Boxing Entries

Smaller vs Taller Boxer...

• get eye level or lower
• High Tight Guard a la Muay Thai
• "Match Step". Don't circle, cut them off instead.
• Find Range find range (non step-in jab/right lead)
• Being second: Hit when they open up. or counter off first punch, any later they'll be out of range. Make their most frequent punch your entry (ie parry and counter on jab)
• Being first: keep it very tight, find range (non step-in jab), commit 100%, High guard -  go under it ( roll onto centre line), Low Guard go over it with a straight punch. go to body.
• Movement: Short Rhythm . Slips, Shuffles, Rolls and Ducks. Not Laybacks, you'll be out of range when time to counter.
• Danger: Left hand up going left,  right hand up going right or Pillars

Taller vs Smaller Boxer...

• Get eye level or lower
• Cross cover guard ( low lead hand)  makes landing that jab easy in all situations
• "Circle Step". Move into space,  you want options.
• Being second: Hit when they open up. Don't block and counter, they'll be out of range. Make their most frequent punch your entry ( ie parry and counter on jab)
• Being first: Find your range (non step-in jab) aim  at neck, commit 100% to keeping it long so their counters are out of range.
• Movement: Long Rhythm . Laybacks, Slips and Shoulders Not Rolls and Ducks. you'll have too far to drop so will lose sight of opponent and sap energy.
• Danger: Left hand up going left,  right hand up going right or Pillars

Fluid boxing

Got Si and Dan working entries last week. Forgetting front and back foot and just working on "being first" or "countering" in either position.

This week want to emphasis that 80% of the time you aren't actually looking for entries, you're staying "fluid". By which I mean non committal/ single attacks. So jab,  looping jab, lead left and right hooks, jab body, right straight to head or body, and lead left and right hooks to body to change angle. All of this fluidity will keep you opponent guessing so when you go for an actual entry you will have far more luck with it!

Dan Spar notes

Real basic strategy. For both front and back foot

If opponent is busy with his hands throwing punches look to counter off them (on the punch)

If your opponent is looking to counter you and you have to be first. keep a tight guard and throw 3 LONG shots, only step in on your first shot, plant your feet on the rest to ensure you land and he misses (like Liddell / Ortiz)

Pummelling notes Dan and Ben

You always pummel to get DUH

Palm in pummel is normal, weakest but fastest.

Palm out pummel is more forceful and ergonomic (like front crawl)

OH Whizzer if you can't pummel to create space (OH their UH, sharply twist into their shoulder and pull on their opposite lat, then pummel)

UH Whizzer , best used when you have DUH but can't loack hands. On head UH side reach up and grab their delt, this will mean relaxing hold on opposite side to lat. twist sharply into their armpit and pull their oppsite lat to upset balance then drive to get a grip in the space created.

Si spar 150415

Tried one basic idea which was very effective... Attacking the counter side.

Basically when sparring an orthodox it is the jab that is the main issue. The idea is to attack the left side of your opponent to encourage them to use their left hand to defensively rather than offensively.

So we used 2 combos the 1,1,2 aiming the jabs to the left side of opponent to make them block (reverse parry) with their left. And the 2,3/5  this works of course because the 2 is blocked with the left hand.

Guess we could try a 3,2 but this is not exploiting the same idea... We would be taking the shot with full cover. Which is more similar to another idea which was very effective, "counter guard". Applying pressure with full cover and countering ON the attack not after it with a 12.

Sparing Dan 140415

front foot

• leading with a right hand when he was looking for a a jab counter was good as it occupies his left hand with blocking rather than hitting.
• slipping left throwing left was quite effective
• turning shoulders so head was outside gait, and shoulder was inside gait was effective for single shots
• using Russian Jab was useful
• MMA guard being second was very effective, attacking ON their attack not after taking it!
• 112 stepping left was very effective, the double jab preoccupied his potential lead right with defence and setup the 2 well.
• Would like to try this (112) going right, the double jab aimed instead at his left hand, preocupping his potential jab counter with defense, and opening up a looping right .

MY LEFT GUARD IS TOO LOW!

Various spar sessions

When Si got his assertion on the back foot, pumping that jab  he did well.

I could back foot fight Si easily, the key is to wait until he moves forwards, punch on his/their forward movement/attack.

Si started to figure this out on the back foot and my entries became harder and harder (I initially was able to land my left and right easily after lining them up).

Speeding him up to a fluster while "walling" him got his guard back and enabled an entry but this also got harder to achieve.

Would have liked to have tried...

