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going by some of the questions on here I can tell people have the wrong idea when it comes to punching power or knocking a person out. So much of boxing's old skills are gone now due to various reasons.
To get things started though:
To be a good puncher first and foremost, you need technique. Technique is not to be mistaken with form. Technique should be attributed to leverage and form should be attributed to where you throw your punches from, where your elbows sit, how straight your shots are etc etc.
An example of leverage would be in the modern sense Marcos Maidana and in an the old days a Guy like Rocky. I am using these as examples because both are boxers with pretty bad "form" but great punching technique. Some fighters are great at both - but it all really depends on how you use it, some times the most textbook guy is brutally predictable and he get's picked apart by a not so text book fighter.
So what is good leverage?
1) "sitting down on your punches)" By anchoring yourself to the ground you are now ensuring most of your punching power is being fired through your opponent and not backfiring on yourself. Before you even bother with twisting the hips or "getting your legs into the shot" Learn how to anchor yourself.
If you wanted to push a refrigerator what is the first thing you would do? You would anchor yourself since the fridge might actually be heavier than you. That being said, you don't want to go hyper aggressive in some obnoxious stance - just bear in mind to anchor yourself. Sit - box - sit - box... transitioning yourself from boxing with mobility and planting yourself when unloading. Chavez Sr comes to mind as someone who is good at this.
Even if you threw an arm punch, you would be surprised how heavy it is just by anchoring yourself to the ground.
2) Follow through with your punches. This is why learning how to punch on a heavybag can sometimes be a bad idea (Unless it is a really light bag). To properly punch through a target, you need to launch your punches and completely let them sail through the target while completely disengaging your pulling muscles. If you notice guys like De La Hoya when they miss a shot, the hook or uppercut will go flying through the target at high speed as if there was no Target at all. Try punching the air for example. Hitting a bag will encourage you to "brace" your muscles on impact, but in doing so you engage your pulling muscles which kills the velocity.
Yes the heavybag has a purpose, and it's purpose was to condition the body and hands for hitting.
Old fighters used to train on a speed bag, if you can pop a speed bag you can punch very well because it requires a very sharp digging shot - the same shot that would knock someone out (fast enough to rebound the persons brain within their skull). If you push a speed bag for example, you won't even get so far as to dent it - but on a heavybag it might sound like a terrific blow. By practicing hitting a speed bag you can also learn to explode right before impact to ensure you are really and truly driving through the target. Alexis Arguello comes to mind, and he could pop speed bags in his sleep.
You can see in this case how important it is to be limber and not full of tension.
3) form / technique
Obviously your leverage in terms of how you throw the shot, turn it over and find that sweet spot from the legs all the way up to the end of your fist. I can't explain in detail through text - but some good pointers would be keep your elbows in close, just like an arm wrestler - the closer to your body the more leverage you have. Joe Louis comes to mind. If you tried moving a refrigerator (I'll keep using the refridgerator as an example) at an arms length or from a shotput position (In close) which would be more effective? Old fighters used to only throw right crosses, not the straight right that Ali made popular. The cross is thrown from in front of the face and turned over, the elbow rarely even peeks out from outside the shoulder - this shot has incredible leverage - it is similar to a shot put I suppose. Long story short though keep the punches in close (when trying to punch hard at least). I'll fit this in here as well: stay limber and loose, the name of the game is velocity, not pushing power!).
In terms of actually knocking someone out.....
You probably hear fighters in interviews answer the question of "who hit them the hardest?" More often then not they name some obscure fighter that they beat or even knocked out themselves.
The reason for this is, the hardest puncher does not translate to the "best puncher" for lack of a better term, or "knockout artist".
There are 3 main points if you wanna hurt someone bad:
1) Where you hit them
Ok, some spots are softer / Hurt more than others. The solar plex, the liver, floating rib - the tip of the chin or canine, the tip of the temple etc etc
2) How you hit them Ok so in other words was the opponent prepared, were they tensing, blocking, rolling or biting down on their mouthpiece? A sucker punch would knockout just about anyone, so likewise being hit when you are completely unprepared hurts a hell of a lot more. This goes for both the body and head, you sucker someone in the gut they can't breath, you sucker someone in the chin they get koed.
3) How hard you hit them
Obviously this, for most people this is all they think about - but if the other 2 aren't in check you might find yourself getting tired and knocked out from fighting stupid.
A knockout artist is someone who has mastered the sucker punch. They learn how to set their opponent up by changing their rhythm, speed - patterns as well as combinations. As a fighter tires he is less prepared to take a shot or react. Not all knockout artists operate like Mike Tyson either, who often knocked opponents out with accurate combinations that his opponents didn't expect or see coming. Some knockout artists are very subtle, they might add a pause in their right hand causing their opponent to parry a shot that never came, the real shot coming milliseconds later and landing flush on the chin. See Roberto Duran. Another example would be tapping the body lightly and then immediately hitting the same spot with a hard shot, as the opponent will instinctively brace for the first "fake shot" and relax afterwards, only to catch a real hard shot while being completely unprepared. As you can see in this case, having a 6 pack would do next to nothing.
However which way you do it, it is a good concept to think about.
