Empire School of Boxing

April 4, 2011 Posted by Les in Skills and technique

Leg work

Many boxers choose to avoid long hours working on the legs. Indeed, a lot of coaches devote most of their time to hand speed, fitness and defence. However, the super champions work hard on the legs, knowing it is the springboard to punch avoidance and excellent movement in setting the shots up.

Willy Pep was a master mover who could use the ring with grace and purpose to achieve what most would only dream of in boxing. His gliding in and out of distance was fantastic - always altering distance between an opponent and himself. He could knock a opponent out just by shifting his feet and moving in quickly and catching his opponent off-guard.

Another boxer who mesmerised his opponents was Muhammad Ali. His feet were so good opponents would be drawn to them when he produced the ‘Ali shuffle’ and he would then aim to punish them with hurtful (and sometimes knockout) shots. Ali would run backwards just as much as he would run forward and he would spend in excess of an hour shadow boxing in the ring each day only using his legs.

Another two of my favourite boxers were the great Sugar Rays: Leaonard and Robinson. Pure class. Both were out of this world in the ring using foot speed that had been honed and crafted over countless hours in training. During a bout with Roberto Duran, Leonard moved so quickly that Duran gave up as he simply couldn’t catch him. Sugar said afterwards this was his greatest hour. You can not hit what you can not catch.

Sugar Ray Robinson was and is many peoples favourite boxer. However, the thing that stands out for me is his movement. He was a trained dancer and if ever a man had grace it was Robinson. Many of his opponents would say it was hard to nail him with a hard shot as he was always moving. He would be there delivery shots and gone again. Hitting without being hit. Beautiful.