1. More single slips

2. Cutting angle to outside gait then attacking

3. Lead left hooks

4. Centre line attacks with high guard. Issue no angle to escape on?!

6. Hooks from setup angles ie step right - left hook

NOW AFTER SI AND DAN SPAR

7. Slow right down, maybe slower than them to explosive attack (Out Box,  Slow/Hunt To Explode) Mayweather

8. Flurries of speed. Rather than constant speed. (Fluster With Fast Aggressive Contempt) Tyson

9. Get there timing then enter (Counter By Moving To Encourage Them To Throw) Patterson

10. Push and stretch jab ( Dirty Box, hold/ push and hit) Russian style.

130415

Sparred Si today

• I noted was that I do have to stick to my plan but then adapt it around him.
• if he's looking to counter with the left you want to throw a lead right or slip/roll left away from his jab, then jab.
• if he's looking to counter with the right you want to throw a lead left or slip roll right away from his righ, then attack.
• a higher MMA guard would have made life a lot easier on the front foot. making the acceptance of taking the shot easier!

 if he's looking for left counter means you can go ahead a throw a lead right hand because it is on the centre line. But if he looking for a straight right  counter your going to want to want to slip or roll right slipping (or maybe rolling) left away from his jab, shortening it then attacking. if he's looking for counter right leading with the jab is best as this will block it.

Spar with Danny

Long time since I had a good spar.Few things that came to mind.

• Being "busy" (by which I mean faster pace tempo) on the front foot is the best game plan, this flusters opponent and makes safer entries, you can slip before your entry or simply attack fast and exploit your angle.
• Being "slow" (by which I mean slower pace tempo) on the back foot is the best game plan, this slows your attacker down and makes timing counters easier. Use your flicks and stiff jab you aid this cause.
• Resetting ( by which I mean changing angles/moving) either on back or front foot is the best game plan when you feel you don't have an edge or are working too hard to get one.
• We have not been concentrating enough on centre line attacks (low stance, pillars, drive, attack). Both Danny and I didn't work any of these/ very few of them. 
• My guard needed work I was not keeping left hand up/ right hand up
• Danny sparred more confidently with his left shoulder up

Boxing Universal Laws

Circle

Step left to setup right hand

Step right to setup left hand

Drive centre line to close distance

Pillars+Shrug best universal guard enables all defense and attack.

Left hand up going left

Right hand up going right

pace faster if on front foot to fluster opponent

pace slower on back foot to better time counters

reset whenever you struggle to do what you want to do (find entry / see counters)

Sparring Strategies

Universal Laws

• Circle
• step left to setup right hand
• step right to setup up left hand
• left hand up going left
• right hand up going right

Backfoot
Being first (to punch): circle slowly, get your flicks and stiff/holding jab working to slow down opponent to your speed and setup a solid cutting angle shot. This can be thrown solo or in combination after your flicks.
Being second (to punch):  circle slowly,  intimidate opponent by really focusing on chin, this will help slow them down, wait for their entry and time a big cutting angle shot as they come in.
Being f***ed 1 (getting flustered): Quick fix: give yourself space to work in,  get your flicks and stiff/holding jab working. This will keep opponent at bay and give you space to think and move in. Option 1 (with space): Keep circling and aggressively turn into, not away from your opponent (almost shoulder slam them). Option 2 (no space): stop moving, sink weight, full cover, turn right shoulder away/ left shoulder forward and throw an overhand right.  Irrelevant if it lands simply a way of clearing some space so you can escape.

Front Foot
Being first (to punch): You're going to need to distract/slip/feint your way in. Circle and gradually build the speed of your rhythm. don't circle faster, pace faster. Once you have your speed up you should feel far more fluid and agile, from this state slip left - throw left or slip right - throw right, ensuring that when you slip your head moves outside their guard, and throw punch from there as you are off eye line. You can also use feints from this state but in this case you step left to setup up a right then- feint left - throw right or step right to setup  a left then  feint right - throw left.
Being second (to punch): You're going to need to get their timing down/ listen to the Morse code. Stay just outside of range (end of their jab + 6 inches) and move slightly on each of their attempted shots, NB a more advanced version of this is to move on each of their movements (more subtle!). Your movements can be as slight or as vigorous as you like but remember the aim is not to slip the punches, they're not in range, the aim is to move/match with their timing. Like above once you have their speed you should start to feel fluid and agile. From this state simply time one of their punches/movements or gap between punches/movements to enter using a left or right parry to remove either of their hands which is in the way of your attack.
Being f***ed (getting timed and punished on all of your efforts): Quick Fix:  respect their range! get back to the end of their jab + 6-9 inches! Option 1: Reset body and mind, once calmer and you will be able to remember the entrance and be more likely to execute it correctly. Option 2: Go on the backfoot/make them go on the front foot. Sometimes your opponent is just having a good day, stop giving it to him. Once his mindset changes to front foot switch back to front foot too and catch him in the wrong mindset.

