E Is For Evasion

It has been said that boxing is the art of hitting without being hit. I can't find any attribution for this, but there is an element of truth about it.

It's easy to think of boxing as pure pugilism in which two opponents merely slug it out, hitting each other as hard as they can until one is knocked out. However, boxing is about the defense just as much as it is about the offense.

Any boxer who hasn't worked on their defense is going to find themselves down on the canvas in very short order! Just watch an early video of Mike Tyson (my M post), sure he hit incredibly hard, but what a defense he had, constantly avoiding his opponent's punches whilst attacking endlessly.

There are a number of ways to avoid (or evade) being hit whilst in the ring, each involving a defensive maneuver & strategy depending on the style of the individual boxer. A boxer's style and guard will determine how they use a specific defensive boxing technique.

The first and most obvious way to avoid being hit (particularly around the head) is to keep one's guard up. A guard can be high like the one employed here by Mayweather Jr (seen above) or a more peek-a-boo style in which the boxer is looking out above the gloves (which is my preferred guard).

Other defensive moves are the slip (seen above right), the bob & weave, parrying, clinching and ultimately good footwork.

Whilst all boxers will use such maneuvers as slipping, ducking etc, in reality it is impossible to avoid being hit whilst engaged in boxing in the ring. At some point you will get hit. So a big part of the game is to learn to control one's anger, take the punch, remain calm and focus on striking your opponent.

The point of all this is that in a boxing match, points are given for each punch that lands on one's opponent. A punch that lands on their defense or is avoided (slipped, ducked or parried) does not score, so it pays to keep one's guard up.

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This post is part of a series in the Blogging From A To Z Challenge, April 2022.