I Is For Incisive

According to Marriam Webster, Incisive means: to be impressively direct and decisive (as in manner or presentation).

I thought this was particularly apt for boxing, a sport which on the surface may appear to be one of brute aggression and the basest of instincts, but is a sport that in reality has parallels with chess. I've seen how brutal some of those chess players are!

In chess one is continually having to plan ahead, and a players immediate move is normally part of a clear strategy and plan involving several pieces with a view to trapping the Queen.

So boxing isn't just about the basics of punching, but rather of reading one's opponent, their style as well as their intentions, of planning ahead in one's choice of punch to counter what the opponent is doing  and always thinking ahead to trap one's opponent with that golden knockout punch for check-mate. The boxer needs to be incisive.

For me this is one of the hardest parts of boxing to fully get to grips with. It's all too easy to be reactive and respond to individual punches, but doing so never ends well. Rather it's key to be able to soak up a few punches with a view to exploiting your opponent to allow one's own game plan to take shape. In the photo above, I knew that Conrad likes to fight on the inside, so having strengthened my core to allow me to take some body shots, I was able to draw him in with a view to landing my tasty left uppercut which rocked him quite a bit. It certainly felt good to have planned ahead and executed it so well.

The world's greatest boxers (Ali, Tyson, Lomachenko et al) have all been masters of this element of the sport.

This is the first A2Z challenge that I've not gone with Indecision. LOL!

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