What are some good ways to work on defensive skills... not only drills on bags and with a trainer, but also in sparring... I have decent counter skills but just am troubled defending punches to the body for the most part, but not great at defending my head either....

What are some good ways to work on defensive skills... not only drills on bags and with a trainer, but also in sparring... I have decent counter skills but just am troubled defending punches to the body for the most part, but not great at defending my head either....
Well if your countering skills are good i say you make use of the ring more. That may be the problem you are having. Instead of trying to block/parry a shot, just step out of range, and then because of your countering skills, counter the shot after.

Alternatively if you dont want to do this, practice (shadow box) some parrys basically. One that i know for the body is if you are standing orthodox, to slightly bend your knees, bring your left elbow further in towards the centre of your abs whilst twisting your body to the direction of your right shoulder, and then countering with a right hand (straight) over the top.

Does that make sense. I hope i explained it well.... :boxing:

When I was just beginning boxing, I had my trainer "The Leprechan" chase me around the ring throwing punches at me. I would get the headgear on and mouth piece in and just move, slip and block his shots. It helped. Interesting piece of info here, The Leprechan was the trainer that started out James Toney and was training me at the time as well as James.

Later on, I learned the block and counter, or parry. My trainer gloved up and just threw blows at me while I rolled and blocked his shots. The whole thing is to get your eyes sharp before stepping in for sparring and trying the techniques. In time you will notice the most subtle movements in the hips, shoulders and feet that will que you as to which hand your opponent is going to throw. Once you are able pick up these subtle movements, your defense will begin to grow and later shine.

With the body shots that your having trouble blocking, just remember that your elbows must be close , if not resting on your body to protect those ribs. If a guy I was fight has his elbows held high I will certainly make him pay for the flaw in his style.

Dig this, stand up and lay your arms straight down on your side. Now bend your fists up to your shoulders. You will notice that your elbows are just about resting right on top of your hip bone. Thats where you want your hands. I know that you are saying that your head is now unprotected. If your head is straight up then yes it is unprotected. Bend you chin down to rest between your two fists and now your protected. Now when you are boxing your elbows wont be resting on your hip bone, they will be out a bit, but you will want to keep them close. When a guy throws a shot at your body, just roll a little and move the elbow to center. The blow will be blocked by your forearm or elbow. Your opponent may even hurt his hand if he directly hits your elbow.

The last thing to think about is your stance. Are you standing squared up to your man or is you body turned to the side at him.

Stand infront of a mirror and stand with your shoulders paralell to the mirror, your feet being parralell with the mirror. Raise your hands into the gaurd position and notice how much of your body is visible to you. Now, with your elbows right on your hips, slide that back foot into position as if you were in a fighting stance. Notice how the area in your stomach that is open has been reduced to a sliver. Dont give them the area to land the blow. By simply sliding your elbow to the center of your stomach you have blocked the blow.

Good luck with it man, its all about the positioning and the eyes.

Rockin' :boxing:

You can't just say hey guys on the internet, I get hit too much in the head and body and expect us to help you. I can't give you jack **** good info unless you are more specific with what you are getting nailed with. Is it a jab, hook, right hand, combos, body punches etc. Is their a type of fighter that gives you trouble or all of them using you as a punching bag.

We don't see how you fight and if you drop the hands, flail your arms out to block punches, keep the chin too high, if you have any head movement, don't move your feet, have bad footwork, have a bad stance, don't know how to bob or weave, or how to use the shoulders to roll off punches, don't know if you know how to parry, or it's just lack of offense to keep the opponent from being to offenssive, or having enough punching power to have fighters respect you, or if you don't whip punches back fast enough or if you just have plain old lousy reflexes.

Do some shadow boxing and work on keeping the hand high and returning the punches to the chin, work on boobbing and weaving, throw punches one at a time, and work on the stance and footwork.
Work on the double end bag and work on bobbing and weaving and the shoulder roll.

Come back with more info and ask the trainer why you getting hit so much and how you can fix it.

When I was just beginning boxing, I had my trainer "The Leprechan" chase me around the ring throwing punches at me. I would get the headgear on and mouth piece in and just move, slip and block his shots. It helped. Interesting piece of info here, The Leprechan was the trainer that started out James Toney and was training me at the time as well as James.

Later on, I learned the block and counter, or parry. My trainer gloved up and just threw blows at me while I rolled and blocked his shots. The whole thing is to get your eyes sharp before stepping in for sparring and trying the techniques. In time you will notice the most subtle movements in the hips, shoulders and feet that will que you as to which hand your opponent is going to throw. Once you are able pick up these subtle movements, your defense will begin to grow and later shine.

