18.10.2023 Tonight my 1.5 hour client went in for a tough 12 round workout. There was no particular theme but I took some inspiration from my training with Geoff Thompson and Matty Evans. After a thorough Wrestling and Muay Thai inspired warm-up, we moved onto the workout proper. Each round was three minutes long. Round 1 – Greco-Roman style Wrestling Round 2 – Freestyle Wrestling Round 3 – Freestyle Wrestling Round 4 – Jabs and lead hooks on the focus […]
12.10.2023 Hour six of my client’s course of lessons in the build up to his charity Boxing match next month. Tonight we came back to me with more information from his training camp and problems encountered in sparring. Despite having a good account of himself he had troubles handling a taller opponent with a longer reach. Therefore we mainly focused on tactics and training to deal with this problem. Enter the glove on a stick solution. This simple training aid […]
28.09.2023 Hour five of my client’s boxing fight preparation course moved us onto improving counter-punching strategies. We moved onto sparring fairly early before evaluating certain areas of training. I noted that his left hook had come on considerably since our last session and he caught me with it a treat during sparring! Round 1 – Lead hand only Round 2 – Jab versus body shots Round 3 – Ditto Round 4 – Body shots only Round 5 – Freestyle Round […]
Gene Fullmer versus Carmen Basilio NBA World Middleweight Championship 29.06.1960 Gene Fullmer might have been a busy defending world champion since he stopped Carmen Basilio in round 14 of their clash for the forcibly vacated NBA version of the title with his two 15 round wars against Ellsworth Webb and Joey Giardello, but Carmen Basilio hadn’t fought anyone. He seemed to be in a state of semi-retirement and many would remark about how he had become soured to the sport. […]
14.09.2023 Hour three of my client’s Boxing conditioning course continued with our specific sparring. This time we went for three minute rounds to shake matters up a bit. His fight in November will be 3 x 2 minute rounds. Round 1 – Attack only Round 2 – Defence only Round 3 – Southpaw versus orthodox Round 4 – Ditto Round 5 – Southpaw versus southpaw Tabata 1 – Speed punching Tabata 2 – Power punching Services
05.09.2023 After a short break my client resumed his Boxing conditioning in readiness for a charity fight in November. The break involved him climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, an experience that we discussed will be a great mental reference point for pushing through extreme fatigue. Our warm-up consisted of ladder runs where we performed a few footwork drills before getting onto some light sparring. In line with […]
01.08.2023 My client resumed her “Learn from the Fight” lessons at the beginning of 1960 and the first notable fight of that year concerned the great Sugar Ray Robinson. He had been through a lot of boxing business and politicking issues in the past year. The International Boxing Club had been dissolved in 1959 following the IBC’s failed appeal against the Supreme Court’s antitrust decision of 1955. James D. Norris and Arthur M. Wirtz no longer had a monopoly on […]
The tenth and final hour of my client’s second boxing course brought together most of what we have been covering. This was done over a series of 12 rounds. Using the footwork, timing and some of the punches we have explored through Cuban boxing influences as well as our dives into both the cross-arm and Philly shell guards, we tried to present a cohesive new structure. The results were very pleasing. My client has much better defensive movements both his […]
31.01.2023 The ninth hour of my client’s current boxing course worked more on exploiting ranges. When it comes to low guards, such as the Philly Shell, the guard can change between extending the low lead arm and the far tighter shell. The former is used for edge of range and long range fighting whereas the latter is for the mid and close range work. We worked on using the lead elbow more to deflect and set up jabs and […]
27.01.2023 Hour 10 of my client’s first Mixed Martial Arts course with me focused on looking at both conditioning exercises and putting his skills under some pressure. One of my mandates for taking these sessions was to not use sparring due certain medical reasons. This is something of obstacle when it comes to teaching a combat sport. However, we have found ways to work around this challenge. We have regularly used reaction games, both touch and no-contact, and I keep […]
25.01.2023 Wednesday night’s 1.5 hour lesson was a cross training experience. We looked at both the Philly Shell and the Thai long guard, crossing between both combat sports regularly. The lesson also brought in Cuban footwork and angle shifts, pretty much covering all the material brought into Tuesday’s boxing and teacher consultancy lessons as well as more work specifically on the long guard. In the latter we looked at the relationship between the pawing jab and the Thai long guard. […]
11.01.2023 This year’s first “Learn from the Fight” session finished off the 1950s with Gene “The Cyclone” Fullmer’s first defence of the National Boxing Association version of the world middleweight championship. His opponent was Ellsworth Webb who had previously defeated on a unanimous decision a year ago. Ellsworth “Spider” Webb was born on 20th November 1931 Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. He was one of 11 children born to a hard working single mother. The unsupervised young Webb was quick to get […]
09.01.2023 Hour seven of my client’s current Muay Thai course was a revision of sorts. We went back through southpaw strategies and also looked at punching. Our first three rounds all focused on fighting in a mirror stance, working off the blind side of an opponent using punching techniques. This included a lot of work using the rear hand as a jabbing straight and the up-jab from the blindside. I also introduced more slipping and we focused on how this […]
03.01.2023 My client’s fifth hour of his current second boxing course brought us onto the cross arm guard. The lesson was focused entirely on learning the basic catches and blocks of this defensive posture. We began with straight punching then moved onto hooks, followed by both shots and uppercuts. The lesson was finished with 3 x 3 minute rounds of sparring, the first two focusing entirely on staying in the cross arm guard with me using swarming and out-boxing tactics […]
My final lesson of the day was a 1.5 hour boxing lesson with one of my longest-running clients. Last week we began work on the cross-arm guard concept. Tonight we reviewed the previous information, went into some finer details and then attempted to mimic one of Archie Moore’s most famous exchanges. Archie Moore’s famous knockdown of Yvon Durelle – slip jab to the inside/clinch and pivot/elbow block cross/frame off the rear arm/shoulder roll 1-2/short cross/pivot and continue to throw straight […]
13.12.2022 I finished my trilogy of lessons in preparation for this Saturday’s joint seminar with Iain Abernethy. My section, at the request of Athena School of Karate, focuses on asymmetrical combination candances. In other words, putting together faster techniques with more powerful ones. My 2 x 1 hour slots will look at three boxing combinations and two kickboxing combinations. Today we looked at the finer details of the two kickboxing combinations, as the previous sessions had seen a lot on […]
