Often overlooked by amateur boxers, defense is key to staying in the ring and winning fights. Defense, which requires physical skills other than attack, is the ability to predict and respond to opponent's attacks, and also requires an important mental component. These steps will teach you how to develop defense in boxing and how to improve it with simple workouts.
Steps
Step 1. Begin each training session by assuming the guard position
- The guard position is as follows: keep your legs shoulder-width apart, your hand and foot weak in front of you, your waist and chest perpendicular to your axis, your elbows close to your ribs, and your chin at a 90 ° angle with the neck. Maintain this position even when you train on your fists, so as to get your body used to protecting itself.
- When moving and punching in the on-guard position, always bring your elbow back into position and move your head. You should never offer a fixed target to your opponent, and you should be protected enough to block straight punches to the head and chest.
Step 2. Practice the blocks
- A simple block involves raising your dominant hand in front of you with the palm facing forward and absorbing the fist with the glove. Practice blocking hooks, uppercuts and forehand and focus on maintaining balance and guard when blocking.
- Get a variety of different punches from an opponent or trainer and block them. It also blocks when you are packing alone, remembering to keep your hands in front of your face when you are not throwing a punch.
Step 3. Practice side dodging
Dodging involves rotating your body and bending over at the waist to avoid blows to the head. Maintain the position of the gloves during the dodge, so that you are ready to counterattack with a punch. Make an opponent head straight and avoid them by dodging
Step 4. Practice dodging by lowering your head
- This dodge involves crouching under a punch by bending the knees, swiping to the other side of the punch, and returning to position to launch a counterattack. You should be able to dodge without moving your feet.
- Have an opponent pull hooks to the head and dodge them by crouching and going around them. Try to dodge by crouching by alternating directions, then vary the sequence to respond to the opponent's punches.
Step 5. Start parrying your punches
- The parry involves deflecting a punch by hitting the opponent's wrist. You should block the punches that the opponent throws at you with the left with your right hand and vice versa. The parry requires a very short movement: lean back slightly at the waist and deflect the fist a few inches from the body.
- Have your opponent deliver several light, deflecting punches with your hands. Start by blocking without gloves, then when you are faster, switch to gloves.
Step 6. Practice the defensive moves you have trained in the ring
Sparring with an opponent and focus on defense rather than attack. Pay particular attention to guarding and footwork, and save energy to dodge, duck and parry punches
Step 7. Turn defense into attack
Throw your punches after defensive moves: for example, throw a hook after a block, or an uppercut after a down dodge. This will help you develop the counterattack
Step 8. Practice with several different boxers
This will allow you to try out defense against many different fighting styles. Work on the counterattack by analyzing your opponent's punch sequence
Step 9. Work on the defense yourself
Include defensive moves in your personal bag training. Always include blocking, dodging and parrying when training your punches
Advice
- A good way to anticipate your opponent's moves is to observe their collarbones, just below the chin and shoulders.
- The only way to improve defense in boxing a lot is by sparring. You will need to gain experience in the ring to understand what works. But keeping your guard and practicing defensive moves alone will accustom your body to defense, and will help you transition smoothly from defense to offense.
