The Cuban Hook

[Soul Rebel 2]

So I used to have some friends who boxed out of Atlas in T.O, a heavily Eastern European boxing gym. They were taught a strange, thumb down left hook which due to the turning of the hand could generate quite some snap at a distance. Sinister pointed out that its also a common technique among cuban boxers, a fact probably attributed to their communist ties.

Initially I didnt like it as I wrote it off as being an adaptation of the ammy rules where you have to land with the white part of the glove. The thumb down would insure that the white of the glove landed rather than the heel of the hand which often happens on long hooks. Recently however I realized that its quite similar to Fedors punching technique or casting punches as they're known so in the name of Fedor I made a note of trying it out.

I laced up the gloves for some backyard action with a buddy of mine who also trains (we know what we're doing so bite me) and tried it out. Its quite the effective punch as its both deceptively long and powerful and due to this can be thrown off the jab with relative ease as your pretty much already in range to land the lead hook, just throw the jab to bring their hands in front of their face and then sneak the hook around their arms. I never bothered trying the right handed version that Sambo guys use since it doesn't really make sense in regular striking but the lead hand version is the newest part of my arsenal.

So thoughts? Anyone have more experience with this punch than myself?

 

[Sinister]

There was a thread around here somewhere where I mentioned it. It's aimed with the pointer knuckle, thumb down totally, and Cubans refer to it as "el schwing"...when they want people to throw it they yell "tire el schwing!!" It's "swing" really, but I type it like they say it. Hmm, I may have some sparring footage where the trainers say that, ahh yes, here we are:



The trainers closest to me are Cuban (the other kid is Brazilian, but speaks Spanish as well as English and Portuguese), and you can hear them refer to it a couple of times. Their kid tries to land it, but found it difficult against another Southpaw.

 

[JohnathanWF**]

Isn't this the same technique Fedor and Igor use? I've only heard it called the Russian Hook.

 

[Soul Rebel 2]

Isn't this the same technique Fedor and Igor use? I've only heard it called the Russian Hook.

yup, I just thought Cuban Hook sounded better, maybe the Commi Hook or Commi Bomb or Commimahamaha....

Fedor and Igor used a right hand version for it which I doubt has much use in pure striking, I could be wrong though. Fedor used is as an entry into clinches from where he flowed into his put downs (Fedor didn't take you down, he put you down lol) and used the left handed version to wipe out Sylvia and Zulu after he swatted down their lead hand.

 

[Sinister]

Just an FYI, Cubans have had a long reputation of training fighters in the Eastern Bloc, and even now in Asia you can find some. If I'm not mistaken, even in Rocky IV Ivan Drago's trainer was Cuban (it wasn't played-up much in the movie, but he had a Hispanic name, looked Caribbean, and Cuba and Russia were Cold War allies).

 

[Discipulus]

I kind of prefer this landing for long hooks. I tend to catch my thumb, or just have my forefinger slip off the bag when I keep the fist horizontal.

 

[Payak]

I use it, started to when I was about 12.

like it.

 

[Bay Area]

say that, ahh yes, here we are:

Just wanted to point out I like the kid in yellow's angle usage. He was taking alot of shots tho

 

[Discipulus]

Kid in the red was slick. Very minimalistic with his movement, but did a good job of picking his shots and making his opponent miss. I thought the kid in yellw's movement was excessive, but that's some people's style.

 

[Lucas Coradini]

What's the difference between a swing and an overhand?

 

[Sinister]

Bay and Disc - These two actually fought each other a couple of months ago. I cornered Vini (yellow), and he easily out-boxed the kid in the red. His movement is deceptive, it's designed to create optical illusions to attack off of. Kind of like Jose Stable used to do:



Haze - The overhand the fist is usually kept horizontal, and it has a different trajectory, coming from the shoulder with the turn over being more elbow-oriented. The swing is more of an arcing movement of the whole arm, and it's circular in the way a hook is.

 

[Lucas Coradini]

Haze - The overhand the fist is usually kept horizontal, and it has a different trajectory, coming from the shoulder with the turn over being more elbow-oriented. The swing is more of an arcing movement of the whole arm, and it's circular in the way a hook is.

Thanks!

 

[Lucas Coradini]

Found this on youtube...



ps.: "cruzado de derecha a la cara" translate to "right hook to the face"

 

[Boxer43]

So I used to have some friends who boxed out of Atlas in T.O, a heavily Eastern European boxing gym. They were taught a strange, thumb down left hook which due to the turning of the hand could generate quite some snap at a distance. Sinister pointed out that its also a common technique among cuban boxers, a fact probably attributed to their communist ties.

Initially I didnt like it as I wrote it off as being an adaptation of the ammy rules where you have to land with the white part of the glove. The thumb down would insure that the white of the glove landed rather than the heel of the hand which often happens on long hooks. Recently however I realized that its quite similar to Fedors punching technique or casting punches as they're known so in the name of Fedor I made a note of trying it out.

I laced up the gloves for some backyard action with a buddy of mine who also trains (we know what we're doing so bite me) and tried it out. Its quite the effective punch as its both deceptively long and powerful and due to this can be thrown off the jab with relative ease as your pretty much already in range to land the lead hook, just throw the jab to bring their hands in front of their face and then sneak the hook around their arms. I never bothered trying the right handed version that Sambo guys use since it doesn't really make sense in regular striking but the lead hand version is the newest part of my arsenal.

So thoughts? Anyone have more experience with this punch than myself?

Its sometimes called the russian hook, and ive noticed my shoulder covers my jaw and almost my temple if u duck ur gead.

 

[p4p1]

I'm pretty sure it was started to use widely in amateur boxing so the white part of the glove landed better

 

[Bay Area]

I thought the kid in yellw's movement was excessive, but that's some people's style.

I didn't think it was excessive. He was just looking for the right angle to throw is punches, leaning from side to side. Just my humble opinion

 

[KyleInAction]

Found this on youtube...

*snipped*

ps.: "cruzado de derecha a la cara" translate to "right hook to the face"

Awesome, thanks. That led me to an example with the left-hook.

 

[Sinister]

One of the most important (and I can't stress that enough) aspects of those videos is the hip rotation, which facilitates how the legs move and loads the power for the punch. Notice in the first video that the lead leg doesn't move, but the rear does. That's proper hip rotation and the ability to separate one hip from the other. A lot of people cannot do this because they have either a stiff hip, weak ankles, bad knees (from bad ankles or stiff hips) or lower back pain from stiff hips, weak ankles, and bad knees. Or their legs are just not properly conditioned to optimally perform the rotation.

The second video is really advanced work because both legs rotate both internally AND externally.

Moral of the story? If you don't have a good trainer you won't learn these moves in their purest forms. What'll happen is even if a guy knows these techniques, he'll get you as close to them as he thinks he can, then stop. Unless he knows how to condition the legs to maximize hip rotation, ankle mobility, etc.

 

[Token7]

Going To bump this thread, suprised it didn't go further! I've been curious about this punch for a while and instead if quickly starting a thread I did a google search and found some helpful posts to get a quick understanding of the punch.

My question is does anyone have examples of this used at a higher level?! Can't seem to think of one but I'm sure some of the boxing wizards in here could think of a fight or fighter that used this punch.

 

[Sinister]

Guillermo Rigondeaux