Alright. This video's all about boxing defense.
Three ways we can defend punches, using footwork, using your gloves to block
the punches, using your head movement to avoid those punches.
In this video,
we're gonna break everything down, show you how to pull it off on the mitts.
Hi, my name is Glenn Holmes.
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how to box and how to coach boxing for fitness.
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So the first way we can defend boxing
punches, in my opinion, it's the best way to defend boxing punch.
I'm going to explain why in a second is footwork.
So what I'm going to do is I'm just going
to throw some basic punches, the jab and the cross.
Let's take those two, the most fundamental punches in boxing, the jab and the cross.
And all we're going to do is the boxer just going to stay slightly in range to start.
So I'm going to throw the one to where
they would actually hit them if I was to land those punches.
Right?
So make sure you're in range to start so you can actually touch the gloves.
So measure the range first.
And when I throw that 1,2,
I'm just going to tell my boxer to just simply just take a step back.
It's going to be the Orthodox boxer.
You'd be taking a step back with the back foot first, right?
So as she sees my punches coming in, simple as that, just a simple step back.
Now if you want to make it a little bit more dynamic, we're on the toes,
we're moving a little bit, just a little bit of bouncing the feet.
And then as soon as I come in, just reacting with the feet, again.
Good. And I'm actually taking a step in as well.
And still falling short right there. So.
Right, come closer.
So right here, I can hit her.
I'm in range.
Then we're moving, stepping back. Okay.
So that's one way we can drill just the reactions in the feet.
As soon as you see the punches to react with the feet.
Right.
The second one we're going to work on is the pivot.
So this actually changes the angle.
So for example, if I'm coming in with or without punches, if I'm just generally
attacking my opponent, we can work on that pivot.
So I just go away from the ropes a little bit.
So you're going to get like right there.
And then what we're going to do here is going to keep that front foot set.
She's going to spin on the front foot and just pivot the back foot out.
So I'm starting out of range.
My goal right here would be to come and attack and push them back.
Right. So a couple of things you can do here.
She can pivot straight away as soon as I start to advance.
Right. And she's in control now, I'm off balance.
I've fallen short.
She's in a position to land punches right there.
Or you can take that step back that we just worked on first.
As soon as she sees me attack, you take the step back to create the room
and then just use the pivot to change the angle.
So right here, she steps back as I keep coming.
Then she can pivot out and work from there as well.
So just a couple of simple drills there.
As soon as you start to throw the punches,
as the coach, your boxer's automatically going to react with the feet.
So it can be either step back,
it can be the pivot, or it can be the step back and then the pivot.
Right.
So rule number one right here is just using footwork for defense.
As soon as you see that attack or those punches coming in, reacting with the feet
to create the space and making sure your boxer falls short.
Reason why I think footwork is number one for defense.
And you watch a lot of amateur boxers.
They're always on the toes.
They've always got the feet moving whether they're going backwards or forwards,
always in a position and on balance to keeping those feet alive.
They're never static like this.
And if you look at the last Oleksandr Usyk fight against Anthony Joshua,
the reason he was so effective, he was just constantly moving those feet,
changing the angles, moving forwards, moving backwards.
His feet just didn't stop the whole fight.
And that's really hard to time your punches against that because your
opponent's constantly moving and in different positions.
Lomachenko, another same Ukrainian,
another great example of just keeping those feet moving the entire fight.
It's so hard to defend against.
It's so hard to attack against as well.
So always my personal preference for defense is footwork.
It's always the most effective. All right.
So the second way we can defend punches is
by using the gloves and blocking and catching parrying punches.
Right.
When would we typically need to do that in a fight?
Well, usually you'll see that kind
of early on when boxers are trying to figure out that range.
Right? It's the first round or two of the fight.
They'll kind of feeling that range out.
So if I'm right here, I would be able to land that jab.
Right? So rather than just simply using footwork
straight away, you want to try and find the range yourself when you're defending.
So you kind of allow that jab to travel.
And we're going to use the back glove,
the right glove Orthodox, the Orthodox to just parry and deflect that punch.
So as I throw the jab, I'm making sure I'm throwing it as
the coach from in range, so I would actually be able to hit her.
And then she's just going to use that back
glove to just kind of Parry it and knock it down.
Now, a couple of things to the technique on the Parry.
You want to make sure the fist is nice
and tight so the punch doesn't slide through to make sure that fist nice
and tight, sitting to your legs a little bit as the jab comes in, just parrying it.
Now, notice how the gloves not coming too far away from her fist.
She's allowing that jab to travel right up
to where the glove is and just meeting at the last minute.
