high guard = boring fight

Also, if you feint a couple of times to the head and instead land a good body shot it won't be long before your opponent decides a "cover up" defense isn't all that great. No defensive technique is perfect.

My style is that I keep my gloves open so that I can block more of my head by expanding the glove. An open glove covers most of my head, so I'm more protected than if the glove is in a fist. You need to keep your elbows in and close to your body, which not only blocks body punches but also keeps your punches short. With your gloves open, you can also catch punches (which is what the jab-hand buddy exercise works on. By blocking a punch before it even hits your guard, you eliminate ALL damage. It's important to not stand square so you aren't in line for straight punches. Jabs will push you off balance and set you up for every punch if you're square. Stand with your lead shoulder out front so you can use it as a defense also. Tucking your chin in and keeping low with both eyes on your opponent regardless of whats coming at you will make your defense extra tight.

I dont see taking body punches as aproblem at all when using that style..LIKE I SAID, you have to know how to position yourself properly..it is not for everybody just like dancing, back pedaling, shoulder rolling, etc is not for everybody, either

Unless you have 9 foot arms like winky, it leaves you open for body shots. Also, it's slower punching from your arms starting in that position, so if you aren't too quick, you won't land too many punches. Very good style to use if you are ahead on points and you are coasting a bit, or if you've won the first 2 mins of the round and sort of want to ride it out. Good points. You need to be a very good counter puncher to use this technique. Otherwise it won't help you very much on offense. As well, if you don't have good head movement it won't be long before your opponent starts slipping in punches.

I think judges need to start hammering those that use this style, to prevent this from getting too out of hand. Maybe I am missing something here. Could you please explain why a fighter wouldn't want to use this style, or if there is a surefire strategy to beat it. I hope so, because I am awfully tired of these boring twelve round decisions, and want to see some real fighting. Wait...judges should penalize guys for not getting hit? There's a way to beat it. You rip the body and stick a jab between the guard. When they lean in you can throw just about any punch you want you just have to place it right. I think the real problem is that is takes skill, intelligence in the ring and good endurance. Unfortunately, most fighters these days leave a lot to be desired on all three of those fronts.

The high guard makes you vulnerable to body punches. If you get hit in the body continuously with powerful shots, the arms will drop. That's why you're supposed to keep your elbows in, so you can bend to one side and drop your elbow to block a body shot while still maintaining your guard high. I'm not nearly as experienced as Scully on this topic, but maintaining a cross body guard inside almost always takes away a guy's body options in close, atleast in my case. The most important thing of course is keeping your eyes open and reacting your man's movements.

The high guard makes you vulnerable to body punches. If you get hit in the body continuously with powerful shots, the arms will drop.

People really need to understand that this style we are talking about is a style, a technique. It is not just putting your hands up to block your face. You have to know how to cover up, how to cover the head and body at the same time. How and when to turn and rotate your waist and shoulders as yuou black and deflect punches. You need to know how to hold your hands when you want to block certain punches in a certain manner, etc etc. A lot of guys try to do it and cannot figure out how come they keep getting beaten worse than before they tried it. The most important thing is to know how and when to punch off the blocks. Marlon was great at it and Winky is very good at it, too

Juan Diaz actually keeps a tight high guard D, then throws volumes of punches in the return fire...and he's very entertaining to watch, yea?

yes, but -again- it is NEVER "JUST keeping your hands up." It may appear to be that easy...but it is not

My trainer gets us all to fight like that as it makes it harder to hit you. However in sparring i lower my left hand a bit so i can get more snap in my jab but keep my right hand cocked for a straight. As far as not getting hit.....i manage to counter punch a few of the guys easy cause when they try to throw body shots its easy to get a right to the head and punches to my head i block and throw back a jab straight away and it gets through. The style is not unbeatable, its verybeatable...but its safer than tryin to keep yo hands down all the time lol

If your a boxer you know it takes a lot of arm strength to actually keep those arms up like Winky does, or sometimes Roy, but I am not saying any other boxer cant do it.

