{"id":11207,"date":"2010-07-14T21:51:34","date_gmt":"2010-07-15T02:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artofmanliness.com\/?p=11207"},"modified":"2021-09-25T21:41:27","modified_gmt":"2021-09-26T02:41:27","slug":"boxing-basics-part-iii-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/health-fitness\/fitness\/boxing-basics-part-iii-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxing Basics Part III: Defense"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-11314 size-full\" title=\"boxing\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2010\/07\/boxing.jpg\" alt=\"Vintage young men photo while boxing from early 20th century.\" width=\"400\" height=\"284\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2010\/07\/boxing.jpg 400w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2010\/07\/boxing-320x227.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s note: This is a guest post from <a href=\"http:\/\/chadhowsefitness.com\/\">Chad Howse<\/a> who is doing a series of posts for AoM on the basics of boxing. Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/articles\/boxing-basics-part-i-how-to-wrap-your-hands\/\">Part I <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/articles\/boxing-basics-part-ii-stancefootwork\/\">Part II<\/a>.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In a sport where the objective is to hurt your opponent more than he hurts you, defense is a pretty important thing, which is why we\u2019ll be covering how to defend yourself from getting hit before we go over punching.<\/p>\n<p>The first thing that should be understood about defense is that it is more or less done to serve another purpose. You\u2019re not blocking just for the sake of not getting hit, but blocking to get in a position to return an <em>effective<\/em> punch that will hurt your opponent or lead to a punch that\u2019ll land flush.<\/p>\n<p>There are two methods to do this:<\/p>\n<p>1. You can block or parry the punch.<\/p>\n<p>2. You can slip the punch.<\/p>\n<p>In the following video I\u2019ll be showing you examples of how to defend against each punch, either by blocking or slipping. Following the video will be a number of tips. It\u2019s a big topic to cover in one article, so feel free to add any other tips in the comments section.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Video<\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oAEcc8I6td8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Tips<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Mix it up<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t rely on <em>just<\/em> blocking or <em>just <\/em>slipping. Just like on offense, keep your opponent guessing as to what you\u2019re going to do next. If you block five punches in a row, your opponent might think he\u2019s going to at least make some kind of contact and load up; slipping the next punch he throws might get him off balance and out of position, which you\u2019ll take advantage of.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stay tight<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll hear announcers say, \u201cThis guy has some tight defense.\u201d This means having your elbows in tight to the midsection, hands high and protecting your chin, which is down and also being protected by your shoulders. There isn\u2019t a lot of open space to land anything.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Be on balance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Again, the point of avoiding a punch is to get yourself in position to throw an <em>effective<\/em> punch in return. To do this you have to stay on balance, on the balls of your feet and avoid doing huge, out of control movements. Keep your movement (both upper and lower body) small, quick, and under control.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t give anything away<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Boxing is like a lot of other sports in this way, but let\u2019s use basketball as an example. If a guy comes down and hits two straight three\u2019s, the next time down the court he might throw up a shot fake to get his opponent in the air so he can either draw a foul or gain a clear path to the basket. Boxing is the same; a guy\u2019s jab might be on point, and he might hit with two or three in a row that land, but then he&#8217;ll throw out a faint (a fake) to get his opponent opened up and then come around with a hook.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read your opponent<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If your hands are fast enough to parry his jab, wait for him to throw it before showing the parry (block). If your hands are a lot slower than his, keep your hands up and rely on smaller, more subtle movements to block his punches. If he throws out a faint and you commit, it\u2019s a lot easier to recover if you\u2019re under control than if you aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Make him miss, by a little bit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t need your opponent to miss you by a foot or two; you just need him to miss you. Actually, you just want him not to hit you flush and direct. If he just grazes the side of your head, great! He didn\u2019t do any damage, and it won\u2019t be counted as a point.<\/p>\n<p>So, just like in blocking and in your footwork, stay under control with small movements.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Eyes on the target<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I should have gone over this in the first article, but you want to be looking at your opponent\u2019s upper chest. By doing this you\u2019re able to see his hands, shoulders, and head. Some guys throw little hints out before they punch. For example they might raise their left shoulder before throwing a jab, or they may move their dominant shoulder forward before throwing a cross (right shoulder on an orthodox fighter, left on a southpaw).<\/p>\n<p>Even when you\u2019re blocking and slipping, keep your eyes at his upper chest and be ready to throw back. Slip and block in a way that allows you to see your opponent at all times. Boxing\u2019s all about angles, and if your opponent throws punches in bunches, gets you to cover up and lose sight of where he is, he can change his angle and get you out of position, which isn\u2019t good.<\/p>\n<p><em>It\u2019s always the punch you don\u2019t see coming that knocks you out.<\/em> Keep that in mind.<br \/>\n_______________<br \/>\n<a title=\"Boxing Basics-Part I: How to Wrap Your Hands\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/articles\/boxing-basics-part-i-how-to-wrap-your-hands\/\">Boxing Basics Part I: How to Wrap Your Hands<\/a><br \/>\n<a title=\"Boxing Basics-Part II: Stance+Footwork\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/articles\/boxing-basics-part-ii-stancefootwork\/\">Boxing Basics Part II: Stance &amp; Footwork<\/a><br \/>\n<a title=\"Boxing Basics-Part III: Defense\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/articles\/boxing-basics-part-iii-defense\/\">Boxing Basics Part III: Defense<\/a><br \/>\n<a title=\"Boxing Basics Part IV-Punching: Jab+Cross\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/articles\/boxing-basics-part-iv-punching-jabcross\/\">Boxing Basics Part IV: Punching &#8211; Jab &amp; Cross<\/a><br \/>\n<a title=\"Boxing Basics Part V-Punching: Hook+Uppercut\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/health-fitness\/fitness\/boxing-basics-part-v-punching-hook-uppercut\/\">Boxing Basics Part V: Punching &#8211; Hook &amp; Uppercut<\/a><br \/>\n<a title=\"Boxing Basics Part VI: Punching Combinations\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/health-fitness\/fitness\/boxing-basics-part-vi-punching-combinations\/\">Boxing Basics Part VI: Punching Combinations<\/a><\/p>\n<p>______________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p><em>Chad Howse is a amateur boxer and personal trainer who\u2019s passionate about helping clients achieve satisfying results in a short amount of time, so they can get the most out of life. For fitness tips and inspiration check out his blog, <a href=\"http:\/\/chadhowsefitness.com\/\">Chad Howse Fitness<\/a>, sign up to get two free ebooks, <\/em><em> and <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/ChadHowseFitness\">subscribe to his RSS feed<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor\u2019s note: This is a guest post from Chad Howse who is doing a series of posts for AoM on the basics of boxing. Check out Part I and Part II. In a sport where the objective is to hurt your opponent more than he hurts you, defense is a pretty important thing, which is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":11314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230,7],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-11207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fitness","category-health-fitness"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2010\/07\/boxing-400x280.jpg","aom":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2010\/07\/boxing-372x230.jpg","reactor-320":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2010\/07\/boxing-320x227.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11207"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141219,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11207\/revisions\/141219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11207"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}