Last week's boxing class had us focussing on breaking our opponent's rythm. Letting your opponent build rhythm is bad. When your opponent builds rhythm you become the bass drum they're beating on.
The main drill we worked to break rhythm was jabbing our opponent the moment they reached their set line. Set line is the point at which your opponent can reach you with their weapons. Set line is different for everyone because it is dependent upon size and reach. The drill involved starting in no man's land. No man's land is where you cannot reach your opponent with kicks or punches and your opponent cannot reach you with kicks or punches. From no man's land we would step to our firing line. The firing line is the point where you are just out of punching distance, but one more step will get you to your set line and close enough to connect to your opponent. As soon as our opponent reached their set line, BLAMO, we would fire a jab to break their rhythm and disrupt their plans.
This technique is cool because it's prempting the attack. You're not waiting to slip or sit, you're jamming up your opponent so that the attack never materializes. It's like being in a battle and letting your enemy's jet fighters taxi out of the hangers and while they're idling on the tarmac waiting for takeoff you fly by and straff them. Don't let them get off the ground and then rely on evasive maneuvers and chaff to avoid their rockets. Kill 'em before they ever take off, or jab 'em before they can throw a punch. Just like you have to let the jets come out of the hangers and into the open where they be can be seen before being destroyed, you have to let your opponent move closer to you and reach their set line before you can break their rhythm.
I really dig the idea of stiffling the attack instead of responding to the attack. It might sound dumb, but it was a revelation to me. It was one of those AHAH moments. I thought to myself, I don't have to wait until my opponent punches and then react. Matter of fact, I should never really be reacting to my opponent's moves unless I'm reacting offensively, like if they drop their guard and I can fire in a punch. My opponent should be reacting to my moves. Action is always faster than reaction.
The same thing applies to a slip. I dont' have to wait to see the punch coming and then decide to slip it. I am slow and not very good at slipping once the punch is on its way. But, if I see my opponent moving and getting ready to reach his set line, I could slip, step in and deliver some hooks to the body, or I could jab and then slip and step.
In my totally unprofessional opinion, I think it's important to note that while our intention is to break our opponent's rhythm with a jab, that moment doesn't exist in a bubble. Keep in my mind that the jab's job is to stabilize your opponent in order to land more punches. Always punch in combinations. Don't just jab and let them restart their attack. Jab, step in and land some body shots.
I thought I had the breaking rhythm thing down, and then in our next class Mr. Stuart turned that thinking on its head. He had us practicing moving from no man's land to our firing line, then our set line, but we were doing it with the intention of drawing our opponent's jab so that we could slip and step in to land hooks to the body.
This is getting into the chess aspect of boxing where you're thinking a few moves down the road to lure your opponent into a trap. It's way too advanced for me. I would just end up creating a trap for myself.
So, while it's good to break your opponent's rhythm by jabbing when they reach their set line, you could be walking into a trap. That said, it doesn't mean you don't jab to break the rhythm, it means you have to be aware of what might be coming at you once you jab.
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