5/1/17: Boxing 5 count combinations, pad rounds and empty hand v knife

SHADOW BOXING - 5 COUNT COMBINATIONS
Big and round to get the motion of the combination into the body, then small, tight and fast.
Steve talked about the hands of a pro boxer who is shadow boxing. The elbows are in tight, the body moves a one unit and it appears as if there is small ‘window’ just in front of them and they are not fully extending their punches. At times, it can look like a blur. This concepts of tight body mechanics, short snapping punches, smoothness in motion and speed were what we were aiming to develop.
If we practise at 5mph then we’ll fight/spar/compete at that speed, so we need, as part of our practise, ramp up the speed.

You can see from this video what a skilled boxer Nigel Benn was. The video is years after his career had finished but the crispness in his motions are simply staggering.



Then there is the violent chaos that was a young Iron Mike Tyson



And to round it off, Mr Mayweather showing his skills.



The combinations were worked on were:

1: jab-cross-uppercut-cross-lead hook
2: jab-uppercut-uppercut-uppercut-lead hook
3: jab-cross-pull back for overhand-uppercut-overhand
4: jab-lead uppercut-cross-lead body hook-lead head hook

The combinations were worked in the mirrors and then facing a partner. Way out of range, using their shape as a target. All combinations came off the jab which each of us were snapping out as we were moving around.

PAD ROUNDS
The pad holder kept the pads close together with the tops touching like 2 sides of a triangles so the puncher could throw at speed without the pad holder having to position the pads like we would in regular pad rounds. The puncher had to come out of range after each combination

1: jab-cross-uppercut-cross-lead hook
2: jab-uppercut-uppercut-uppercut-lead hook

KNIFE
Building on the practise from Tuesday night.

Cutting single stabs to the heart. Using the forearms to cut across the angle of the high line stab.

Double stab cutting, as above but using alternate sides of the body to offline the incoming attacks.

Passing the knife against a single stab to get two hands to one. He is stabbing with the knife in his right hand and left leg forward.

• Left forearm cut – take the wrist with the right and slide/move up his arm leading with your elbow (ensuring there are no gaps between his arm and yours. If there was, this gap would allow him cut back across your abdomen). Take control of the arm as you position yourself at his side. At this point, your left arm is wrapping the upper arm, the same arm elbow is against his torso. The right hand is pulling his wrist into you as you apply pressure through the arm with your shoulder. You now have established 2 hands to 1, the knife is controlled.
• Right forearm cut – using the back of the hand pass the arm across his centreline, and immediately cup the elbow with the left hand as the right finger jabs to the eyes. The forearm must be on his, there can be no gaps so he can’t cut back across. From here do the above motions to get 2 hands to 1.

The above was against single high line stabs, this moved briefly into defending against double stabs. Here we had to use alternate cuts with the forearms across his attacking lines. Following the second ‘cut’ we applied the passes to get 2 hands to 1.