Dan and Si Coaching Cutting angles

So we have been working a lot on those classic highlight reel punches where you step off while throwing a power shot, enabling you to land yours and avoid theirs.

Main Points of Cutting Angles
1. be circling slightly from the start
2. Lean your weight into the centre of the circle /toward opponent/ weight on same side as punch your setting up. Ie stepping right = setting up left hand = centre of circle is to the left  = weight on left foot. Use whatever's easiest for you to remember.
3.  Slightly narrow your stance / tight rope walker to enable an easy step through when you throw your punch.
4.  imagine you are stepping around a sliding tube door (punch) , it's fine to make contact with it's sides and even use them to aid a tight step around.

Cutting Angles on the back foot points

• The main thing is to keep your life simple, choose one angle/direction and doggedly stick to it. That way there's no internal conflict or confusion in the heat of an exchange as to which direction to exit. 
• Also it's important to give yourself and feet enough space to work with. This means keeping your opponent at bay by using your flicks (jab/looping jab combos).  Once you've got these going you will start to better identify the range you need to be in to execute the cutting angle power shots and you will soon be able to throw them as lead shots (without the use of flicks prior to them). Your first priority should be taking control of the speed (slow it down) and getting your range. 

Basic back foot strategy 

• Circle to make your life easier. 
•  If your opponent is forceful, counter his circle (make him chase you) to take a his initial dominance away.  
• get you flicks going to slow fight and find your range as these are nice non committal punches that are easy to escape off. 
• Once happy with range don't be frugal with your cutting power shots. They are a great tool as your opponent has to reset and start his entry from scratch each time you throw one and cut because you are in a different position. 

Cutting Angles on the front foot points

• Again the main thing is to keep your life simple, choose one angle/direction and doggedly stick to it. That way there's no internal conflict or confusion in the heat of an exchange as to which direction to exit. 
• It's important to not give your opponent enough space to think and/or move his feet. This means you should put a slight spiral on your circle so you gradually close the distance meaning your opponent will find it harder to find clean lines to escape and thus get flustered.

Basic front foot strategy 

• Square stance, this makes opponents circling harder
• MMA/ peak a boo guard.  shoulders up, chin down, fists forward, below eye level. Makes a strong but compact target.
• Pressure but Respect Jab/Range. close distance but remain 12 inches from end of opponents jab, allows you to plan entries safely and irritate opponent
• Start lining up left and right straights, by turning shoulders and bumping them towards opponent. Constant changing will upset and fluster him.
• Slip (twice max) faster than your line-ups before combo if needed.
• Throw when you start to see shots you'd happily eat a jab to land.

• Spiral in to closer the distance and apply pressure
• Change direction of your spiral often to speed pace up and keep opponent on his toes (literally), this makes his planning and execution of his exit/cut more difficult.
• just before you enter, increase the pressure by slipping up to 2 times max, a moving target is hard to hit OR flick as both are threatening which will encourage opponent to retreat to guard rather than look for counters.
• throw a solid combination and exit on the same side as the initial circle/spiral direction for safest cut .

Sparring Si 020315 VS sparring Danny 030315

Si: Found we were both hitting much harder as turning heels through and likely because I have been doing a lot of puts and runs and my strength is up. This meant that it was quite intimidating lunging in to work in the pocket. Instead working jabs and long lead left hooks to set each other up and the right hand was far more effective a la Adam Spelling. To ensure a safe entry on Simon I sped up my rhythm and locked my eyes on him just prior to attack to get him thinking defense rather than offense.

Dan: Sparring Danny was harder than Si, this was probably because I used a similar method that I did against Si, fast and aggressive which played straight into Danny rhythm! When I kept a long and slow rhythm and went for clinical single shots  or 2 shot combos rather than agression I faired far better.  

Summary: It occurred to me after that the key is getting you opponent out of his rhythm and into yours. Si likes it slow so he can see things.  Speeding it up so fast that he is not able to process shots allows a safe entry for your own. Danny likes a faster rhythm because his concentration span is slim, so slowing him down makes him lose it and affords you easier entries.