Day 36 - The Spring

Coach Cornelius keeps urging me to use something he refers to as "the spring."  Essentially, the way it works is like this.  When you are inside you are able to smother your opponents punches, making him less effective.  Often, though, the battle comes to a gridlock, each fighter trading hooks and uppercuts.  Against a smaller boxer this is not a great course of action because he is closer to your body.  So, you use timing, balance, and movement to swiftly move away from your opponent, attack, and then come back inside where you are temporarily safe.  The trick is to time this in a manner that keeps your opponent from responding quickly by moving in and out before he can let his hands go.

I had difficulty getting my punches off with this opponent because he was doing the right thing, mostly, shooting quick, straight punches at me whenever I tried to duck into his body for a hook.  What I needed to do to counteract this was to set my body hooks up with the jab.  No matter how many jabs I threw to his head, however, he kept his hands protecting his body.  I could have thrown hard ones and twos at his head to force his hands back up, but the club owner was getting upset about how hard I was going (admittedly, I have a hard time easing up once punches start flying).

All told, this was not my best performance.  But sometimes that's how it is in boxing.  You do the best with what you have.  On the positive side, I was able to control the ring and force the action.  I know now that I still need to improve my cardio since it burns while I fight even though I know I have a reserve in the tank.  I also need to improve my core strength and balance.  Probably, I will be boxing more and sprinting more and not going on long weekend runs.  Stay tuned.