Justfulwardog

You could see at first he got away from the big crowd, then he had to take on two at the same time, while another was trying to get around them and at him. He controlled his optimum range excellently (punching range). One guy even tried to get into grappling range, but he threw him to the ground. Another was throwing kicks, but he closed the distance and hurt the guy bad. Looks like that guy took the worst of it. You can tell he is a good boxer by the way he would plant his feet right as he punched. Most boxers don't even know how to do that when they are moving backwards. I like the way even when he wasn't throwing punches he was confusing them with his hands. Against trained fighters it would have been a lot harder for him of course, but Most trained fighters use their skill for self defense only (the dignity of a true warrior), Or at least I like to believe.

I started boxing when I was 16, quit for many years, then started kickboxing when I was 26. Stopped competing at age 30.

The way I took his question, is that he was asking about kicks to the calves, not the thigh. He said he knew how to deal with kicks to the thigh, but didn't know a great defense for protecting the calf, like the shin block. I only fought one fight where the guy kicked me in the calf. I raised my lead leg in a shin block, he kicked under it and got my supporting leg calf. It hurt like hell. I kept advancing, trying not to show the pain, but I could barely use my leg afterwards. Luckily for me the ref warned him on it, cause it was against the rules of this paticular fight. I never faced another guy that tried to kick my calves, so I never focused on training for it. I am afraid I am unsure of what would be the best defense for such a strike, as well. True, as he said, it is a hard kick for them to land, but when they do, it makes a big impact. I guess like any apponent, I would just have to see if he is trying techniques that are targeting my calve. Then I would have to analyse his openings, while he is striking at me, and pick his weaknesses apart. Everytime anyone attacks they are leaving themselves open in some way, shape, or form. They can minimize the openings, but they are always there. So my best advise would be to find there openings while they are in the midst of there attack, and exploit them. When you perform such an attack you would have to really reach with your leg, and bend pretty low with your supporting leg, so I would think about exploiting the fact that they are slow to recover to an onguard position. I bet if you tag them just once while they are in such a low position, it will deter them from lowering themselves much more. Remember, in most cases it is better to lean into a punch, like to the ribs, than to pull away. When you pull back you expose the ribs and solar plexus nicely for your apponent. Likewise, I would think it better to do a jump round kick to there head, while they are dipping so low, than to retreat. That just fuels them to keep trying. If they see you are not laying down for it, they will think twice about such an attack. These are just thoughts, maybe you can try them out and see how they work for you.

I took a good knee strike to the ribs in competition. It didn't hurt much at the time because I used the breathing technique of exhaling right at the point of impact. About 20 min. after the fight was over, the adrenaline wore off and I all of a suden I could not take full breathes. I could only breath in half way, and out half way, but the adrenaline got me well through the fight. I credit that breathing technique as well, without it he surely would have knocked the wind out of me, and probably broke my ribs.

Practice on bringing your hand back into the guard faster after you punch. My boxing coach once told me that it should be brought back at least as fast as you shoot it out there. I later read some Bruce Lee teachings that said, it should be going at 50 mph and coming back at 100. I guarantee if you concentrate on your return speed you will become much much faster. Your combos will be much faster as well. It is suprising, how much it changes your speed. Oh, and don't use gloves or weights to shadow box with. Bruce Lee had a name for the muscle groups, but he said that we need to train certain muscles to not react and slow down our strikes as we throw them. If you weight your hands then you will surely cause the opposite to accur. It is also hard enough on the elbows just throwing punches without weights. Read his writings, he explains it better than I ever could. Brilliant man, he was.

The first time I came across the low kick, I didn't give it much respect. I was wrong. I respect it now. I took a few good low kicks and couldn't fight the way I wanted to afterwards. My offense was lacking as well as my defense. I couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way, and couldn't use my legs to generate the power that I am use to. It is also great for confusing your opponent. Firing mid, high, low, or low, high, mid, ect. can be overwhelming for any level of fighter, if done right.

Is that a picture of Richard Simons, man?

By the way, I love the emphasis on the jab. In personal opinion, it is the single most important strike. I can't really respect any fighter that doesn't have a good jab.

Thai boxers hold there hands in that position, because they are more geared toward defending against kicks. Western boxers hold there hands in there position to defend against punches. I say constantly modify your guard, to best suit the range of your opponent. While taking from two master arts, that specialize in different areas.

They're kicks are nice. You can tell they practrice religiously. I don't like how they do their spinning back kicks. They don't even look at where they are kicking. Also, they don't set up there kicks with punches. They all threw lazy 1 2 combinations, except for one that threw a hook. They didn't appear to commit to the punches, they acted like they were just getting them out of the way, so they could get on with the kicks. That reminds me of what can happen when you throw a 1 2 combo and don't commit with the jab, before throwing the right cross, or left cross for the southpaws. They reminded me of a well train TKD that could take a punch, and throw a mean Thai kick. Or I should say take a kick, since there weren't any real punches thrown.

The way my instructor holds the pads is with his left facing down and the right facing up, at about chest height. You throw an uppercut to his left hand and an overhand right to his right hand. When you throw it with an uppercut, it seems to flow, and you can really get good torche.

Thank you, White Warlock. That is a very wise perspective. I never thought of it that way.

I just reallized that you might not know how to throw a hook. A couple of pointers on that. As you dip down, push your right shoulder forward, cocking your hook shoulder, and rotating on your right ball of the toe counter clockwise. As you start to come up, your right shoulder should be pointing at him. Your left and right hand, should be on your cheek bones. As you begin throwing the hook, counter rotate your left shoulder around and your right shoulder back, and rotate the right ball of toe clockwise and your left ball of toe clockwise. Your right heel "sits down", as your left heel comes up. As you do this you want to lift your elbow, as you are extending your left fist toward his face. Your elbow and fist, should be perfectly horizontal, as you impact his face. Your shoulder should be up, tucked against your chin, guarding it. Your arm should be at a perfect right angle. Anything straighter than that loses power. Haybailers use arm strength, you want to convey your bodies strength, threw your arm. A 90% angle is the optimal way to do that, in a bent arm punch. Power comes from violent twists of the waist and shoulders, as you launch with your legs. As your punch passes the target area, you want to pull your fist back to your cheek as you bring your elbow in, tight against your body, and your left toe pointing at him again. Regrouping to your basic beggining stance. It is very hard to explain this in writing. There are many little tecniques you have to pay attention to, thoughout your body, just to throw a "simple" hook. I probably forgot some things, but I hope that gives you a clue. You rotate your shoulders and pivot your feet simultaneously. And now I am exhausted.

Ok, this will be hard to explain on here, but I will try. You say he throws hooks with longer arms than yours. Practice weaving as you step in. What I mean by that is, you put most of your weight on your lead leg. You dip down, making sure your chin does not go over your knee. Try to be aware of your center. It is in your stomach between your navel and your groin. If you feel it being crunched at all, then you need to keep your back more straight up and down. Use your legs. As you dip, you want your head to go in a U shape. Don't dip too low. You want to dip just enough to dodge the blow, no more. Practice that first. Then as you become more comfortable with that, you then practice stepping in with it, as if you were stepping in with the jab. As the hook slides over your head, you turn that U into a circle, coming back around with your own left hook. The power you can generate is immense. You are not suppose to throw bent arm punches, but what the hell, I say. Fight fire with fire. That's just one possible counter, there are many many more to discover. You are your best teacher, so remeber in your minds eye exactly how he moves, and come up with counters. Visuallize them over and over again.

Those gloves appear to support the wrist, but they don't support your thumb. If you jam your thumb, you will know it.