Expert: Jack Rose - 4/27/2011

Question
Im an amateur boxer but i have troubles with the way i fight and the way amateur boxin works. listen ever since i was a little kid i been fightin. and over a year ago now i joined up in a boxin gym. my trainer is a former amateur and pro boxer somethn like 20 pro fights and 70 amateur and another 2 trainers r there that have some alota amateur fights. they try to teach me to be a fancy jabbin boxer, but dat aitn what i am. every fight i ever fought in i walk forward and throw punches, i dont stop throwin power shots. i go in your space and throw fluries. i dont block very often i throw my defense right out the window throw power shots and try to get in my straight right my best punch. everyonee whos ever held a heavy bag for me or sparred with me held the mitts always says one thing for sure"this kid can hit". i think i can take a pretty good shot and recover pretty quickly, but even when im bein hit i still just keep punchin but i take alotta shots in my fights. i take 4 shots to land a 1 sometimes ima sucker for a jab, the punches dont hurt me much but i cant really punch when gettin hit repededly, i get mad when i start gettin tagged or if i start bleedin and i really go for the guy. another trouble ive had is with Refs, listen i take punches thats part of fightin but the damn referee who fuckin gives me a standin 8 count every time i get hit with a clean shot ffs they give me a standin 8 count even if i aint hurt my first amateur fight i was poundin the guy from corer to corner bullyin him around throwin powr punches all of a sudden ig et bledin nose which is no big god damn deal they send me to the doctor and i say im ok lets get this thing goin, the doctor says dont talk just answer if i ask u questions, anyway he lets me keep goin i bang my gloves together the crowds yellin i go right back on the attack bangin away on this guy he hits me with on right hand on my face no big deal i been hit harder by my ma the ref stepsin counts to 8 then waved her arms i got back into fightin cause i thot it ment continue so im not hurt at all so i start walkin towards the guy to keep swingin then she yells STOP dats it next thing i know the fights over TKO in the first round due toa fuckin bitch referee i swear ill never fight with a girl as the referee thats just bullshit probly neva fougth in her life ffs. anyways i went over n hugged the guy. went back to my hotel room smoked some weed first and went to sleep.i dont smoke. anyways my trainer is a good trainer fought back in the 60s n 70s. my traner hes a boxer in the real sense of the word moved up on his toes godlegs foot speed fast puncher good hand speed didnt hit real hard but was a goood fighter, fought the champ of ireland, fought in england and germany was canadian champion a couple times golden gloves stuff like that good fighter, but i dont think that style is for me but he wont teach me nuthn else and they didnt even teach me hooks for near a damn year ya mayeb even a year ffs and i still have yet to learn an uppercut.. i think there good trainers in there own way but not for luke norton.i aint been back to the gym since i lost that fight, u know just shit with my life i dont wanna fight if i cant give my 100% due to bein mind fucked. im fairly tall  6 foot but i got short arms bout 185, was wonderin if u had any advice on how i should fight an agressive type of style somthn were i can use my power get in close bang away and get that other guy out of there maybe somethn to work on takin less hits too so i dont get fucked over again by a damn ref. got any questions u need to know about me or somethn just email me back u know, switchin gyms i cant do until i get outa this damn small town. sparrin is also a problem not many kids or even people my weight i can spar with so i used ta spar with this short stockyfella who had manny fight in england hes a tough guy has good head movement hits hard and is a great brawler i mean he ttaught me how to fight tough and was teachin me some great stuff. but the other other trainer didnt get long with him so he dont go anymore so ya... no more good sparrin and no chanc to learn from this great fighter, i mean he probly could have taught ME to use the way i fight my power short arms and agressiveness to my advantage but now hes gone. so if ude give me any adive ide surely aprecciate it.

Answer
Luke,

Many former boxers will teach all their fighters to fight the way THEY fought. Although in the beginning, a coach should be able to tell by your natural characteristics what your natural abilities are. Then you take your natural abilities and advance them forward doing what you do best.
Maybe your coach sees something in you that you don't see in yourself. I don't know the answer as to why he is teaching you this style. But the way your talking it sounds like you are going in the wrong direction. So before you go any further, you need to talk to your coach about what feels most comfortable to you. You may have to change to another coach if your not moving toward your best potential as a fighter.
From what your telling me, it sounds like you need to be learning to move your head and coming in behind the jab, cutting the ring off, moving forward and blasting inside. To do this you need to perfect your defense. Once you are able to get inside people's reach you need to work on short punches with full turns. This is a very effective style but your defense has to be excellent. Remember, you can't eat jabs and win fights, period. So this is what I suggest.

I wish you luck in your training