Many boxers never get past being linear brawlers. In late October 2024 I watched the under 19 World Boxing Championships, with the best 17 and 18 year olds from around the world competing in Pueblo, Colorado. There has been some fantastic boxing, and some not so much. Amateur boxing emphasises scoring and fast paced action…
Fancy footwork is eye-catching and intertwines the violence of boxing with an elegance as you shift your body, lean and deliver power and punches through integrated movement. Watching Floyd Mayweather slip, parry, shift and use the pull counter is like watching a master artist at work. Vasyl Lomachenko was made to learn traditional Ukrainian dancing…
For a lot of beginners, being fluid is a challenge in boxing. It’s easy to let the intense nature of the sport make you uneasy and reactive. This creates tension and rigidity that won’t allow you to move freely and will often result in bad positioning, form, and fluidity. Think about boxing as a motor…
Having a fast jab is greatly beneficial for boxing. The jab is the most important punch in the sport as it is often used to dictate pace and authority, and is used for setting up harder punches. So its imperative that your jab is not only accurate but also fast. However, many new boxers find…
Floyd Mayweather’s Instagram is an assemblage of cars, money, and watches. A never-ending catalog of luxurious goods. A testament to the American dream. While Floyd is the face of this lifestyle, it could be easy to assume that most professional boxers live a similarly lavish lifestyle. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. The…
Straight punches are often more efficient and effective than looping hooks, but considering them better wouldn’t be correct. They both have a purpose and they are both good for different things. From a sporting perspective, one isn’t objectively better than the other as every punch has a different use case. Straight punches are more effective…
This is one of those questions that gets gym-goers and fighters perpetually arguing. Frankly, it isn’t easy to be objective and have an unbiased opinion when you belong to either of these communities. As someone who goes to the gym frequently for general health but also trains MMA, I’m informed enough to tell you that…
In the modern day, I suppose you could consider boxing a martial art. Most people would define martial arts as a form or discipline of fighting. However, it isn’t that simple. The Cambridge Dictionary defines Martial Arts as a traditional Japanese, Chinese, or Korean form of fighting or defending yourself, practiced as a sport or as exercise. Martial arts include karate, judo, kung fu, and aikido. According to these parameters, boxing can’t be considered a martial…
Punching a bag without gloves comes with challenges and isn’t typically recommended. There are two issues with punching a heavy bag without gloves. Firstly, if you put considerable power into your punches, the skin around your knuckles will split open. As you can expect this will hurt your hands and will prevent you from punching…
The issue with this question is that there is no definitive answer, which will vary depending on the subject. But that’s not very helpful. So in this article, we’ll be breaking down the various styles within boxing and how to develop into a style as a fighter depending on your particular circumstances and tendencies. Personally,…