Intelligent Boxer

We revisit Oleksandr Usyk’s exquisite control of distance in his dismantling of Murrat Gassiev in the World Boxing Super Series Cruiserweight Final.

Covered here is just one aspect: back step and counter. Gassiev’s pressing and one dimensional entrance into the pocket was available for these all bout. Where Gassiev would push, Usyk would pop back, when Usyk would run out of space, he’d pivot off changing the angle. Usyk fought with discipline and smart footwork to force Gassiev to fight in his most disadvantageous position: in the middle of the ring, on the outside.

’s Father, Anatoly Lomachenko and the high agility, non-linear Eastern European school of boxing is bright as ever.

There’s much to be said about what both Linares and Lomachenko were able to do in the ring Saturday, but in this short, we’re more interested in what didn’t happen. How was able to defuse ’s dazzling outside footwork that has embarrassed so many before him?

1. Counter-clockwise pivot. It turns out, escaping Lomachenko as an orthodox fighter was easier done than said. Linares does this simply and safely by committing to the full 180 degree turn and pivoting into space as oppose to on the spot. Last, Linares does well to keep his eyes on Lomachenko and not get buried in his gloves like so many prior opponents.

2. Destabilizing. Linares uses his arm and body weight to destabilize Lomachenko on the turn stealing his leverage while pushing him further out of the pocket.

3. Stiff Arm. At times Linares simply outstretched his arm controlling his weight or using his lengthier reach to keep Lomachenko at bay.

Linares clearly did his homework and it makes one wonder: how much of Lomachenko’s skillset will stand the test of time and how, if at all, will Lomachenko adjust as more and more opponents become privy to his tendencies?
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In what might be one of boxing’s most dominant performances, we take a look at a less commonly acknowledged aspect of Floyd Mayweather’s near flawless Philly Shell. Floyd is near perfect at medium and long range yet near unknown on the inside. Simply put, he doesn’t fight there. For a defensively inclined fighter, perhaps its too chaotic, you have to fight too perfect to not take damage, but what’s more interesting here is how he avoids it. In this short, we cover just one of many ways he does this: his elbows.

Marquez is well known for his well timed right hand, a punch that has sent some of the best to the mat, but not Floyd. effortlessly shoulder rolls Marquez’s most lethal weapon and flares his elbow upward winning a handful of benefits:

1. Creating distance. Floyd, seemingly looking to avoid the ropes in this bout, stands his ground, rolling the overhand right of a mauling Marquez. To reset the distance, Floyd flares his elbow, pulling up to reset Marquez back to mid range. This has another effect:

2. Destabilizing. In moments were Floyd is entrenched in with Marquez, creating space with his elbow simulteanously destabilizes Marquez, pushing him backward out of the pocket.

3. Obstructing. Floyd’s flared up elbow completely obstructs Marquez’s famous right hand. Its seen time and time again throughout the fight, but perhaps no clearer than the first clip in this short.

Even if Floyd was always supposed to win against a great, smaller fighter, he didn’t just physically dominate Marquez, he completely outboxed and nullified him. The silver lining in mismatches, be it skill, weight, or otherwise, is the chance to see a fighters complete and unadulterated skill set. In this aspect, Floyd did not disappoint.

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Continuing our series, we revisit Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana’s rematch. In what would end in a more convincing Mayweather win, Maidana manages to put himself on the short list of fighters to hit Floyd clean. Here’s how he may have done it.

Due to Maidana’s relative success with Floyd on the ropes in the first bout, it was clear Floyd showed a concerted effort to avoid the ropes the second time around. In the early rounds, Floyd does this with lead and counter right hands off the back foot over Maidana’s light pressing jabs.

Particularly in the third, Floyd lands 2 of 3 pull counters cleanly with 2 more lead rights while backing into the ropes.
But with seconds to go in the third round and Floyd backing into the corner yet again, Maidana looks to have picked up the pattern, drawing a pull counter from Floyd and for the first time, following up with a perfectly time overhand right in what looks like to be an otherwise perfectly executed trap on Floyd.

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We take a look at a few ways Errol Spence Jr. opens up Lamont Peterson’s guard.

1. Punch diversity and accuracy. is a solid, steady combination puncher with exceptional punch diversity. He works his opponents up and down the body mixing setup and power punches beautifully. Combine this with his ability to loop punches and find and target small openings and it makes for a very difficult time defending.

2. Vertical fist. Used by many fighters, Spence turns his hand over to the narrower side, weaving his hand through Peterson’s guard repeatedly throughout the fight.

3. Pull down. A less common tactic used by Spence twice in the fight. As with most pull downs, the risk is always in getting a hand that close in the first place. We think his use is particularly good here: it starts as a stiff arm to control distance over a forward pushing Peterson. Once Spence gains control and Lamont’s leverage, he slides his hand down to create an opening. Subtle, practical, and clever.

4. Creating distance. Worthy of a video on its own, Spence uses his forearms, hands and arms to push or bump Peterson throughout the fight to get back into his dominant mid range. In the clip captured here, notice how Spence comes inside just as Peterson begins to make forward momentum. His timing, intentional or not, destabilizes Peterson, pushing him away all while creating the distance to attack from.

5. Banging the gloves. Punches along Peterson’s guard may not always land clean, but one way they serve is to keep Peterson’s guard high, minimizing his field of view and creating future openings. Finally, make no mistake, power punches on the gloves might not give points, but they still hurt.

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Intelligent Boxer started a year ago with the simple goal of sharing the intelligent side of boxing. The part of boxing that is nuanced, under appreciated, misunderstood and often just plain missed. This month we surpassed 50k followers and on behalf of Intelligent Boxer, I’d like to thank all of you for the support, direct messages, and enthusiasm. Here’s to an even better year two.

Special thanks to for inspiring and opening my eyes to this side of the sport years ago.

Special thanks to for the HBO 24/7 inspired remix track.

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We take a look at how Errol Spence Jr. controlled range in his title defense with Lamont Peterson.

1. Defensive Jab. Spence uses a simple, mostly non-threatening jab to keep Peterson at distance. Not unlike GGG, Spence’s stationary tendency to be grounded and balanced affords him the opportunities to time Peterson’s weight transfers nullifying and stealing any momentum into the pocket. Sometimes this is a full blown jab, other times a flickering jab, and can be as simple as holding his hand out, obstructing Peterson’s vision and crowding the punch zone.

2. Stiff Arm. Peterson’s most common entrance into the pocket was dropping under Spence’s frequent defensive jab. When would get beat positionally at the perimeter, he’d often drop his hand onto Peterson’s shoulders, stealing momentum and leverage, obstructing vision, and crowding the punch space, all while pushing Peterson to either side to reset. is another fighter of recent that does this extremely well.

3. Changing the angle. This is mostly self explanatory but Spence’s timing of this showed great ring awareness to avoid getting hung up on the ropes and get back to his dominant middle ring position.

Congrats to Errol Spence and his team on his first title defense and terrific performance. With Thurman still on the comeback, who might be next?

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We dip back into the Canelo vault to show one of his favourite tactics: setup punches.

Canelo rarely if ever comes through the front door without feints or setup punches. As with feinting, the setups Canelo throws are mostly about drawing a reaction or creating a distraction while getting into range or opening up attack surface to do real damage.

Notice how Canelo doesn’t fully commit his weight on the lead, that’s for the power shot that follows. Tyson, Patterson, Chavez, to name just a few, do this basic very well.�.�We are tracking to hit 50k followers in time for the new year. Thank you for all your support, direct messages, and comments.�–––––––––––––––
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