It may be that trainers have been saying this to me for years now, and I’m only just recently able to hear it.
There is so much to be mastered in boxing that sometimes it’s all you can do to cope with the basics. You have to simply survive in the ring for a long time before you stop sucking and start to look like you know a couple of things. It can be incredibly hard to operate calmly when you feel like you are under fire, but I promise you, it does happen! You get one tiny building block, then another and another.
I feel like I am finally at the point where I’m able to hear my trainers tell me to advance on the jab. Jay was saying this well before I was at Second Round, where I’m hearing it now from Coach “One Bad Jab” Massey.
It sounds ridiculously simple, doesn’t it?
For whatever reasons, I’ve either not heard it, or haven’t been able to implement it until recently. It could be that I was simply relying on my fairly good reach, and just never gave my jabs that extra push they needed to punch through, rather than to my target. Using your rear foot to push yourself forward in a short, strong burst on the jab gives you a couple more inches and really sends that jab home with a bang.
This is an offensive jab, whereas many of my jabs are also defensive, thrown to keep someone out of my range or stop my opponent’s advance. That’s all good, but advancing on the jab is another way to intimidate, score, and control in the boxing ring.
Check out one of my favorite fighters, Ana “The Hurricane” Julaton (8-2-1, 1 KO), the WBO super bantamweight world champion who recently defended her title against #1 contender Franchesca “The Chosen One” Alcanter (18-10-1, 9 KO’s).
Julaton’s jab is unstoppable. She won the fight on this perfect shot, a handful of power rights and that sick left hook.
Watch how she advances on nearly every single jab. It’s incredible to see, and it’s made even more powerful with the warp speed at which she moves. The fight begins at the 7 minute mark on the video below, and this video includes the entire 10 rounds. Ana is in the red and black.
By the way, Ana Julaton just became the first female boxer ever to appear on a Topps trading card. Cool, huh? Oh, and since they gave Ana one, they had to give one to Manny Pacquiao, too.
But around my house, we’ll be hoping for a Julaton.
Image by maxtm on Flickr
*Incidentally, the ref in the ring in the photo at the top of this post is one of the coaches at Second Round where I’m boxing now. He is frequently back and forth to NY (and many other places) as a boxing referee. I think he’s been doing it now for more than 40 years. I’m forever coming across him in video and photos.
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