Questionable Guard/Stance

[Furniturepal]

Long post, but please bear with me:

My friend and I went to our first boxing class at the gym on Wednesday. The teacher is pretty well respected and well-known throughout the town. Great guy to talk to. I know for a fact he's a state-wide pro boxer and he also trained an acquaintance of mine (who could probably fight his way out of almost any situation.)

Anyway, onto my questions. During class, he taught us the orthodox concept of being right handed with left foot forward, etc. The only thing was, instead of the regular orthodox boxing stance of (which I've heard to be right, please correct me if I'm wrong): Left foot 12 o'clock, right foot roughly 2 o'clock- he teaches both feet 12 o'clock, which he agrees is harder to maintain, but that's the way he teaches it. Is this better than the stance I'm thinking of?

In addition to that, he teaches the guard stance to be both fists over your ears, chin inwards against your body, knees slightly bent, and elbows as close as you can bring them together.

Probably needless to say, this is very different than the well-thought-of stance, which I had been thinking of and seen countless times. I never thought of asking him about it until I was home and the lesson was over, and my next class is on Monday (but it probably wouldn't matter, because he'd likely defend his guard as the best.)

Anyway (just a few more words until I'm done), when I shadowbox at home using that guard, I feel it wouldn't be effective in an actual fight, especially without gloves. To add to that, I've never even heard of it or seen it, even after searching Google repeatedly, so I'm curious. I figured I'd post it here and ask about it.

Has anyone ever even heard of this style or a style similar? Do you think it's effective, pure trash, or even a home-made style made up by him? It has me thinking.

Thanks.

[Tom Yum]

Long post, but please bear with me:

In addition to that, he teaches the guard stance to be both fists over your ears, chin inwards against your body, knees slightly bent, and elbows as close as you can bring them together.

Has anyone ever even heard of this style or a style similar? Do you think it's effective, pure trash, or even a home-made style made up by him? It has me thinking.

Thanks.

Sounds good. I'm barely average - if that - at the sport of boxing, but here goes...

You've got your hands up covering most of your face to cover against or parry head shots, chin tucked (very important) - if you leave your chin out you're welcoming it to get nailed, knees are slightly bent so you can explode off of them to initiate power in your punch and move relatively easily (footwork can make or break a boxer); elbows should be close to the body so you can protect your kidneys/ribs but not necessarily together.

Feet should be a little wider than shoulder width, mostly on the balls of your feet but feet should never be parallel to each other and on the same line otherwise you could get knocked off balance easily.

[Furniturepal]

Thanks Tom for clarification on the foot stance. I'm aware of the fact that you're supposed to have your chin tucked in, knees bent, etc. - it's just the guard concept of having your fists over your ears that seems funky to me. While searching even harder for a picture of the guard I'm talking about, I found this (just that the fists would be another 2 inches higher and further back, covering the ear-temple area, and elbows would be closer together). That's the guard I have in question. Doesn't look at all effective, and I've never seen anyone use it, in the ring or out of the ring. So I'm wondering if I'd be better off using that (as taught), or the more popular guard.

Thanks.

[Tom Yum]

General info:

Keeping your arms slightly extended in the guard, as you mention from looking online, is really good for an offensive fighter with longer than average reach and really quick hands; his arms are out and ready to fire long jabs and straight rights/crosses.

Think Roy Jones Jr.



Keeping your arms closer to your body and near your jaw ear-line is better for a counter-offensive inside fighter with average or shorter than average reach.

When you tuck your chin where it needs to be (imagine your looking up and out from your eyebrows at your opponent), keep your lead shoulder elevated and your hands up they should be near your ears or temple, maybe closer to the jaw line - it just depends on your own interpretation

Mike Tyson kept his arms close to his body in his guard and his fists high and tight on his head.



Regarding the particulars of your instructors guard, I'm not sure but if he's produced good fighters and was a fighter himself, I'd go with it.

There are a number of folks on here whom are excellent boxers if you have any questions - I'd go to them. You can send a PM to Tim Mousel, site owner whom has boxing experience and also works with Pat Swan (pro-boxer and trainer) - an excellent boxing coach!

Mike Brewer is a moderator who has extensive training and fight experience boxing in and out of the ring.

[Furniturepal]

You sir, have provided the most informative post I've seen in a long while. The video examples were great and a huge plus in example and understanding. I think you're right, my instructor is a state-wide pro and he's trained a really good fighter I know, so I feel I should accept his concept of a good boxing guard, as well as other things. If I feel I should change it to another guard/stance, I will check into it. I'll definitely check here first though.

Thanks Tom.

[jeff5]

I've literally been told to stand a different way by almost every instructor that I've ever had. To me, its all about what's comfortable and what works for you, within certain paramaters. To me, those parameters are hands up, on the balls of your feet, one foot slightly forward of the other. elbows tucked.

I can't imagine my hands around my ears. That would be completely uncomfortable, and with 16oz gloves I wouldn't even be able to see what I'm doing or what's coming at me.

[tribalweapon]

Sounds like a modified peek a boo guard. (think Winky Wright or Mike Tyson) This is probably mostly for beginers as they tend to drop their hands anyway.

That's the way the coach in my gym teaches everyone to box at first. Later on everyone develops there own style and goes from there but it is a good begining position from my limited experience.

[Furniturepal]

Class was canceled today, so I was not able to ask him about it. The important thing is that I'm improving greatly in speed and power. I do about 30 minutes of shadowboxing in a day and the three days a week that I'm at the gym, I hit the heavy bag for a half hour or so, and the speed bag for a good 20 minutes. So until I ask him about it, I'm just going to use the common stance and guard with fists chin-level. It just feels so silly and ineffective to have my fists over my ears and feet pointing parallel at 12 o'clock.