I need some good advice on excercises or things i can do to improve my footwork. I prefer to stay on the outside and box, i have pretty fast feet the problem is my technique. I especially need too work on moving away from swarmers coming forward too get in close and corner me. I tend to go straight back and sometimes put my feet too close together. This often leads to me being with my back on the ropes trying to slug it out with the guys that like too swarm.

In that case u don't have fast or good feet at all, lol

In that case u don't have fast or good feet at all, lol

Fast but clumsy :P

Something i do to work on footwork is ...

Instead of sparring, get in the ring with a partner, and take it in turns to swarm eachother.
So firstly, you practice stalking your opponent, following him, pressuring him....(BUT JUST WITH YOUR FEET, NO PUNCHING)....
Then change it up, let him chase you, while you practice getting out of the way, practice different ways of changing angles, stuff like that....use your mind to find different ways.
Watch your favourite fighters or boxers that have the same style as you, you find ways to get out of certain situations, then adapt them to you in the ring.

Thats the kinda stuff i use every now and again when i want to work on this...

Something i do to work on footwork is ...

Instead of sparring, get in the ring with a partner, and take it in turns to swarm eachother.
So firstly, you practice stalking your opponent, following him, pressuring him....(BUT JUST WITH YOUR FEET, NO PUNCHING)....
Then change it up, let him chase you, while you practice getting out of the way, practice different ways of changing angles, stuff like that....use your mind to find different ways.
Watch your favourite fighters or boxers that have the same style as you, you find ways to get out of certain situations, then adapt them to you in the ring.

Thats the kinda stuff i use every now and again when i want to work on this...

Thanks for the advice. I'll try out the chasing thing moore, have done it sometimes before but only occasionaly . Maybe i should watch some leonard or mayweather footage and study their footwork in detail.

I also box on outside since im a taller skinnier guy, i like to double jab step off to their lead hand to avoid it. try to keep them back with your right.

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jogging/sprinting in various directions will give you pretty good legs, jumping rope/dancing (they're pretty similar) will fine tune your skills. Add shadowboxing/swarming practice and you'll have pretty good footwork.

+1 on the ropework. Try moving around while you skip rope -- turning, walking forward and back, and moving sideways. Also, work on pivots and side-stepping with a maize bag or even a tennis ball on a string. Try to follow it forward, then side-step left or right as it comes back. Shadow-box as you move.

Dancing, as mentioned above, really helps. Both the waltz and the basic swing step will help your wheels and have fundamentals you can apply in the ring. And the chicks dig it. :luvbed:

or getting chased by rabid dogs in the street.

jumping rope and focusing on footwork when shadowboxing. if u shadowbox 10 rounds, take 2 or 3 rounds just working you feet and maybe throwing out a jab now and then and a quick combination, but mainly just work your feet. u can put tape on the floor, eighter in a cicle to make sute u circle rather than step back. or to make sure not going to teh ropes. just practise. footwork is imo the most boring part of training except for stamina training. but once u get it down everything else gets way easier. i dont know too many drills, but shadopwboxing is the key to any form of boxing skill.

This is one of the techniques I use when training my fighters in their footwork....


First, if you have a ring preferably, tie two ropes, string, hand wraps, whatever you have that isn't too course a material from one ring post to ring post directly in front of one another. Like this:
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Go to 3:27 of the video, it shows Antonio Margarito slipping and throwing punches through the ropes. This is a great exercise because the point of it is not only to practice slipping, bobbing and weaving but to make sure your feet are moving appropiatley. When you move in boxing as you should already know, you should be moving with the front foot or back foot first, sliding the other one afterwwards. Moving side to side or front to back, your feet must never be together and you should always be in perfect balance.

this technique alows you to move as well as slip, bob, weave all the while throwing punches and moving forward and backwards. In time you will get faster and faster at it and you will be able to move away from swarming fighters.

There's a lot of other techniques but this is a good one for you to start with because it keeps you in a straight line and teaches you fundamentals.