One thing you want to avoid with this
Parry is bringing the glove away from your chin.
So as soon as she sees this coming, meet the punch.
She's not bringing the glove all the way out here to meet the mitt.
Right.
The reason we don't want to do that is she's exposed immediately.
So then all I would have to do is just
faint that and then I can come around the side.
So always keeping the gloves in and around
the head area when you're blocking these punches.
So this is the most basic way to defend the jab.
It's just using that right glove and just parrying it off.
Boom, parry it.
Think about trying to knock it away and deflecting it a little bit.
Knock it away. There you go.
So now she's got a bit more force behind it.
She's actually pulling my punch down as
well, which creates an opening for you as well as the boxer.
So that's the most basic way to defend a punch with the gloves.
It's just using that parry.
Another way we can defend the punches as well is just by blocking.
So if you're going to a high guard,
get your gloves up nice and high, tranquil those elbows down.
If we're defending punches coming around
the side, hooks and rear hooks, looping punches, et cetera,
we are looking to catch them on the back of the gloves right here.
Now, this requires a nice tight fist and a tight arm and the core as well.
And just to drill this, I'm just going to throw simple hooks
either side, and she's going to catch them on the back of the gloves right there.
Now, a couple of things on this.
In a real boxing setting,
you'd be told to keep those gloves glued to the head like this.
Keep it tight.
So you're creating a cushion for those punches coming in.
In boxing fitness settings, most people don't want to absorb
that impact and create that rattle in the head.
And it can be kind of intimidating
for general population if you're just training clients and stuff.
So what I like to do with this is keep the gloves slightly off the head.
In real boxing, you will be told not to do
that because it could knock the glove onto the head.
But in boxing fitness, we're not trying to recreate that level of intensity.
We're just trying to train those reactions.
Okay.
So for that, she's going to keep the gloves off
the head and she's just going to absorb the punches and I'm going to pull
the power a little bit as the coach and just kind of touch the back
of the gloves and just work on those defensive reactions.
Okay.
So that's how we can catch and block punches, basically.
Now, let's see how we can put that into a combination.
So if I was to throw 1,2, she's going to block the jab with the back glove.
She's going to parry the right hand with the front glove.
And if I was to follow that with a hook,
just block it with the back of the glove right there.
So a standard three punch combination for me as the coach, just the 1,2
hook and boxer's just going to parry, parry, block, okay.
So it's just nice, simple,
short movements, parry with the back end, parry with the front end,
and then just block and kind of turn away from the punch a little bit.
Turn into the punch a little bit.
So good, it's a little bit more rotation for your body when you block the shots.
That's it good. And again, now a common mistake.
We see a lot with that block is the elbow coming away from the body a lot.
So we've to catch, catch and then block.
You see that elbow lifting it's, leaving that body wide open.
So we want to try and concentrate
on keeping the elbow down and just sitting into the legs a little bit to make sure
that whole side of the upper body is covered with the elbow and the glove.
So again, just 1,2, block. Good.
And again, catch, catch, block, parry, parry, block. There you go.
All right. So just a real basic way and a basic
example of how we can start to get our clients, our beginner boxers,
our boxers that don't have as much experience used to catching punches
and seeing them coming out their face and being comfortable.
That's the whole point with defense here
as well is being comfortable, punches are coming.
We don't want to be shying away and turning away from the punches.
We want to be comfortable and relying
on reactions and defending those punches with the gloves.
So just some examples there about you can start to use the gloves for defense.
Okay. All right.
So number three, before we get to this
one, I just want to remind you to subscribe to the channel.
That way you're going to get notified of the new videos each week.
The third one is head movement.
Now, we all love a good,
slick boxer who's just slipping punches and rolling out the way and using
the upper body and can kind of basically stay in the same spot and slip and avoid
like ten punches you see Tyson Fury doing this recently, such a slick boxer,
"Sweet Pea" Pernell Whitaker, absolute legend of head movement.
I'm just going to give you a couple
of examples, how I can start to drill that and work on that as well.
Now, the key with this, if you're a coach watching this,
is when you're getting your boxers to work on head movement and rolling punches
and actually avoiding shots, make sure your punches are accurate.
That's the whole key right here.
So if you want to stand right here
in the line of the camera, I'm going to show you an example of what you see.
A lot of that doesn't really do the boxers
any favor or doesn't really teach them how to slip and use the head movement.
Coaches will tend to do this and go across
the boxer and go above the boxer like this.
Right. If she didn't move at all,
there's no point to that. Right.
So make sure it would be an accurate.
So just jump back in.
And what you can do for that is you can use a line on the ground.
