Important Boxing Skills Every Player Should Know

Martial arts and boxing have become common these days and their popularity is growing as time passes. No doubt boxing is a versatile and amazing sport that challenges almost all of your senses and capabilities. Moreover, it bears an additional advantage of intensive cardio workouts and is an excellent way to burn fat and lose weight. Choosing boxing is definitely the best way to get fit. Boxing is one of the oldest and most popular workouts, has been known to be popular in various civilizations due to different reasons. The journey begins from the early Olympic games, reviving its presence through 18-century England, and the establishment of Marquess of Queensbury rules, boxing rules, and skills have been continuously improved. The perfected form of boxing sport is now very well known to everyone and praised by all. Trends in the 21st century attract sponsors to deal in professional boxers like Mike Tyson, George Foreman, and Muhammad Ali turning them into millionaires. Apart from professional boxing amateur boxing is also finding its way towards progress and growth. People are enchanted by the fame and glory that boxing brings. Now the scope of boxing is not limited to sport only, boxing has turned into an international event for the fitness and health training sector. Boxing presents challenging and fun workout activities. To better understand the fundamentals of boxing skills and techniques, we have elaborated on the most basic skills to learn and familiarize ourselves with.

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Boxing Posture

A perfect boxing stance enables you to maintain your balance and lets you launch offensive and defensive attacks without tripping over. For an effective fight, a fighter must be capable enough to strike multiple blows at a time without losing his stable stance. Your imbalanced stance makes you vulnerable to your rival’s attacks. To develop a perfect boxing stance, keep these in mind:

Do not stand in front of your opponent rather stand sideways, so your lead position would be the shoulder opposite of your striking fist. In case you are right-handed, you need to position your left shoulder towards the rival.

  1. Keep your feet parallel to the shoulders. Move forward at a steady pace with your left foot then bring your left heel in line with your right foot's toes.
  2. Your feet should be positioned at an angle of 45 degrees toward your rival.
  3. The center of gravity and weight of the body must be equally distributed to establish a stable platform.
  4. Keep your back straight and slightly bend the pelvis and knees.
  5. Keep your elbows close to the body and your forearms raised in front of the chest forming a guard.
  6. The right fist must be placed under the chin.
  7. The left fist should be positioned at the shoulder’s height.

Foot Movement

Boxing is not all about hard and fast punch, but also the footwork. Without efficient foot movement, you cannot reach a pro-level. Excellent boxing footwork is the key to developing defense or launching an offense while maintaining a stable position. Some important rules for efficient footwork are:

  1. Divide your weight evenly on both feet.
  2. Your feet should be should-width apart.
  3. Do not cross your feet.
  4. Take short and sturdy steps.
  5. Move your foot to the nearest direction from where you want to move forward.

Speed is a major factor in effective footwork. Footwork requires consistent hard work and some extra time to get really good at it. For quick learning go for the leg strengthening exercises. Skipping jump rope is one of the most popular workouts for strengthening the legs. Shadowboxing with a heavy bag is another way to improve your footwork.

Punching Skills

Punching skills and techniques are the main focus of your sparring session and training. There are many different types of punches but in the beginning, you need to familiarize yourself with these four basic punches: jab, cross, hook, and uppercut.

The Jab

It is the simplest and the most used punch in boxing. Jab is utilized both in defensive and offensive attack combos. Guidance to the perfect jab is as follows:

  1. Lift your left hand with the elbow close to your torso.
  2. Aim your back knuckles to the rival’s chin.
  3. Twist your arm for an impact-bearing punch.
  4. Move your left foot in front, and quickly like a snap move your fist back after launching an attack, to get prepared for the second blow.

The Cross

Cross is an important punch due to its destructive and powerful nature. But if you fail to hit your rival with your aimed cross you would end up vulnerable to the rival’s counter-punch.

Move your back foot and twist your pelvis and shoulders for maximum impact.

  1. Your right arm must be fully stretched.
  2. Use your left hand as a guard, to protect your face and torso from any incoming counterblow.
  3. Keep your left hand in a guarding position, protecting your face and body to avoid a counterattack.

Hook

The hook is a great punch that is launched from the side. It is not launched directly from the front so the rival is caught off guard. For maximum impact, it requires the boxer to arch and put all the force into the blow.

  1. Protect your chin by bringing it down to the inside of your left shoulder.
  2. Turn your toes, pelvis, and fist in the direction of the strike.
  3. Move your head, so that your hand is towards the floor.

Uppercut

The uppercut is a destructive punch that is a good option for a knock-out punch. It begins underneath and targets the rival’s chin. It is not easy for the opponent to anticipate uppercut and carries a factor of surprise. Uppercuts do have a disadvantage if you aren’t able to strike your uppercut to the target there is a great chance that the opponent would launch his destructive punch. Implement these tips for a right uppercut:

  1. Drop your weight on your right foot and twist your pelvis and shoulders to the left, targeting your right punch to your rival’s chin.
  2. For a left uppercut, drop your weight on your left foot, twist your pelvis and shoulders to the right. Move forward to throw the left punch straight to your opponent’s chin.

Apart from a solid stance, efficient footwork, and punching skills there are further boxing styles you need to work on. These include cardio, head movement, and defensive strategies.

Keynote: Boxing is a versatile game that has marked its popularity over time. Boxing is famous for the benefits it holds like strengthening cardiac activity, gaining strength, muscle build-up, and burning fat.

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