Emmanuel Augustus is one of the most entertaining and skillful fighters to have ever laced up gloves
with Floyd Mayweather maintaining for years that Augustus was his toughest opponent and calling his
talent unbelievable Augustus knew the ins and outs of fighting so well that he could literally dance
around his opponents earning him the nickname of drunken master Augustus is subtle displays
a defense but suddenly morph into a bizarre but trilliant display of skill as he abandoned all
semblance of form to completely humiliate his opponent he would even occasionally use his
dance moves as elaborate setups or faints as such Washington provides a multitude of entertaining
examples on how to best transition through several different head slots foot positions and ranges the
way that Augustus fought using the extreme variations of several techniques and styles
provides a great chance to break down many of the principles and tactics from previous videos and
blend them together into one cohesive poll so let's look at how Augustus smoothly blended so
many elements together in ways that few fighters have ever been gutsy enough to try starting with
his more subtle skills and then working up to a truly made him the drunken master [Music]
we'll start from close range and work our way back at close range foot position still matters
but it matters less and head and upper body positions take prevalence most fighters prefer
the outside position resting their head on the opponent's lead shoulder this protects their
jaw from the opponent's power hand by shielding it with the opponent's head but whether in an
open or a closed head position disengaging and moving inside comes with more risks and
more rewards and Augustus loved to take risks at this range smothering the opponent's guard
by pressing against him becomes a vital tactic and Augustus excelled at weaving from shoulder
to shoulder masterfully targeting openings in his opponent's guard before finally pressing
in to find safety and pin his arms straightening up allows for better vision and more targets but
leaves the fighter the most hoping it must be done briefly before finding safety on
the inside once again that being said augustus chose to stand right in front of his opponents
on multiple occasions at times dropping his hands and relying entirely on head movement
of course what work can still be a crucial weapon at this range watch how it gust his size steps to
escape the ropes and turn the time of the round and his antic fight against Micky Ward [Music]
at mid to long range these same principles still apply since it's impossible to find
safety by smothering the opponent assistants head movement in tandem with footwork takes
prevalence for sophisticated defense moving the shoulders between a squared up position
and a safer more narrow position can take on a vinyl defensive role no pun intended
as well as put a fighter in position to counter a square posture provides lateral head movement
in either directions allowing a fighter to set up shots off of the center line here Augustus
slips and weaves inside and outside in order to evade his opponent punches and load of power
into his counters in contrast a more narrow posture provides for greater protection and
allows greater lateral movement but only in one direction a combination of shoulder rolls poles
and ducts can make for a powerful defense part of what made Augustus special was his ability
to shift forwards and backwards in order to extend the range of his head movement and take
advantage of multiple positions for instance Augustus would commonly step back into South
claw to shoulder roll beat side attacks and then duck low to exit out at an angle [Music]
Augustus performed these feats to the far side of plausibility doing things that just shouldn't work
and in fact they didn't always work but that never stopped the gustas from trying them at long range
these body postures can be extended and enhanced by for work for instance the outside position can
be obtained by stepping the rear foot outside in a closed stance or the lead foot outside in an open
stance this takes away the opponent's ability to land with his rear hand while the fighters still
remains offensively capable while Augustus is well aware of the benefits of using footwork to take an
outside angle he was especially good at utilizing footwork on the inside moving inside of the
centerline the fighter can take the same attitude as an in fighter squaring up and risking attack to
keep both hands within striking distance Augustus shows his tactic here closing the distance between
his rear foot and his opponent foot to get it as ribs alternatively the fighter can move into an
inside position that opens up his opponent and keeps himself safely sideways Augustus does so
here keeping sideways to flick out his jab and move back to the center of the Ring but Augustus
most excelled when he used footwork to move between an open and a narrow stance just as
he did with body posture in this exchange Augustus begins in an open stance slipping inside to avoid
a jab and then countering with the body shot he gains an advantage by keeping his lead foot on
the outside he then these shifts outside to exit at an angle switching into an Orthodox stance he
steps forward to throw and then steps back with a lead hook regaining safety by staying in a
narrow posture Ward moves in with a rare hook and Augustus responds squaring himself up to
slip inside and returning fire with a leap hook of his own anticipating another attack he shifts back
squares up to sleep then smothers were to press him back and create space after slipping a few
more punches he exits off the ropes while the last exchange was no doubt impressive augustus took it
to a whole other level when he danced a Gustus would play with all footwork positions postures
and head slots smoothly moving through all the ranges while doing so here Augustus squares up
inside to lead with multiple crosses when his opponent tries to push back a Gustus steps into
southpaw and then steps forward immediately into a wide square stance pulling back to angle in an
uppercut he then weaves under a punch and steps back to exit in a defensive narrow stance that
was impressive but let's go up one more level here Augustus shifts into southpaw to go on the
offensive and then switch shifts back into Orthodox to evade his opponent punch before
rebounding back with a one-two-three he then pulls back and steps outside to angle an ax counter
right over his opponents jab now let's go up one more level and look at what was perhaps Augustus
his most impressive exchange ever augusta steps in with the cross presses in to smother his upon
his guard then turned slips multiple punches he then switched shifts to avoid a punch and
immediately switch shifts back to land a hard uppercut he dances his way into a cross uppercut
combination slips another punch and then dances his way inside his opponent is left so out of
position he's forced to step back to return to an orthodox stance meanwhile augustus has danced his
way into a southpaw position and lands with the leading cross he next steps through a de mono
shifts inside again and continues his rhythmic barrage Manuel Gustus is truly one of a kind
sadly to quote Floyd Mayweather Augustus's record did not reflect
his talents Augustus was prone to unfair judging on several notable occasions
many of his bouts were taken on a few weeks or even a few days notice and I guess this
would show up under wait not yet fully recovered from his last bout and despite all of his skills
Augustus is lack of power prevented him from winning several fights all the same Augustus
his antics and skillful display of boxing has earned him a devoted following of lifelong fans
many of which have been asking for a break down every single video since the inception of the
channel all I can say is sorry I took so long if you're interested in upping your own footwork or
we'd like to know how to put more power into your punches you can check out my books linked
below for the modern martial artist this has been David Christian wishing you happy training