If you draw a line on the ground, imagine you've got one foot either side of the line.
And you can just use that line as a guide for yourself.
Right.
So you can throw your punches straight down the line.
And then when you're throwing your hook, just make sure it's at head height so your
boxer's actually going to get underneath the shots.
All right. So working on the slips for straight
punches, typically we're going to be slipping those straight punches.
So the jab and the cross, just a little roll of that front shoulder
to slip the jab and just kind of loading up the right leg a little bit.
slide weight shift 60% to that back foot
and a little bit of about 40% on that front foot.
So as she's turned the shoulder and core's engaged
allowing that jab to go right over the shoulder, right.
Keeping the chin tucked and the eyes on the target
for any counterpunches or any punches
coming after that.
So from there, if I was to throw the right hand
She's going to do exactly the same thing to the other side, there.
Right shoulder in, now we're loading up the front leg.
And that line that I talked about on the ground
is great because not only does it's helping you as the coach
to throw those punches straight
but it's training and teaching your boxer
to get their head off of that line.
That's the whole with these slips
it's taking your head off that line. If there's a line
coming right down heretheseether punches are coming
I'm getting off the line, I'm getting off the line.
That's the key. And it comes down
to that rotation of the shoulders
and keeping that core engaged as well.
So I'm going to drill that a few times, we're going to start with
a couple of jabs, there.
There. Slip it, there.
Good. Slip. Hand's are up while she's slipping.
Slip, slip. Good.
Now I'm not actually telling her when to slip. Again
I talked about this before
a couple of minutes ago, it's all about creating
those reactions, right. Making
your boxer focused and concentrate on
when you're moving your shoulders. So watch my
shoulders, slip, slip.
There, okay.
Now
we're going to build it up a little bit
I'm going to throw the 1,2 and she's going to slip twice.
Slip, slip. Good. Again
Nice. Notice I'm
fully extending my punches, turning
my hips, I'm using good form and technique
to make it as realistic as possible.
Slip, slip. Good. Make it quicker now
moving around, good.
And again. Nice. One more.
Good
Now we're just going to add the roll. So we're going back to that 1,2
hook
we worked on this
defending the
1,2 hook
with the gloves, now we're going on
defending the 1,2 hook just with head movement
to avoid punches altogether
We slip the jab, we slip the cross
the weights on the left side.
The only punch I can really throw from here is
something from my left side
it'll be a hook, and a roll
get those legs down around the nope
make that U-shape
Get under the punch, okay.
So just a slip, slip, roll. So 1,2
hook coming in, and she's
going to slip right, slip left
roll under the punch
Slip right, slip left, roll under the punch. Good.
Again.
Good. Breathe when you slip
There, nice, good.
So just another basic example right there
on how you can use the head movement as well
using the slips and the rolls.
Okay, so just to recap
three ways we can defend punches.
Footwork, using the gloves, and using the head movement as well
to completely avoid the punches.
Now, can we put those together?
Of course, we can.
So how can we put them together, right?
So I'll start with the footwork. If I came in with let's say a double jab.
Right? I want to push her back with the double jab
She can use her feet to get out the way with the double jab
So you've got two steps
Step, step, alright, she made me fall short
but I still want to commit to that attack
I'm coming with that step in that right hand
she slipped it, and then from there
I want to follow it with a hook and she can block it with a glove.
Boom! Alright.
Just get your weight back to center when you block
2, slip and then boom right there. Okay.
So, I'm throwing a jab, jab, 2, hook
four-punch combinations and she's using the footwork first
to get her out of the way the double jab
but she's still not minding fully getting out of range
I'm falling over the 2, hook
She's slipped the right hand and blocked the hook.
So we've added, we've used the footwork, the head movement, and the gloves there
to defend all of those punches
So let's put it all together. So I'm coming forward, step in
slip in, catching, yeah.
And again. So I'm stepping in
Slip the right, block the hook.
Got it?
Again.
Nice, good. All right.
So there's just an example
at the end, you can start putting this stuff together.
You get creative with your defenses
and your punches.
But, yeah hopefully that just gives you a little background
and a little bit of a basic information
on overall on how we can defend.
You've always going to have three options
when defending punches
your footwork, your hands and your gloves and your head movement as well
and you can get creative on how you want to put it all out together.
Sometimes you can just work purely on footwork to avoid punches
you can just stand in place
block those shots
and then you can also work on mixing them up
where you can slip, catch, and use your feet as well. Alright.
So I hope that helps if you like this video
leave me some comments, leave me some feedbacks.
I'd love to hear what you think about it
and ways that you drill boxing defense in your sessions as well.
Thanks for watching.