Learning Shoulder Roll Later in Life

[GrandpaBernard]

How difficult is it to learn the shoulder roll later in life?

ODLH had the most success as a late starter. He also had the best shoulder roll coach. Oscar’s roll wasn’t perfect, but it protected him in the Vargas fight

On other hand we have Berto, Broner, etc with epic fail shoulder rolls

Andre Ward as brilliant as he was said gbye shoulder roll after testing it for himself. Didn’t feel it was for him

Smart guy Canelo also played with the shoulder roll for awhile before switching to other forms of defense

[Larry the boss]

Oscar got busted up trying to use that stiff shoulder roll..he looked horrible

[Larry the boss]

Hopkins had the best success with it outside of Mayweather and Toney is the present era....Teofimo seems to be having success with it SO FAR

[GrandpaBernard]

Hopkins had the best success with it outside of Mayweather and Toney is the present era....Teofimo seems to be having success with it SO FAR

yeah Hopkins is great with many different defense techniques like Mayweather

[anonymous2.0]

Doesn't Caleb Plant use a weird southpaw shoulder roll too?

[R-Hand Southpaw]

You cant effectively use the shoulder roll if you have bad timing or it doesn't work with your style.

It's not as simple as, just turn your shoulder and punches will deflect.

Canelo abandoned shoulder rolling mostly because it effectively removes his best punch from his arsenal, his lead hook.

Most people want to imitate it but have lack luster success. You'll see Teofimo victimized this weekend if he choses to use it.

[Southpawology]

Shoulder Roll is so overrated for the majority of boxers. If you dont have supreme reflexes it does more harm than good.

[Tails]

It is a tough style to be able to use effectively against a competent opponent. Starting young helps but even still it comes down to having the instincts to know how to punch from that stance.

Defending from the shoulder roll is not difficult it is mounting a sustained and effective offense that is hard. And if you can't fire back from that style then you are going to get buzzsawed.

Me personally, I incorporated little touches of it when I was younger to add a little more versatility to my offense but I never could get comfortable shooting basic shots back. I had about 5 different combinations (lots of practice) that I could fire off if the set up was right and my opponent threw the punches I wanted him to.

Straight up fighting out of that style is not easy in my opinion.

[SplitSecond]

About as hard as it is for someone who is more familiar with the shoulder roll to use a high guard properly. Most top fighters roll punches with their shoulder’s, even if they don’t walk around in the philly shell. It’s typical defence for anyone that has been boxing for awhile.

[Long jabber]

James toney and many other boxers in history have said that to learn the shoulder roll, you have to keep sparring and sparring and sparring Live opponents until it clicks.