How to Ducking and weaving

Techniques Check-list

1. When you’re approaching your opponent and getting into range, keep both hands up and keep your eyes on your opponent’s face, shoulders and chest. This way, you can easily spot any movement with either arm.

2. As soon as your opponent throws a punch, you quickly bend at the knees, (not your waist).

3. At this point, you can combined the shoulder blocks into the duck and weave. Instead of just keeping your hands up.

4. Move your head and shoulders (in a “U” shape motion) . By using the ball of both feet, and the bend your knees, to move your head and shoulders in a “U” shape motion, to the outside of that punch or shoulder. When using the ball of your feet and the bend in your knees, it creates an more flexible and agile motion to move your head and shoulders in a “U”-shape, without throwing yourself off balance.

5. Remember to keep your weight cantered at all times.

For example, assuming that you and your opponent are both orthodox, and he throws a left hook, then drop down by bending your knees and move your head to your right side so you’ll end up on the outside of that punch or shoulder. You don’t necessarily have to always move your head in a “U” shape motion. Usually, you’ll find that just by dropping your knees, you’ll automatically end up on the outside of your opponent’s punch or shoulder, but, it’s only if your opponent commits to the punch.

6. When you come back up, don’t fully stand up, but continue to keep your hands up/shoulder blocks. You should be still have your eyes fixated on your opponent’s head, shoulders and chest level. If your opponent is throwing fast combinations, then you may want to continue to duck and weave back and forwards again. If you’ve done it correctly, you should end up on the outside of your opponent’s shoulder and punch when you come back up, meaning that he’ll be wide open for an attack.

Things to remember:

Moving Head From Side To Side: There is nothing wrong with this if you’re in your original stance position. This is called slipping punches, which you can incorporate within the bob and weave. However, many inexperienced fighters try to slip punches when they’re down low during their ducking and weaving technique. This is incorrect because your hips and head cannot move quick enough in that position. And you will get hit by your opponent’s punch.

Bending At The Waist: When you’re ducking and weaving, you’re supposed to bend at the knees and not at the waist. Bending at the waist leaves you in a vulnerable position for the uppercut. You also won’t be able to see the punch coming because your eyes will be looking down instead of on your opponent’s head, shoulders and chest.

Bending Too Low: Not only is it illegal to bend too low in boxing, but you also won’t be able to come back up quick enough to throw a counter-punch. As well as being off balance.

Moving In The Same Direction As A Punch: If your opponent throws a left hook, do not move to the right, otherwise you’ll be moving into a position where you can get hit by your opponent’s right hand. You must move to the outside of opponents punches or shoulder so your opponent cannot reach you with his right hand.

Squaring Up: While ducking and weaving, you must always maintain your original feet positioning of your proper boxing stance. Don’t stand with both feet aligned horizontally facing your opponent because you can easily be knocked off balance and you’re offering yourself up as a bigger and wider  target.

Coming Up With Guard Down: Often, inexperienced fighters will duck and weave with their guard down because it helps them see what direction the punches are coming from. This can lead to devastating consequences if their reflexes aren’t working. Ensure that your hands are kept by your chin and not below, or not covering your vision.

Mastering The Duck And Weave

Fortunately, there are some easy ways to practice the duck and weave technique. The following two are the most common.

Using Rope:

You’ve probably seen somewhere before a rope tied from one ring post to another. This allows you to shadowbox while practising your ducking and weaving, by ducking down, than under the rope and weaving up the other side of the rope, from one side of the rope to the other. First try to ducking and weaving on the spot and then try ducking and weaving, while you move forward and backwards.

You can virtually tie the rope anywhere with enough space and at equal height, it doesn’t have to be in the ring. Just make sure that the rope is at around your shoulder height when you’re standing in your boxing stance.

Using Partner:

This is probably a more effective way to learn the bob and weave because you can measure range and timing by using a partner to imitate jabs and hooks. Preferably you should use someone that is taller and has a longer range than you, as you’ll be bobbing and weaving to get on the inside usually of a taller opponent.

Most beginners don’t bob and weave correctly because they’re worried about getting hit when getting into range. You’ll find that once you’re more confident and experienced, bobbing and weaving will come natural and your reflexes will become better.

Ultimately, the duck and weave should be combined with shoulder blocks, slipping punches, sliding and side stepping in order for you to have a well-rounded defence.

