More experienced question on the cross

[shs101]

I guess you can say more of an experienced question regarding the cross......after a lot of mayweather and broner studies you see when they throw their cross especially a lead one they almost always have their head go past their feet. When in a boxing since day oe you're taught to keep your body center and never have your head past your knee line when you punch....yet a few of the best fighters in the world do this. After a few fights and noticing im having a little trouble landing my cross im thinking about trying this out.
Question is does anyone on here? Pros and cons of this?

[aaron.king]

Two quick points on this:

1) One of the reasons you see those guys lean so much with their straight rights is because their stances (in order to properly perform the shoulder role) are more closed than most fighters. In order to close the necessary distance to land the punch they need to lean with their upper bodies because it is more difficult to get a full hip turn from that closed position.

Notice how, when they throw that leaning right hand, it's almost always a counter shot. They've turned or pulled back, the opponent is coming back from his punch, and thus, you see them perform this move to close the gap more quickly. However, if you watch them operate when their being more aggressive or offensively assertive (and here I'm speaking most specifically about Mayweather), they throw the cross in a much more conventional manner. But if you have a guy pulling straight back and not prepared to punch, I don't see why you can't borrow this move, provided you're careful about maintaining control of your center of gravity (i.e. not throwing your weight totally out in front of your body).

2) Like everything else they do, their games are predicated a great deal on their speed and athleticism. In other words, they can get away (more often than not) with slight transgressions in conventional form. The point is that you might be able to borrow this move in select spots, but use it very carefully and with some attention to keeping your upper and lower body in sync.

[sammiza567]

the key to any punch you are throwing is knowing that you can be hit somewhere at any given moment. a skilled counterpuncher might drop his lead hand. in this scenario he is not being lazy. he is laying a trap. he knows where his weakness is so he is ready to counter. when mayweather is in the philly shell, he is not very worried about left hooks to the body or head. his right arm is planted there so he needs less time to react to that shot.he is more concerned with that right hand coming at him. point is, know where your vulnerable. turn your weakness into a strength.
with the right hand lead, floyd starts his movement with about 70% of his weight on his back foot. he is very deceptive and will lean into his opponent with most of his weight now his front foot as he shoots the right straight down the pipe. he is closing the distance with the upperbody lean from back to front, giving opponents a false sense of security.

[purecyse]

I guess you can say more of an experienced question regarding the cross......after a lot of mayweather and broner studies you see when they throw their cross especially a lead one they almost always have their head go past their feet. When in a boxing since day oe you're taught to keep your body center and never have your head past your knee line when you punch....yet a few of the best fighters in the world do this. After a few fights and noticing im having a little trouble landing my cross im thinking about trying this out.
Question is does anyone on here? Pros and cons of this?

Wait...you're having trouble landing a LEAD cross or a cross in general?

In general, most crosses should be setup, as it is a punch that requires a sizable weight shift. Setup the punch with movement, jabs and timing. Movement and jabbing should be obvious but by timing I mean where your target is going to be and when.

How Mayweather/ Broner are moving their bodies is nowhere near as important as know-how. Mayweather just lands right hands. He has the ability to land the punch mastered BUT he doesn't have a right hand that drops his opponent so, as a learner, I would watch him only for an understanding of placement, opportunity and angles of escape (how he "gets away" with his right hand).

Better examples would be: Vernon Forrest (before Mayorga), Kostya Tszyu and Tommy Hearns. They have LONG crosses that they setup so that their opponents are caught at the end of the punch with real body weight behind it. Kostya Tszyu is a good example due to not being a crazy athlete nor having an insane height/ reach advantage. I would recommend his amateur fight against Vernon Forrest, matter of fact.

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

This is one of the main reasons that I thin it's dangerous to watch other fighters, and think that what they are doing is right, wrong or something in between.

Mayweather and Broner are exceptional athletes in the sport of boxing. They are gifted with amazing speed and reflexes. So many times, they do things that are fundamentally incorrect but get away with them because of their natural abilities.

So what's important is for you to work on the fundamentals, not lean in that way and practice that over and over. If it happens in sparring or a fight (which it will) it's ok because you will never be perfect in your technique.