How do pro boxers fight? What techniques do pros use that amateurs don t?

What are some special things that only pros do? What are the things that pros do really well? I ve put together a list of key fighting techniques that I ve seen in practically al l professional boxers but rarely in amateur boxers. Many of these special techni ques are subtle and require truly refined skills that can only be developed thro ugh years of training. They are very hard to see and even harder to do. I share them to the best of my ability for your enjoyment and perhaps future boxing insp iration. Here they are: 10 POPULAR pro boxing techniques!

This guide isn t so much about giving instruction as it is about raising awareness . I will TELL you what they do, but I won t TEACH you what they do (at least not i n this guide). My hope is to at least open your mind to other techniques out the re. It s time for you to start noticing the little details and things that you didn t re alize existed before and hopefully one day incorporate them into your game. If y ou re too inexperienced that you can t notice these details (even with my descriptio ns), you re probably not at the right level to try them yet. It s ok. Give it time a nd one day you ll get there.

1. Staying HEAVY Anybody who s been in the ring with a pro before will know what I m talking about. Y ou know right away when you re in with a pro because he feels as solid as a rock. You can feel his weight even when you re only punching into his guard. You could put 140lb pro in with an amateur 160lb middleweight and the pro will EASILY push th e amateur around. Pros have great balance and stay very grounded. You can feel t heir weight when they punch, when they push you around on the inside, and even w hen you throw a punch into their guard. HOW do the pros stay so heavy? One thing I ve noticed: they re very relaxed that the ir weight can sit comfortably on the ground. They don t move around or fidget around so much like the amateurs. And they hardly take their feet off the ground. It s n ot about being low to the ground, it s about not lifting your legs (and disturbing your center of gravity) so much. Being heavy allows the pros to stand their ground very comfortably. They don t fal l all over the place or fall off balance like amateurs. They stand wherever they want and they move only when they want to move. Their great balance allows them to move faster and move to more angles. Last but not least their superior balan ce allows them to throw punches with so much more power.

2. Endless ANGLES Just like I said, the pros have endless angles. When they re punching you, you fee l like the punches can come from all over. A jab can slice up the middle (passin g the inside of your forearm) or around the side (passing the outside of your fo rearm). A right hand can come high, low, around, under, or straight through. It can come twice. The left hook can come high, low, at your chin, at your forehead

, at the side of your head, at your body. The left hook can hit your body even w hen you think your elbow is blocking it. The uppercuts seem to come from all ove r as well to your head, to your body, even battering you through your gloves. You start to feel like a child hiding behind the door when you helplessly put up a peek-a-boo defense to keep out the pro. He always finds angles to hurt you ev en when you think you re totally covered. You feel like his punches can squeeze th rough the tiniest of holes and hit your chest, your chin, your solar plexus, kid ney, anywhere. When you re the one punching them, the pro always finds an angle to escape. He s ove r, under, to the side, too far back, too close, or always somehow tilted or turn ed away so that your punches have no effect. Most annoying of all is that he s rig ht in front you I mean LITERALLY RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.

3. Game-stopping JAB I call the pro boxer s jab a game-stopping jab because it can counter ANY punch. The pros have a jab that can interrupt the opponent NO MATTER WHAT. It can stop his right hand, it can stop his hook. It can stop him from coming forward. Obviousl y, there is one condition: it has to land! How do they do it? Well, it s more than just having that stiff sharp power and gre at accuracy. Pros have such precise timing with their jab. Sometimes they throw it with a fast snap to surprise you. Sometimes they add power to pop you with a counter jab right when you punch. Other times, they throw it as a lightning fast touch to distract you before you can even think of throwing a punch. From any a ngle, any position, the pro s jab always finds a way to interrupt your thoughts an d combinations. It can be long or short, soft or hard, leaning in or leaning back, standing tall or crouched, while moving, while pivoting, well-timed and well-placed. A pro ja b can beat any punch.

4. Make You MISS Wide Pros are so amazing at slipping punches. Their obvious skill is avoiding your pu nch. Their not-so-obvious skill is making you aim at the wrong place. I can thin k of few better ways to evade a punch than by making someone miss in the first p lace. This requires several skills and strategies and LOTS of sparring experience. Pro s are very good at knowing which positions bait which punches. They also know th e natural rhythm and flow of certain combinations. And statistically they re able to guess that from *this* position, the opponent is most likely to throw *this* punch and then follow up with *that* punch. And then what they ll do next is bait *this* position to make you miss the first p unch, and as you re missing, they ll quickly move their head to *that* position to r eally bait you into throwing an even harder follow-up shot. You might have only barely missed the first punch but you ll totally miss the second punch for sure. W hich buys him all the time to land whatever counter-punch or counter-combo he wa nts to throw. What does this require? Skill AND PATIENCE. If the pro had countered after the f irst slip, he would have missed the opportunity to bait you into throwing (and m

issing) an even wider shot. And so pros will slip about 2-3 times to make you mi ss wider and wider before countering you. This is how they create the opportunit ies to land those devastating knockout punches! The pros have been boxing for so long that they always know exactly what punches are likely to come next. Whereas the typical amateur boxer will fire back immed iately because he might not get that opportunity to counter later.

