Page 123 - Doug Werner Boxer's Start-Up

Journal

he He ties a loose, up and back thing (like Muhammad
Ali). Short is a quicker, side-to-side thing
my right where you move your head and shoulders a
lot (like Joe Frazer or Mike Tyson in his
arm with a prime). It’s not so difficult, really, and I pick
it up OK ... for now.
spare
Then we move over to the heavy bag for
wrap and some drills with the combinations. Later Al
makes me puts on his mitts and has me work various
combos with him hitting back (lightly) so I
jab until have to think about defense as well as offen-
sive technique.This is fun.And putting it all
my left together, especially with the more involved
exchanges, is very challenging. For example:
deltoid I throw a one-two, after which he throws a
hook which I duck, after which I throw a
burns. right, after which he throws a right hook
which I block, after which I immediately
react with a hook. The reaction punch is your fastest offensive
threat. It’s basically punching into an opponent’s unguarded area as
he punches.

These exchanges are exhilarating but after a while I forget what to
do and literally spaz out --- covering my head, backing away, etc. Al
just laughs and says it’s natural to bail like that and it takes some
time not to give in to the instinct. He goes on to say that it’s impor-
tant to learn how to commit to your punches, especially when you
see the other guy start to unload on you. It’s better to finish your
action than it is to give up and cover, since your punch can land or
at least defuse your opponent’s punch.

We go back to the bag to fine tune my punching technique.We start
with the jab which I throw too low at first. Since I have a tendency
to drop my right during the jab, Al makes me hold a mitt in my right
arm pit to keep my arm close to my body. Not quite satisfied with
that,he ties my right arm with a spare wrap and makes me jab until
my left deltoid burns.As I toil away he tells me this sordid tale about
his early training when his coach tied him up and made him jab that
way for two months.After an endless three minutes he unties me
and makes me do one-twos in yet another vicious three-minute drill,

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