 

Ring Strategies

Boxers generally attempt to land short, fast combinations and then quickly shift position to avoid a possible response by their opponent. Strategically, the ring’s centre is generally the desired position since a boxer is able to conserve movement by forcing the opponent to circle around them. When in the centre, the boxer is also less likely to be knocked backwards against the ropes surrounding the ring and cornered. Depending on the boxer’s style, the centre is the desired location as cornering opponents is always a good strategy. Most fighters, though, will not move around the boxer in the centre because doing so makes them vulnerable to shots thrown at good angles. Movement is the most important tool in the ring and allows the fighter to avoid punches that were not telegraphed. If a boxer is standing still, his opponent has a better chance of hitting him. A fighter anticipating a shot while stationary is less likely to be able to evade the shot than a fighter already in motion.

Less common strategies

The “rope-a-dope” strategy

• Used by Muhammad Ali in his 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” bout against George Foreman, the rope-a-dope method involves laying back on the ropes, covering up defensively as much as possible and allowing the opponent to land punches. Weathering the blows, the boxer lures the opponent into expending energy whilst conserving his/her own. If successful, the attacking opponent will eventually tire, creating defensive flaws which the boxer can exploit. In modern boxing, the rope-a-dope is generally discouraged since most opponents are not fooled by it and few boxers possess the physical toughness to withstand a prolonged, unanswered assault.

Bolo punch

• Occasionally seen in Olympic boxing, the bolo is an arm punch which owes its power to the shortening of a circular arc rather than to transference of body weight; it tends to have more of an effect due to the surprise of the odd angle it lands at rather than the actual power of the punch. This is more of a gimmick than a technical manoeuvre; this punch is not taught, being on the same plane in boxing technicality as is the Ali shuffle. Nevertheless, a few professional boxers have used the bolo-punch to great effect, including former welterweight champions Sugar Ray Leonard and Kid Gavilan.

Boxing Styles Terminology
In boxing, no two fighters’ styles are identical. A boxer’s style is evolved as he applies what he has been taught or picked up in practice, and performs it in such a way as to suit himself. Nonetheless, many terms are used which broadly describe a boxer’s style. Note that a boxer is not necessarily limited to being described by one of these terms. A fighter may be described as a boxer-puncher or may be skilled at both in-fighting and out-fighting, for example.

Out-fighter
Muhammad Ali
A classic “boxer” (also known as an “out-fighter”) seeks to maintain distance between himself and his opponent, fighting with faster, longer range punches, most notably the jab. Since they rely on weaker punches such as the jab, boxers tend to win by points decisions rather than by knockout, although some boxers (such as Lennox Lewis) have notable knockout records. Boxers attempt to control the fight by using their jab to keep their opponent at range, and using fast footwork to evade any opponent that closes in. They are often regarded as the best boxing strategists due to their ability to control the pace of the fight and lead their opponent, wearing him down gradually, and exhibiting more skill and finesse than a brawler.

Boxer-Puncher
A boxer-puncher is an out-fighter who has heavy fire power in their punches. They use the same hit-and-move tactics of an out-fighter, but instead of winning by decision, they tend to wear you down before scoring the knockout. For a fighter who uses this style to be effective, they need to have good footwork, good stamina and endurance, good jabs and/or leads, and good speed and power.

Brawler/Slugger
A brawler is a fighter who generally lacks finesse in the ring, but often makes up for it by volume of sheer punching power. Many brawlers tend to lack mobility in the ring and have difficulty pursuing fighters who are fast on their feet. They prefer a more stable stance from which they may throw the harder, slower punches (such as hooks and uppercuts) and tend to ignore combination punching. They may also have a tendency to load up on their punches more (to pull back the arm before throwing the punch so as to have a greater distance to gather momentum over before the punch’s impact). Their slowness and predictable punching patterns (single punches with obvious leads) often leaves them open for counterpunching.

