distracting your opponent

[shs101]

Anyone have any tricks or anything psychological they like to mess with their opponent?
I heard a good coach (trained a few good pros) at a gym I was visiting and when he was cornering his guy sparring he kept saying "make him second guess his attack"? That really made me think of the science of boxing and tricks you can do to people. Anyone have an idea of what he meant or anything you use personally that can throw someone off?

[Gungfufighting]

Controlling distance and feints are what gets people second guessing their attacks. The jab and use of feints is very important, helping you to break them down and adjust to their style, where you can then let off with body head combinations.

Watching the breakdown of marquez vs. pacqiauo 3 is a great example of the feints that marquez uses to control the action. Another good example is the Hopkins liver shot knockout of Oscar, where Hopkins feinted a right hand a bit subtly, Oscar raised his arms thinking a right was coming up top, and Hopkins hit him with the hook to the liver.

When you see a fighter who is throwing less punches than in his previous fight, it is often the result of the other fighters use of feint and counters. PBF money makes all his opponents drop their activity level, marquez did with PAC in their 3rd fight, and Martinez was hard to catch with his constant movement and misdirections against Chavez jr, who really didn't do a terrible job of cutting off the ring, but the experience and speedy footwork of martinez made it hard for him to get set and land his sitdown, flat footed punches, which he needs to do to be effective with his game.

Main idea is to give the opponent different looks, be able to switch it up, jab, feint, and mix up body head head body combinations.

[Juof]

In amateur boxing you dont really get a chance to study your opponents so my trainer would get us to walk out as a southpaw and you'd hear the opoonents trainer shout "he's southpaw" throwing them off

[TheAuthority]

Originally Posted by shs101

Anyone have any tricks or anything psychological they like to mess with their opponent?
I heard a good coach (trained a few good pros) at a gym I was visiting and when he was cornering his guy sparring he kept saying "make him second guess his attack"? That really made me think of the science of boxing and tricks you can do to people. Anyone have an idea of what he meant or anything you use personally that can throw someone off?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLJ9PMwpLzk

The above video may give you a couple of ideas.

The rest of this guy's videos are definitely worth a watch too.

[BostonGuy]

Passing gas can be a good distraction....

[Danny Gunz]

Punch him in the face

[jaded]

Paulie Malignaggi uses his eyebrows to distract his opponents...it seems to work for him.

[Rockin']

Originally Posted by Juof

In amateur boxing you dont really get a chance to study your opponents so my trainer would get us to walk out as a southpaw and you'd hear the opoonents trainer shout "he's southpaw" throwing them off

yeah, but what happens 2 seconds later when he discovers that you're not actually a south paw?

Originally Posted by Danny Gunz

Punch him in the face

.......and keep on punchin' him in the face. Case closed....Rockin'

[One more round]

Bolo Punch. Rope a Dope.

[Rockin']

with the new newbies during sparring I would drop my hands and point to their shoes and in a mouth gaurd language I would tell them that their shoe is untied. When they look down you smack them upside their heads a few times and dance away laughing at them. You'll be surprised at how many times it will work. Gotta be a newbie though, they are just so transfixed by your simple movement that they just can't think straight.........Rockin'