Expert: Jack Rose - 11/26/2006

Question
Hi, I'm actually a martial artist who has kicboxed (very ametuer). I recently bought a book by one Teri Todd about Jack Dempsy (and later, Bruce Lee's) and his specific straight lead punch.
What I want to know is that, if it is so hard hitting and effective, do any of today's boxers even use it? And if not, then why not? I've heard answers only from non-boxers, and I wanted to hear from someone who has actually boxed. Is this specific way of punching really that hard to learn, As Ms. Todd puts it?

Thanks in advance.


Answer
Carl,  Yes, boxer's throw this punch all the time. I am assuming that when you say "straight lead punch" you are referring to a righthand straight lead or lefthand straight lead depending on a person's strong hand. In boxing you always put your most powerful punch behind your weaker punch. So if you are righthanded, that is your stronger side because you have more coordination in that hand which enables you to mechanically throw it with more power. Your weaker punch (left in this case) is out front and the intentions of this punch are to, one, setup the righthand and also keep an opponent from coming forward. So most of the time you would throw this punch first and quite often as well. It is normally your fastest punch as well. But there are cases where you would throw the "righthand straight" first. If your are fighting a lefthanded person you would now focus on throwing the righthand lead first. This is because when a righty is fighting a lefty there two weak hands are blocking each other from the starting position which makes it difficult to land a punch from the weak side. So you start faking the weakside or throwing it to the body instead and at the same time you are throwing righthand leads which if your fast enough will blow right by their weak hand and land right on the button. There is nothing too difficult about it, except that you must establish a rhythem and get the timing down on the punch to land it. You also must learn to move away from the lefty's power hand while setting it up because remember, he is trying to land the same punch because it's all the same for him too, just reversed. You can also throw the lead against a same handed person but for a different reason. For instance is you spot that he carries his lefthand low then you cause him major problems with it. A good fake jab followed by a rightand lead could knock a guy into next week.... fight over.....there's a lot of force behind a good straight power lead.

I hope this helps......good luck

Jack