A smart fighter will be able to show an opponent different looks on defense. Like Cotto, who fights out of a peekaboo shell then switches to cross-armed for a few moments then starts moving his head a little. Keeping your hands up deters your man from throwing anything serious because then they don't have a clear target. At the same time, it's important to pick off punches to avoid getting your arms worn down by shots. A guy can drastically cut down on how often he gets hit if he just keeps his hands up and watches the action. You'd be surprised how good a defense JUST KEEPING YOUR HANDS UP really is.

sturm has great defense aswell.. No. His doubleguard is easy to brake through by hard punchers. Abraham for example has also an duobleguard but its much more effective than Sturms. Sturm will always get knocked out if he fights a good puncher.

That style isnt unbeatable. 1st of all its hard to thow anything but a basic punch from that style so your Offense wont look that special for the most part. 2nd and most importantly, your arms are only but so long and so wide. You can give up a ton of body shots that way. Also, you can shoot shots where there arms arent. Again, your forearms are not but so wide. You can shot shots straight down the pipe if they keep them normal. Thats how Taylor lit up Winky's face. Then when they bring there arms in tighter then you can throw wide shots on the side of there face. There's no way they can stop both of them. Winky just gets away with it because he's so smart and has been fighting that way forever but most guys wont get away with it at all, espically if there fighting someone very good

We are in the middle of a riff right now, as a matter of fact LOL. It's in the book LOL It's juicy too!!! :)

I used that style for a good part of my career as both an amateur and a pro , sometimes it worked very well (like vs. Lamar Parks in 1988) for me and other times it backfired (like with Tim Littles in 1992)...but please don't make the mistake of thinking that it is done merely, simply, by just "putting your hands up to your face!!!" It is a TECHNIQUE and it is not the easiest thing to master. My sometime stablemate Marlon Starling was the master at it, too. Winky got it from him, believe that. I have definitely had my differences over the years with Moochie but credit goes where it is due, he had that style mastered and when he was "on" it was like trying to hit a fly with a BB. Riff's with Marlon Starling hmmm, do tell Ice, do tell...

I used that style for a good part of my career as both an amateur and a pro , sometimes it worked very well (like vs. Lamar Parks in 1988) for me and other times it backfired (like with Tim Littles in 1992)...but please don't make the mistake of thinking that it is done merely, simply, by just "putting your hands up to your face!!!" It is a TECHNIQUE and it is not the easiest thing to master. My sometime stablemate Marlon Starling was the master at it, too. Winky got it from him, believe that. I have definitely had my differences over the years with Moochie but credit goes where it is due, he had that style mastered and when he was "on" it was like trying to hit a fly with a BB.

sturm has great defense aswell..

It seems to me that more and more boxers have begun using that high guard style. Winky, Eddie, and even Roy Jones all use it effectively. They simply cover their face with their gloves and "block" every punch. Honestly, I don't get why every fighter doesn't start using it. It makes it nearly impossible to get hit clean, and negates the need for tons of defensive maneuvers/footwork. This saves valuable energy. And unlike the floyd mayweather (philly shell?) defense, it doesn't take any athleticism to keep your hands on your face. The problem is, it makes for a boring fight. Especially if the counterpunching "master" throws less than 10 punches in some rounds (eddie chambers). I think judges need to start hammering those that use this style, to prevent this from getting too out of hand. Maybe I am missing something here. Could you please explain why a fighter wouldn't want to use this style, or if there is a surefire strategy to beat it. I hope so, because I am awfully tired of these boring twelve round decisions, and want to see some real fighting. Winky is a great fighter. That style suits him and styles make fights. Against Tito..that's all he did. Use the peak-a-boo defense and jab Tito's face off. Against Quartey on the other hand, he was extremely busy with a high workrate. A guy like Chambers didn't use his jab, didn't much of anything after the 4th round. He is just simply not a great fighter and not a dedicated fighter in the gym. But as far as your question, that style doesn't suit everybody. There is fighters who do this and get broken down with body shots and eventually start bringing their hands down just enough to get caught in the face.