That being said, all this "strength and conditioning" is useless if you don't understand punching. Never has a puncher been created this way yet people insist to keep doing it.
To get things started though:
To be a good puncher first and foremost, you need technique. Technique is not to be mistaken with form. Technique should be attributed to leverage and form should be attributed to where you throw your punches from, where your elbows sit, how straight your shots are etc etc.
An example of leverage would be in the modern sense Marcos Maidana and in an the old days a Guy like Rocky. I am using these as examples because both are boxers with pretty bad "form" but great punching technique. Some fighters are great at both - but it all really depends on how you use it, some times the most textbook guy is brutally predictable and he get's picked apart by a not so text book fighter.
So what is good leverage?
1) "sitting down on your punches)" By anchoring yourself to the ground you are now ensuring most of your punching power is being fired through your opponent and not backfiring on yourself. Before you even bother with twisting the hips or "getting your legs into the shot" Learn how to anchor yourself.
If you wanted to push a refrigerator what is the first thing you would do? You would anchor yourself since the fridge might actually be heavier than you. That being said, you don't want to go hyper aggressive in some obnoxious stance - just bear in mind to anchor yourself. Sit - box - sit - box... transitioning yourself from boxing with mobility and planting yourself when unloading. Chavez Sr comes to mind as someone who is good at this.
Even if you threw an arm punch, you would be surprised how heavy it is just by anchoring yourself to the ground.
2) Follow through with your punches. This is why learning how to punch on a heavybag can sometimes be a bad idea (Unless it is a really light bag). To properly punch through a target, you need to launch your punches and completely let them sail through the target while completely disengaging your pulling muscles. If you notice guys like De La Hoya when they miss a shot, the hook or uppercut will go flying through the target at high speed as if there was no Target at all. Try punching the air for example. Hitting a bag will encourage you to "brace" your muscles on impact, but in doing so you engage your pulling muscles which kills the velocity.
Yes the heavybag has a purpose, and it's purpose was to condition the body and hands for hitting.
Old fighters used to train on a speed bag, if you can pop a speed bag you can punch very well because it requires a very sharp digging shot - the same shot that would knock someone out (fast enough to rebound the persons brain within their skull). If you push a speed bag for example, you won't even get so far as to dent it - but on a heavybag it might sound like a terrific blow. By practicing hitting a speed bag you can also learn to explode right before impact to ensure you are really and truly driving through the target. Alexis Arguello comes to mind, and he could pop speed bags in his sleep.
You can see in this case how important it is to be limber and not full of tension.
3) form / technique
Obviously your leverage in terms of how you throw the shot, turn it over and find that sweet spot from the legs all the way up to the end of your fist. I can't explain in detail through text - but some good pointers would be keep your elbows in close, just like an arm wrestler - the closer to your body the more leverage you have. Joe Louis comes to mind. If you tried moving a refrigerator (I'll keep using the refridgerator as an example) at an arms length or from a shotput position (In close) which would be more effective? Old fighters used to only throw right crosses, not the straight right that Ali made popular. The cross is thrown from in front of the face and turned over, the elbow rarely even peeks out from outside the shoulder - this shot has incredible leverage - it is similar to a shot put I suppose. Long story short though keep the punches in close (when trying to punch hard at least). I'll fit this in here as well: stay limber and loose, the name of the game is velocity, not pushing power!).
In terms of actually knocking someone out.....
You probably hear fighters in interviews answer the question of "who hit them the hardest?" More often then not they name some obscure fighter that they beat or even knocked out themselves.
The reason for this is, the hardest puncher does not translate to the "best puncher" for lack of a better term, or "knockout artist".
There are 3 main points if you wanna hurt someone bad:
1) Where you hit them
Ok, some spots are softer / Hurt more than others. The solar plex, the liver, floating rib - the tip of the chin or canine, the tip of the temple etc etc
2) How you hit them Ok so in other words was the opponent prepared, were they tensing, blocking, rolling or biting down on their mouthpiece? A sucker punch would knockout just about anyone, so likewise being hit when you are completely unprepared hurts a hell of a lot more. This goes for both the body and head, you sucker someone in the gut they can't breath, you sucker someone in the chin they get koed.
3) How hard you hit them
Obviously this, for most people this is all they think about - but if the other 2 aren't in check you might find yourself getting tired and knocked out from fighting stupid.
A knockout artist is someone who has mastered the sucker punch. They learn how to set their opponent up by changing their rhythm, speed - patterns as well as combinations. As a fighter tires he is less prepared to take a shot or react. Not all knockout artists operate like Mike Tyson either, who often knocked opponents out with accurate combinations that his opponents didn't expect or see coming. Some knockout artists are very subtle, they might add a pause in their right hand causing their opponent to parry a shot that never came, the real shot coming milliseconds later and landing flush on the chin. See Roberto Duran. Another example would be tapping the body lightly and then immediately hitting the same spot with a hard shot, as the opponent will instinctively brace for the first "fake shot" and relax afterwards, only to catch a real hard shot while being completely unprepared. As you can see in this case, having a 6 pack would do next to nothing.
However which way you do it, it is a good concept to think about.
That being said, all this "strength and conditioning" is useless if you don't understand punching. Never has a puncher been created this way yet people insist to keep doing it.
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