5. Killer INSIDE-FIGHTING Game Pros are especially adept at fighting on the inside for many reasons. They re more comfortable with fighting and exchanging up close (compared to amateur boxers) because the pros have better defensive skills. Amateurs, although quite skillful , still rely more on footwork for defense. The amateur boxing system is based on a point system which helps taller longer guys throw a bunch of pitty-pat shots and run away. Pros have to land damaging shots to win over the judges which requ ires them to get closer and stay in firing range. A pro boxing match can last up to 12 rounds whereas an amateur boxing match is o nly 3 rounds. This means a pro fighter does not have the energy to run as much a nd will need to stay in the inside to conserve energy and or clinch and buy time . Years of being in the ring has allowed pros to become quite comfortable up close with an opponent. They understand punching rhythms and know how to roll off the punches even at point blank. It s also important for pros to know how to fight on the inside because the referee might be biased and let the other guy clinch or use more dirty tactics on the inside. With no energy to run away, they have no c hoice but to get comfortable up close. Pro boxers are really slick on the inside. They know how to wrestle a guy, push him, turn him, spin him, hold him, clinch him. They know how to use their body o n the inside to defend, move, or create space for punches. They can punch and de fend even without looking. I can easily spot pros in a sparring match because they re comfortable being RIGHT IN FRONT of their opponents. And I don t mean this in the way like a reckless bra wler being stupidly aggressive, but a slick guy who is inches in front of his op ponent, slipping and sliding, and totally outmaneuvering even without letting hi s opponent lay a hand on him.

6. Painful BODY SHOTS Body punching is another one of those things that differentiate the pros from th e amateurs. In amateur fighting, head shots are easier to score because they re cl earer and easier to see. There s more of a visual effect when the head snaps back. Body punches aren t as easy to see and score and sometimes look like blocked shot s. With amateur boxing matches being only 3 rounds, there sometimes isn t enough t ime for the fighter to reap the long-term gains of body punching. Body shots can slow down an opponent but they may take some time to really affect the opponent . Another concern for amateurs is losing out on the exchange by getting countered to the head as they go for the body. Quite often, some amateurs only use body pu nches to set up head punches. Many amateurs don t rely on body punching as part of the their main arsenal.

Pro boxers on the other hand are very different! They LOVE body punches and they have the necessary skills to land them. It takes a tremendous amount of skill t o slip inside without taking damage, time the punch to land as the opponent s elbo ws are lifted, aim precisely into the body where it hurts the most, and then get out without getting countered. Imagine having to do all this with a full commit ment of power and not get worried about getting hit in the face while your arm i s down. Pros use body punches for many reasons. Throwing punches to the body can make th eir opponents drop their elbows and expose the head. Body punches can damage the ir opponent s core making it painful to move around (great for slowing down runnin g fighters). Body punches can severely hurt a fighter and take out his wind, rem oving power from his punches. Body punches can be very painful and mentally crip pling to an opponent. A perfectly placed body punch can actually cripple an oppo nent and knock him out. He ll fall to the floor in so much pain and his legs will be so paralyzed that he can t get up (even if he has the heart to continue). Body punches can be a tremendous equalizer in fights where the opponent is too f ast or has too much head movement. Body punches can be used to slow down the fas ter fighters. Body punches can also be used to drag better-skilled opponents int o messy wars where the brawler gets more chances to cause damage. Many boxers wi th great chins have been known to drop their arms freely at times and throw body shots at close range to bait less durable (or less engaging) opponents into dan gerous exchanges.

7. Deceptive DISTANCE Control Pro boxers are so SOOOOOO incredibly clever and deceptive at changing the distan ce on you. I m not talking about the ability to move quickly or have good footwork . I m talking about the ability to move in a way that your opponent cannot feel yo u moving! Imagine a guy whose punches were so perfectly non-telegraphic that you couldn t feel them coming. In the same way, imagine a guy whose footwork was so p erfectly non-telegraphic that you couldn t feel him moving in and out on you. You think he s far away and yet he hits you. Of course he moved in at some point b efore hitting you but you never noticed him moving in. Or sometimes he s up close and right as you re about to throw a punch he s already gone. And again you didn t notic e him moving away! It s even more incredible than that. I ve had pros close 3-4 feet of space and whack me with big combinations without me seeing it! This is something you have to see in person, FROM INSIDE THE RING, to really app reciate. It s easy to watch this on TV and say, Oh he should counter him when he co mes in. But that s the thing YOU CAN T FEEL HIM COMING IN! You cannot feel his body get ting closer, you cannot feel his feet shifting and sliding or whatever he s doing down there. This isn t just good footwork, this is ULTRA-SLICK footwork! Again, it s not about speed, it s about being undetectable. Part of how the pros do it is through using incredibly relaxed footwork. That s the only way. It s like punc hing. As long as you re being totally relaxed and free of tension, the opponent ca nnot read you because you re not loading any tension in your body. There is nothing to read . The other part of it is timing. The pros really understand when are good moments to come in and they have the experience to know when you re not prepared f or it.

