In boxing, a large component of the training focuses on building your offensive skills and knowing how to land those punches and counter punches is key. However, developing your defense is just as important if you’re looking to win that fight – it’s often been said that the best defense in boxing is to not get hit in the first place.
Many of the greatest boxers, such as Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Muhammad Ali, have demonstrated just how important a great defense within your boxing repertoire can be and have achieved legendary status by honing their defensive skills.
Read on to find out five defensive techniques which should be an essential component in every boxer’s training:
GUARDING
Your fists, when not throwing punches, should always be up and guarding your face. This basic defense move allows the fists and arm to guard against jabs as well as uppercuts to the chin.
BOBBING AND WEAVING
By bobbing and weaving your head as you move around the ring, you will make it more difficult for your opponent to find the right timing to launch an attack at you. This is a popular defense move as you will remain a constant moving target and be much harder to hit. This move allows you to avoid your opponent’s punch at the same time as allowing you to emerge on their other side.
Make bobbing and weaving drills an integral part of your training sessions. The more you practice the easier the movement will come to you, making you a target which is much more difficult to hit.
SLIPPING
Slipping is a reactionary defensive tactic and involves the boxer turning away from the incoming punch – this move requires you to anticipate your opponent’s punch before it happens. Once anticipated, you can choose to slip to your right or to your left in order to miss your opponent’s punch. After slipping, you may even have the opportunity to land a counter strike on your opponent.
Successful slipping allows a boxer to both avoid lethal punches to the head and also to prepare for hooks or uppercuts.
PARRYING
Parrying involves you deflecting a punch from your opponent with your hands and is a move that allows you to use your opponent’s momentum against him. This technique gives you the ability to defend against stronger punches as you redirect the motion and trajectory of the punch, and this causes your opponent to miss. For a short time after a successful parry, your opponent is then left wide open and vulnerable. A successful parrying could even end up with your opponent being knocked out.
This defensive technique is definitely harder than it looks and requires a great deal of skill, fast reflexes as well as fast reactive times.
FOOTWORK
Good footwork is important in the sport of boxing – it allows you both to move towards your opponent to make an attack but also allows you to get away and defend yourself when your opponent attempts to hit you.
Boxing is a dynamic sport and it is important to work on your footwork so that you are able to get away from your opponent’s attack as fluidly as possible – you can do this by constantly changing direction, moving while punching and incorporating side to side lateral motions. The best way to improve your footwork is through working drills and focusing on the movements required to help you move quickly around the ring.
Here at The Ring, your Boxing Gym in Singapore, we’re here to help you develop both your offensive and defensive techniques, to make you into an all-round fighter. Book your class and join us today!
