouble is once I've thrown this single shot he has already run off and I am back on the outside again. The more I think about it, the more I think it has to do with cutting off the ring.

My guess is that you find yourself out of position after you throw the single shot which prohibits you from chasing after him when he moves away. A good way to fix this is to throw more shots. Throw throwaway punches to mask the real one. Light punches that aren’t intended to really land and won’t compromise your balance and hide the punch you intend to land.

 

[ButtonMasher]

feints, catch and shoot.

 

[Seraldo Babalu]

Short guys can be a nightmare for taller opponents who rely on their jab. As one of those taller jab guys, I struggled against shorter guys who found my timing and used head movement to slip my jab and punish me with a counter of his own. OHR counters off a slip are nasty against taller jabbers.

Also, you can't be afraid to get hit yourself. In order to mount your offense, you will need to accept certain realities, and become friendly with them. You will get hit more frequently as you move inside, but stay focused, work on timing the jab so you can slip and counter. You will get hit during that feeling out period.

 

[PivotPunch]

One thing that works for me in spots. Is what Cotto started doing under Roach. Widening the stance and with a long lead hand and handfight with it kinda as if you are fencing. Works against all kind of jabbers shorter or taller.
Or like this guy who gave a prime Teofilo Stevenson a good fight and not only went the distance which many couldn't but made it competitive.