Just in case you guys wanted to see some more in-fight examples of these angles, the second part of this post went up on BE today. There's a few GIFs from the Pacquiao-Bradley fight--both of them spent this whole fight trying to out-angle one another, so there was plenty of good stuff to draw from.
USING THE WEAK ANGLE
In part 1, I spoke about the most basic open stance maneuver, which is for one fighter to place his lead foot to the outside of his opponent's in an attempt to line up his cross or hook. While there is more to southpaw vs. orthodox fighting than simply stepping past the opponent's lead foot, there is a reason this logic is so heavily promoted--it works.
Here, Bradley draws Pacquiao's straight left with a double jab. His jab pulls his head back over his right leg, off the center line, and Pac's left whizzes right past his ear. Though it doesn't actually land, at this point the purpose of Bradley's jab becomes clear. First of all, by drawing Manny's cross he has caused his opponent to plant his feet, making himself a stationary target. Secondly, Bradley's jab disguises the movement of his left foot, which steps far to the outside of Pacquiao's right foot, lining up Bradley's right shoulder with Pacquiao's head.
The purpose of this "weak" angle (check
this diagram for a visual of the angle I mean) is really to shorten the distance between Bradley's right hand and Pacquiao's chin. By not only stepping forward but also putting his right shoulder right in front of Pac's face, Bradley is able to throw a shorter, more direct punch.
The important thing here is the set-up. Without a set-up Bradley would be placing himself at risk by stepping off the center line, because he actually ends up giving his own center line to Pacquiao. By jabbing his way in, Bradley is able to change position without Pacquiao noticing, allowing him to take advantage of his angle without being punished.
THE INSIDE ANGLE
So what happens when the opponent catches on and takes advantage of that open center line? Throughout this fight, both Bradley and Pacquiao took the inside angle, usually as a quick and subtle counter to the opponent's off-center step (
diagram of counter inside angle here).
In this instance, Pacquiao steps off the center line to land his straight left, and Bradley hits him with a beautiful cross counter. In the first GIF above, Bradley took a very deep step to close the distance between his target and his right hand, while in this example Pac takes only a small step, doing the typical Manny Pacquiao thing and closing much of the gap by leaning with his upper body instead of moving into range with his feet. This, in part, is what allows Bradley to land such a crisp, short counter punch.
This one's fast, so let's take a closer look with some stills.
Continues on Bloody Elbow...