In-fighter
In-fighters or swarmers stay close to an opponent, throwing intense flurries and combinations of hooks and uppercuts is a fighter who attempts to overwhelm his opponent by applying constant pressure. Swarmers tend to have a very good bob and weave, good power, a good chin, and a tremendous punch output (resulting in a great need for stamina and conditioning). Boxers who use the swarmer style tend to have shorter careers than boxers of other styles. Sustainining the adequate amount of training required to execute this style is nearly impossible throughout an entire career, so most swarmers can only maintain it for a relatively brief period of time. This inevitably leads to the gradual degradation of the sheer ability to perform the style, leaving him open to increasing amounts of punishment. This style favours closing inside an opponent, overwhelming them with intensity and flurries of hooks and uppercuts. They tend to be fast on their feet which can make them difficult to evade for a slower fighter. They also tend to have a good “chin” because this style usually involves being hit with many jabs before they can manoeuvre inside where they are more effective. Many swarmers are often either shorter fighters or fighters with shorter reaches, especially in the heavier classes, that have to get in close to be effective. Tommy Burns was the shortest Heavyweight champion at 5’7, while Rocky Marciano had the reach at 67-68 inches. However, heavyweight Jack Dempsey (a modern cruiserweight in size) at nearly 6’1 in. tall with a 77 in. reach was an exception to the rule. Famous swarmers include Henry Armstrong, Carmen Basilio, Nigel Benn, Melio Bettina, Tommy Burns, Joe Calzaghe, Julio Cesar Chavez, Steve Collins, Jack Dempsey, Joe Frazier, Gene Fullmer, Kid Gavilan, Harry Greb, Emile Griffith, Fighting Harada, Ricky Hatton, Jake LaMotta, Rocky Marciano, Battling Nelson, Mike Tyson, Bobo Olson, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Patterson, Aaron Pryor, Tom Sharkey, David Tua, Mickey Walker, Micky Ward, and Jimmy Wilde.

Bob-and-Weave Fighter
Many short in-fighters utilise their stature to their advantage, employing a bob-and-weave defence by bending at the waist to slip underneath or to the sides of incoming punches. Unlike blocking, causing an opponent to miss a punch disrupts his balance, permits forward movement past the opponents extended arm and keeps the hands free to counter. Some bob-and-weave fighters have been known for being notoriously hard to hit, a well-known example being Mike Tyson early in his career. Another example is Joe Frazier.

Puncher
The term ‘puncher’ refers to a fighter with a powerful punch, but is not a true descriptor of boxing style. Punchers are capable of knocking out their opponents with few punches if given the opportunity to land them cleanly, and in some cases, scoring a KO with only a single blow. Notable punchers include Jack Dempsey, Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Joe Louis, Lennox Lewis, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, John Mugabi, Julian Jackson, Felix Trinidad, Earnie Shavers, Rocky Marciano, Joe Frazier, Roy Jones Jr., Nigel Benn, Naseem Hamed, Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo, Chris Eubank, Kelly Pavlik, Manny Pacquiao.

Counterpuncher – a sub‐category where a boxer decides to utilize techniques that require the opposing boxer to make a mistake, and then capitalizing on that mistake. A skilled counterpuncher can utilize such techniques as winning rounds with the jab or psychological tactics to entice an opponent to fall into an aggressive style that will exhaust him and leave him open for counterpunches. A good example of this is the Marquez/Mayweather fight wherein Mayweather was able to draw Marquez, a highly tactical and technical boxer, into making rudimentary mistakes. Lone jabs of the opposing fighter that miss are often met with swift jabs or quick combinations. For these reasons this form of boxing balances defense and offense but can lead to severe damage if the boxer who utilizes this technique has bad reflexes or isn’t quick enough. While swarmers do sometimes counterpunch, it normally doesn’t fit in with their more aggressive crowding tactics. Notable counterpuncher’s are Andre Berto, Timothy Bradley, Adrien Broner, Charley Burley, Floyd Mayweather, Bernard Hopkins, Vitali Klitschko, Juan Manuel Márquez, Archie Moore, Jerry Quarry, Salvador Sanchez, Max Schmeling, Dick Tiger, and James Toney.

Southpaw

Southpaw – a boxer that fights at a left‐handed fighting stance as opposed to an orthodox fighter who fights right‐handed. Orthodox fighters lead and jab from their left side, and southpaw fighters will jab and lead from their right side. Orthodox fighters also hook more with their left and cross more with their right, and vice versa for southpaw fighters. Some naturally right-handed fighters (such as Marvin Hagler and Michael Moorer) have converted to southpaw in the past to offset their opponents. In the Rocky (film series), Rocky Balboa and Clubber Lang are southpaws, as well as Mason Dixon who is played by actual light‐heavyweight southpaw Antonio Tarver. Famous southpaws include Melio Bettina, Ruslan Chagaev, Tiger Flowers, Marvin Hagler, Naseem Hamed, Zab Judah, Michael Moorer, Manny Pacquiao, Antonio Tarver,Pernell Whitaker, and Winky Wright.