monitoring opponents rear hand

[shs101]

As a southpaw the threat of the straight right is always an issue just as my left is to him, was looking for more of the scienece of boxing and ways to monitor his right hand? Eyes,positioning,tricks,or whatever you think I can do to be fully alert,counter,or make him not throw the right hand. Anything from yous would be awesome. Thanks

[#1Assassin]

Originally Posted by shs101

As a southpaw the threat of the straight right is always an issue just as my left is to him, was looking for more of the scienece of boxing and ways to monitor his right hand? Eyes,positioning,tricks,or whatever you think I can do to be fully alert,counter,or make him not throw the right hand. Anything from yous would be awesome. Thanks

as a lefty the things you can do are limited. the number one thing is to keep your lead foot outside of his, thats the main angle where his right cant hit you or at least you can beat him to the punch if he tries.

use your jab to keep him off balance and dont allow him to get set. move too, dont run all over the ring just make small movements slightly out of range so he can never line you up for the right. again dont let him get set.

as for eyes, look at his chest, its easy to see the back hand coming since he turns his shoulder over. you can also look for "twitches" that some fighters have which indicate when they throw a certain punch, most ppl dont though.

a top quality fighter will switch up his rhytm, but not everyone does. try to see if you can figure out his rhytm. if you are the taller fighter maintain range and he cant get anything of.

the main thing is to make him pay either by countering or beating him to the punch when he does throw the right hand. he might look for other ways to land it but you have to stay one step ahead of him, its impossible for me to say how since there are so many ways to set up a right hand. you just need to have the knowledge to recognize it on the spot and be smarter than him.

best way to learn is to study fight tape, then you can see the different ways of attacking and avoiding a right hand. first look at how the opponent is trying to set up the right hand and then see how the southpaw reacts. with time you will see a pattern between what kind of attacks warrant certain types of defense.

there are countless defensive leftys to watch, i would begin with some good fundamental fighters like antonio tarver, winky wright, guillermo rigondeaux and marvin hagler.

learn positioning without too much movement, lefty jab and above everything else good hand positioning.

then move on to some less basic fighters, guys with solid fundamentals but who still are not textbook. joel casamyor, chad dawson, sumbu kalambay, pernell whitaker and stevie johnston are some good ones.

its important you know good fundamentals before that so you recognize certain things they can get away with that less experienced and/or talented fighter wouldnt. but you have to watch them since they are too good to miss and they have plenty of tricks, believe that.

same thing applies to michael nunn, herol graham, mark johnson, and sergio martinez. very unconventional fighters but their headmoveent, counters and angles are simply brilliant. but like i said, you have to recognize certain things they do which most fighters cant get away with, you cant imitate everything.

[shs101]

Originally Posted by #1Assassin

use your jab to keep him off balance and dont allow him to get set. move too, dont run all over the ring just make small movements slightly out of range so he can never line you up for the right. again dont let him get set.

Great post.

As for the quoted part what do you exactly mean by not letting him get set, any examples or a fight that shows this?

[mconstantine]

#1 summed it up well...

To add, it starts with footwork. You have to get to a point where a subconscious alarm goes off when an orthodox fighter's head drifts to the right side of your head when looking straight forward...that will mean you are lined up for the right hand. Either prepare to duck it, pivot out or go back out of range, or be ready to block it if it's too late to move.

I box southpaw and I am just now getting comfortable with my defense against the right hand. My left hand never leaves the side of my face and when I see the right hand coming, I twist my left elbow in and contract my body to absord the shot (see Pernell Whitaker for example).

The great thing about blocking the right this way is it is active defense and positions you perfectly to come over top with a counter right hook and straight left while they're in the act of punching.

Being able to defend against the right hand is great...being able to make your opponent hesitate to throw the right hand because he got caught with a right hook is priceless.