8. LEAD right hand

Pros have great lead right hands. It s not the most powerful knockout punch in the world but it s a nice surprisingly quick shot with a just enough pop to stop you in your tracks. They ll land it right as you re about to throw a jab or even right b efore you throw your right hand. A pro popped me good once with a lead right as I came in with my head while trying to throw my right hand. It taught me to keep that head back or maintain a distance always. The lead right is so much faster than you think and so hard to see. The trick to the success of this right hand seems very much to be the result of two things: the body position and the punching technique. Pros use a wider varie ty of relaxed free-flow body positions. They re able to punch and defend from ever y position so they re not always forced to rigidly spring back into the basic stanc e . Because of their skill, they have more freedom to square up their shoulders or lean in at times which brings their right hand closer. Their punching technique for the lead right hand is very much like a jab techniq ue. A quick little pop in the shoulder and that s it, not so much twist in the hip s or pivoting in the feet (like with a normal right hand). They simply hold the ground right there and then *POP!* there goes the lead right. Because their punc hing technique is so minimal, they can get that right hand off so much quicker a nd from any position. The pros lead right hand technique is all about setting up the arm and then firi ng it using a little pop in the shoulder. The real SKILL in landing this punch i s knowing the timing and when to throw it. When thrown properly, you can stun an opponent right in front of you without him even knowing what hit him, it s THAT f ast. And then you can finish him off with some hooks and an even harder right ha nd. Having a fast lead right hand makes your right arm a much more balanced weapon. It s very common that you see a fighter with a well-developed left arm that can th row both fast punches (jabs) and hard punches (hooks/uppercuts) but the right ar m is a bit one-dimensional and can only throw hard long range shots. Having that fast lead right allows the right arm to have both fast and hard punches at your disposal. This makes you far more threatening to your opponents because now the y really have to watch out for both of your hands.

9. WALKING Around This is one of my favorite qualities about pro boxers. They walk around a lot. T hey look so calm, relaxed, and nonchalant about fighting but they re actually alwa ys ready to engage. They ll walk in, hit you, and walk away. Slick as hell, you do n t even realize how easily they walked in on you. And you frustrated when you see how calmly they walk away. When they want to run, they don t jump or panic or any thing like that. They simply walk: a step to the left, another step to the right , maybe two steps to the left again and they re out. Walking keeps their feet grounded, energy conserved, and the fight relaxed. It t akes a really slick fighter to be able to walk around the ring without a care in the world but that is what the pros do well.

10. Lots of TOUCHING Pros touch their opponents a lot. And I mean A LOT. It s a stark contrast to how a mateur boxers fight because amateur boxers are usually keeping their hands up fo

r defense and keeping their hands to themselves. When you watch pros in sparring , you always see them laying their hands on their opponents, touching here and t here. It s such an effective technique and when strategically used, it can create all sorts of offensive and defensive opportunities in the fight. Offensively, you could touch an opponent simply to distract him. Instead of jabb ing him to the head (which is slower), you could touch his head, or if his glove is up, you could touch his glove and then quickly throw a hook to the body. You can punch with the same hand that touched or use the other hand. You could touc h any place to concentrate his guard there and then attack him from a different angle. Defensively, you could touch an opponent to interrupt his punches. Suppose you d idn t have time to throw a counter jab, maybe your body wasn t in position to throw a proper jab or your hand isn t retracted back enough, you could just extend the h and and quickly push his face away. It s a very annoying tactic and can buy you ju st enough time to move away. It s common to see pros touching their opponent s head or shoulders. Touching an opp onent s shoulders can force him to fire a curved punch instead of a straight punch , which is then easily avoided by leaning back. It s easier to defend because you knew what to expect. You can do the same by touching an opponent s head as you mov e away from him. It s annoying and can frustrate an opponent because it limits his punching options and can even prevent him from coming in. On the inside, pros also like to touch an opponent s head or shoulders to use that as a lever to push him or spin him away. Many pros will touch or even hold thei r opponent s shoulders as they move around their opponents. It s pretty slick and ve ry fun to watch. It s important to know that nobody likes to be touched. Even the simple contact of your glove on your opponent s body can make him anxious and exert more energy tha n he would have. I especially like to put my hands on guys with thick arms becau se it makes them more reckless and wears down their heavily-muscled arms. If you v e ever fought a pro before, then you know how annoying it is to have to punch ar ound his forearms all the time.