-Muhammad Ali is well known for his incredible footwork and hand speed, but he also had a
brilliant and unorthodox method of defense; he called it his “lean back style”.
In this video we will break down how he used head movement, footwork, and devastating counters
to dominate his opponents.
Then we will quickly expand on our last video, and explain how Ali added combinations to
his circling footwork pattern.
Ali had incredible defense, and it wasn’t just his reflexes, but his creative movement
which allowed him to pull off things few other fighters could.
When his opponents attacked, Ali would usually step back, slip and drop his hands even lower.
This goaded his adversaries to overreach chasing after his head.
Overextending lowered the height and power of their jab, and Ali would change levels
and pick off the blows with his shoulders.
He was essentially expanding the height advantage he usually enjoyed.
Incredibly, Ali was such a great judge of distance that he could narrowly dodge blows
by turning his chin.
This allowed him to stay closer to his adversary, which kept him in range to counter.
But more on that in a second, lets look at the defensive footwork Ali used in conjunction
with head movement.
Ali’s defensive footwork pattern is step back, shift back and left into southpaw, and
then pivot.
He preferred to slip to the inside, and tended to change head position once for each step,
From the front: 1,2,3.
If you have limited space, you can substitute the pivot for a shuffle.
Stepping back allowed Ali to angle to the inside and let his opponent go right past
him, like a matador sidestepping a charging bull.
The pivot would then realign Ali in a superior position, with his rival more open and Ali
ready to continue circling and jabbing.
Keep in mind that while using this defensive footwork, even Ali would raise his right hand
against especially good hook punchers and his left hand against those with a powerful
cross.
But he preferred to parry or deflect punches off his elbows in order to drain his opponents
of energy.
Ali would sometimes modify his defensive footwork and use it for a quick attack.
Stepping back left his rear hand much closer to his opponent, and he took full advantage
of this situation to go on the offensive.
He would stop short, square up and leap into a cross.
But this technique was nowhere near as effective as his counters.
Ali would get his opponent used to this pattern, and lull them into thinking he would always
retreat from their attacks.
He would then stop short and throw his self titled “Anchor Punch”.
After leaning back and slipping to the inside as usual, looking to get the perfect distance
from which to throw his counter right.
Since Ali turned his head to the side, he had to rely partially on touch to gauge distance.
That’s why jabbing the right side of Ali’s body was like hitting a button that released
a fight ending punch.
As he moved his head back, his hand would come from below his competitor’s field of
vision and remain out of site by following his own jab back to him.
Then Ali’s glove would arch over their shoulder and snap down.
Those Ali hit with this punch commonly said that they had never even seen it coming.
Ali most likely took his iconic circling pattern from his idol, Sugar Ray Robinson.
Let’s look at how Ali modified it to throw combinations while circling.
To review quickly, Ali’s footwork is step, hop and jab, push off and swing your back
leg behind you, step back into stance, and repeat.
By adding additional punches to this pattern, Ali was able to change the line of attack
with each punch, giving him built in defense and hitting around his competitors guard.
Ali placed his second punch on the last step of the sequence, as he stepped out and uncrossed
his legs.
This included his double jab, jab – hook, and jab uppercut combos.
But lets look at Ali’s most effective combination, his jab jab cross.
Ali would jab on the hop as normal, change positions with the cross step, and then let
his 12 go as he stepped out.
1,2,3,4.
This combination used manipulation of timing to gain an advantage over his opponent.
Notice that after Ali establishes a rythim with the circling jab, the 1-2 comes in on
the last step at twice the speed in half beats.
After jabbing, stepping out from crossed legs loaded up Ali’s cross with more momentum,
adding surprising power for a boxer up on his toes.
This is an interesting technique to end the breakdown on.
Ali would sometimes throw his jab on 2 as normal, and then his cross on step 3, as he
crossed his legs behind him.
Nothing about this punch should work, but he managed to land it with decent power.
We’ll just put it down to it being The Greatest of All Time, Muhammad Ali.
While I wouldn’t recommend copying all of Ali’s style, especially without years of
experience, I encourage you to try a few things out and let us know how it goes.
Please like, subscribe for more videos, and share with people who may find these techniques
interesting.
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the channel.
From the modern martial artist, this has been David Christian, wishing you happy training.