Click to Subscribe
‘Like A Big Cat’
Hand Checking in Boxing
© 2015 James LaFond
JUL/24/15
There is a very simple boxing tool that is almost completely neglected in modern competition and training. The man called “Lill’ Arthur” was Jack Johnson, in my opinion the best heavyweight boxer of all time—including ancient times. He was best known for his “stopping” ability, which today denotes punching power, but back in his day meant his ability to “stop” an opponent’s attack almost as it began.
A stop is accomplished when you are faster and have better reaction time then your opponent, and, when you notice him beginning a motion, you stop it with a checking hand. For various reasons few fighters choose to do this at the current time, largely because it is a foul. But in boxing almost everything is a foul, and nothing is a foul until you have been caught doing it a few times and warned and then penalized. So, by all means, inflict at least one of every foul on your opponent.
As for survival and defense, there are no rules, and, ironically, those things that are foulest in sports competition are fairest and least likely to get you locked up in your private life.
The check is related to the stop and has a specific usage.
Let’s say you are fighting a strong dude who keeps his hands up, is slower than you and hits harder. He therefore likes to use the palms of his gloves to catch your punches and then punish you with counters.
Then what you do is throw a punch, and don’t, but rather catch his catching hand. When you do this his shoulder will momentarily flex. This is a reaction made by all but the most relaxed high level fighters when their guard is checked. The same thing happens with sword and shield fighting. People thing Cory and I are idiots or slobs for attacking each other’s shield as the blow has no chance of scoring. Te entire idea is to get the opponent to flex his shield shoulder, to resist the blade stroke. When he does this you redirect to a stab or slash around the momentarily immobile shield while his muscles are working in the working direction.
With boxing it is the same. As soon as you check his glove or wrist with your palm, he will momentarily resist, providing you with resistance for your push off. You then push off with your hand using your bodyweight that is still shifting forward. This further pins his arm to his body or in its guard position and will delay his reaction to the punch that you are sliding by. I like hitting with the checking hand, keeping my other hand free to deal with the hand that I have not checked.
Play with this, especially with heavyweights. Do not try it against a faster alert opponent that knows what you are doing. Against fast slicksters this is something you only get away with once in a fight.
My favorite application against a fighter with both his hands high to catch punches and counter is to step in behind a jab that I do not let go—a feint.
I then come forward with a lead right hand, which does not deliver to the head, or fall into his waiting hand, but diverts to cuff his glove.
As his shoulder flexes to resist, you keep your weight shifting forward behind the right hand and pull it back just enough to let it slide between his hands and catch him in the center line with a vertical punch.
This is only a half power punch at best, a rear hand jab really, so you now step off right and post a vertical jab up between his glove as you defend his lead counter with your right and prepare to roll out away from his right.
During the course of this you have shifted your weight forward with one step and rear foot push, and then shifted your weight back across your body to the right as you step and drag into a half pivot with the lead foot.
Now, if this dude is some sizzling fighter coming back to rip your head off the rightward shift into a posted jab can turn into a step and slide or fade, which is kind of like a boxing version off the martial arts cat stance.
Play with this in sparring. It is sometimes called “mugging’ by old time guys.
Training Your Sons
modern combat
Boxing for Survival
eBook
honor among men
eBook
when you're food
eBook
the greatest lie ever sold
eBook
thriving in bad places
eBook
beasts of aryas
eBook
the gods of boxing
eBook
orphan nation
eBook
sons of aryas
eBook
cracker-boy
eBook
america the brutal
eBook
z-pill forever
eBook
songs of aryas
eBook
within leviathan’s craw
eBook
triumph
eBook
the first boxers
eBook
dark, distant futures
eBook
the sunset saga complete
eBook
all-power-fighting
eBook
let the world fend for itself
eBook
the year the world took the z-pill
eBook
book of nightmares
eBook
wife—
eBook
the fighting edge
eBook
masculine axis
eBook
sorcerer!
eBook
menthol rampage
eBook
logic of steel
eBook
uncle satan
eBook
winter of a fighting life
eBook
song of the secret gardener
eBook
blue eyed daughter of zeus
eBook
solo boxing
eBook
night city
eBook
ranger?
eBook
fiction anthology one
eBook
advent america
eBook
fanatic
eBook
son of a lesser god
eBook
logic of force
eBook
taboo you
eBook
the greatest boxer
eBook
barbarism versus civilization
eBook
broken dance
eBook
your trojan whorse
eBook
time & cosmos
eBook
on combat
eBook
the lesser angels of our nature
eBook
predation
eBook
hate
eBook
fate
eBook
on the overton railroad
eBook
by the wine dark sea
eBook
the combat space
eBook
under the god of things
eBook
into leviathan’s maw
Fatmanjudo     Jul 26, 2015

Is this in any way related to the indexing you discussed earlier ie red suit pimp video Or are these totally different things. Do you have a video example.
James     Jul 27, 2015

Yes. It is the same principal but using the same hand.

This is done with the same hand, touch him lightly with it then put half your weight in. This is not a finisher usually and is used against a stronger guy who knows what he is doing but is slower. I wrote this after watching Craig stalk Sean around the wring looking to counter after catching punches. This was causing Sean penetration problems, and I offered this as a solution for the lighter quicker guy.

For a quick finish, especially outside the ring against the witless, you are better off just touching with the left and cracking with the right like the pimp did with the drunk.
  Add a new comment below:
Name
Email
Message