Page 35 - Fighting Fit: Boxing, Workouts, Techniques, and Sparring

Punches

Breathing
Exhale through pursed lips in short, spitting wheezes
as you deliver all your punches. Believe it or not, the
tendency is to hold your breath when punching.
Perhaps it’s the excitement, but at any rate, not
breathing is a bad habit that should be avoided.

Jab notes
The jab is thrown directly from the chin with no wind-
up or shrugging of the shoulders.The jab snaps toward
its target and is pulled back immediately.A quick
recovery is just as important as a quick delivery.

Straight right (2)
Your first favorite punch will be the one you throw
with your preferred hand --- naturally!

For the right-handed boxer, it’s the straight right. From
the guard position, the right hand is thrown straight
from the chin on a direct line to the target. Unlike the
jab, which is an arm-powered punch, the right is pow-
ered by a torquing torso and a pivoting right foot. Feel
your back get into this one. The punch should accel-
erate and explode as the right heel of your pivoting
foot swings outward.After impact the hand is sharply
returned to guard.

Because of the weight transfer involved, the straight
right is considered a power punch. But the weight
transfer is also the weakness of power punches
because for a nanosecond the boxer is without a bal-
anced boxer’s stance, and is therefore somewhat
exposed. Hence the importance of getting back to
guard quickly.The risk of throwing this punch too

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