With the body shots that your having trouble blocking, just remember that your elbows must be close , if not resting on your body to protect those ribs. If a guy I was fight has his elbows held high I will certainly make him pay for the flaw in his style.

Dig this, stand up and lay your arms straight down on your side. Now bend your fists up to your shoulders. You will notice that your elbows are just about resting right on top of your hip bone. Thats where you want your hands. I know that you are saying that your head is now unprotected. If your head is straight up then yes it is unprotected. Bend you chin down to rest between your two fists and now your protected. Now when you are boxing your elbows wont be resting on your hip bone, they will be out a bit, but you will want to keep them close. When a guy throws a shot at your body, just roll a little and move the elbow to center. The blow will be blocked by your forearm or elbow. Your opponent may even hurt his hand if he directly hits your elbow.

The last thing to think about is your stance. Are you standing squared up to your man or is you body turned to the side at him.

Stand infront of a mirror and stand with your shoulders paralell to the mirror, your feet being parralell with the mirror. Raise your hands into the gaurd position and notice how much of your body is visible to you. Now, with your elbows right on your hips, slide that back foot into position as if you were in a fighting stance. Notice how the area in your stomach that is open has been reduced to a sliver. Dont give them the area to land the blow. By simply sliding your elbow to the center of your stomach you have blocked the blow.

Good luck with it man, its all about the positioning and the eyes.

Rockin' :boxing:

rockin will answer all questions, he owns this forum. lol :boxing:

When I was just beginning boxing, I had my trainer "The Leprechan" chase me around the ring throwing punches at me. I would get the headgear on and mouth piece in and just move, slip and block his shots. It helped. Interesting piece of info here, The Leprechan was the trainer that started out James Toney and was training me at the time as well as James.

Later on, I learned the block and counter, or parry. My trainer gloved up and just threw blows at me while I rolled and blocked his shots. The whole thing is to get your eyes sharp before stepping in for sparring and trying the techniques. In time you will notice the most subtle movements in the hips, shoulders and feet that will que you as to which hand your opponent is going to throw. Once you are able pick up these subtle movements, your defense will begin to grow and later shine.

With the body shots that your having trouble blocking, just remember that your elbows must be close , if not resting on your body to protect those ribs. If a guy I was fight has his elbows held high I will certainly make him pay for the flaw in his style.

Dig this, stand up and lay your arms straight down on your side. Now bend your fists up to your shoulders. You will notice that your elbows are just about resting right on top of your hip bone. Thats where you want your hands. I know that you are saying that your head is now unprotected. If your head is straight up then yes it is unprotected. Bend you chin down to rest between your two fists and now your protected. Now when you are boxing your elbows wont be resting on your hip bone, they will be out a bit, but you will want to keep them close. When a guy throws a shot at your body, just roll a little and move the elbow to center. The blow will be blocked by your forearm or elbow. Your opponent may even hurt his hand if he directly hits your elbow.

The last thing to think about is your stance. Are you standing squared up to your man or is you body turned to the side at him.

Stand infront of a mirror and stand with your shoulders paralell to the mirror, your feet being parralell with the mirror. Raise your hands into the gaurd position and notice how much of your body is visible to you. Now, with your elbows right on your hips, slide that back foot into position as if you were in a fighting stance. Notice how the area in your stomach that is open has been reduced to a sliver. Dont give them the area to land the blow. By simply sliding your elbow to the center of your stomach you have blocked the blow.

Good luck with it man, its all about the positioning and the eyes.

Rockin' :boxing:
Rockin' pretty much covered alot of the basics(where things should be, etc..), I would like to add a little variation to what Rockin' already said. Sounds like you're just having a problem w/ every aspect of defending... Just what Rockin' had mentioned as far as having someone be on the offensive and you just defending, well instead of just defending everything(random combinations) that comes at you, try simplifying it even more by having someone throw specific combinations for you to get comfortable defending fixed combinations and as you get more comfortable you can figure out which counters to throw and then you can step it up by sparring. So here's the breakdown 1st. have someone stand in front of you and just throw 1 combination per round, 2nd use the same combination but w/ movement and work on different ways to defend the same combination, 'cause the one thing you don't want to be is being predictable. Another good drill for defending the body is working on your lateral movement while your partner is just throwing hooks to your body.