My first boxing match

[jm0b]

This was my first boxing match, I'm in the grey (I'm Jamesy). It was on the anniversary of my 3rd month of ever stepping into a boxing gym.

We were told the guy had no fights and was 9st. After the fight we found out he had 2 and was closer to 10st. The venue was a local pub and full of gypsies, I've never saw so many dudes with tattoos on their faces before.

The loss is entirely my fault, I feel like I was the better boxer but panicked and let him dictate the fight to me. The intensity is high with both of us swinging for the fences at times. I was concussed and had my nose broken, but my pride was damaged more than anything.

Enjoy the tear up, makes me laugh watching it now!

 

[Brando]

Hey, thanks for posting.

You changed direction/cut small angles on him often without following up. Make sure that you bring your offense with you as you move around. If you don't, all that footwork amounts to is moving your feet and wasting energy. Though you moved a lot, you initiated most of your offence coming straight in. You made a big pivot at 0:28, but left yourself out of range and unbalanced. By 0:29, you've recovered and initiated by stepping straight into his range to throw a cross with no set-up. Like good defense, good footwork is about economy of movement, and should always either bail you out of trouble or leave you in a position to attack.

Failing to follow up could be a mental thing that you'll fix right away, or it could be a larger issue of form. Many people are slow to follow up off of an angle because they landed with poor balance. Drill your follow-ups - initiate every combination for "x" rounds with the step/pivot you're working on - and focus on how you feel when you finish pivoting or stepping. You need to feel perfectly balanced and in full "attack" mode right away.

Your guard is too static. It's leaving openings, obstructing your vision and messing with your balance as you move your head. Brandon Krause has an excellent video on Seckbach's channel that describes shifting your guard to cover the new openings created in different positions; if I slip to my right side, my guard will shift left to bolster that side's defense. The shifting guard also helps you keep your balance.

 

[Brendon Katz]

Hey, thanks for posting.

Your guard is too static. It's leaving openings, obstructing your vision and messing with your balance as you move your head. Brandon Krause has an excellent video on Seckbach's channel that describes shifting your guard to cover the new openings created in different positions; if I slip to my right side, my guard will shift left to bolster that side's defense. The shifting guard also helps you keep your balance.

Agree with everything in the post except this. Miletich has/had a rule that you're guard moves to whichever side of your head you're moving toward (so if you're moving right, your right side guard must be up) because if shit goes pear-shaped, that's where its going to go pear-shaped at. In my experience, that has held exactly true.

 

[Brando]

Very interesting. Could you elaborate Brendon? I don't believe one way is superior, but generally prescribe what I said to beginners. It lets you use your hands to parry, probe, balance, and counter, and puts your head outside of the "attack lane" of the non-punching hand. This is completely from a boxing perspective; I understand how kicks and knees complicate things with same-side attacks.

Slipping right and shifting my guard right definitely cocks the right-sided counter punch, but it really puts faith in a successful slip. If you don't fully clear that punch you're slipping, you're caught and at least off-balanced.

 

[MuayThaiDude]

Man, I got gassed just watching that.

 

[Brendon Katz]

Very interesting. Could you elaborate Brendon? I don't believe one way is superior, but generally prescribe what I said to beginners. It lets you use your hands to parry, probe, balance, and counter, and puts your head outside of the "attack lane" of the non-punching hand. This is completely from a boxing perspective; I understand how kicks and knees complicate things with same-side attacks.

Slipping right and shifting my guard right definitely cocks the right-sided counter punch, but it really puts faith in a successful slip. If you don't fully clear that punch you're slipping, you're caught and at least off-balanced.

Well let's say you slip to your right to avoid a straight punch. If the punch catches you, you're moving in a similar direction to the punch (especially if you're leaning a little bit backward) so the impact is reduced. On the other hand, if it's a left hook and you get your angle a bit wrong, you eat the hook with a lot of impact because your slip is moving you directly or nearly directly opposite the hook.

Holyfield vs Foreman is a pretty good example. Holyfield ate a lot of right hands from Foreman, but because he was tucked up and minimising impact, he wasn't knocked out.

That said, I do agree with you that the hands must be fluid and responsive. Saying one way or the other is the only way is a big mistake.

 

[Art of War]

Pick your shots