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Dealing with the Counter Left Hook

This is hard. Some guys are really good at countering with the left hook and moving their head and feet simultaneously. They back up and vanish to safety and you are exposed as you go in short shots. Even if you have your hands up, you’ll lose your balance to the left if the guy has some ‘umph’ on his hooks.

The best ones can throw two and three counter left hooks in succession, and a lot of guys with a good counter left hook will time it with your straight right hand, bring their left shoulder to their chin and block your shot and punch. you at the same time. This is a nifty move guys used to do to me all the time. I was able to add it to my own game as it got better.

Think about the left hook for a second, what is left open when your opponent throws it? Well, the entire left side of his body is open. The upper left side of his head is open and technically his chin and the entire center of his face are open down the middle. For the most part, you’re going to hit this guy with your right hand, but at the same time that’s exactly what he expects you to throw, so this is where the chess match occurs.

The left hook counter is a very safe counter when moving backwards. Especially for the taller outside fighter who counters with the left hook when you’re throwing. I’ve found three good general techniques for launching an attack against a guy who has a fascination with the left counter, the key is timing and timing. I will explain each of them below.

1) Quick jab and a powerful right to the body – Here you are trying to get your opponent to commit with a left hook by initiating the attack with a jab. You throw a quick jab it doesn’t matter if it lands the key is to finish your jab before he’s finished the left hook and drop levels to throw the right hand to his open body a fake jab works great you’re trying to take out to your opponent. A psychological tactic in boxing is to make your opponent think a technique will work for you and then try to get him to throw that technique, and then you respond with the natural counter. If you understand rhythm in boxing, you’ll know that stepping forward to throw a full jab gives your opponent enough time to land a left hook. So you’re going to throw a quick jab/fake jab as you step with your left foot and then follow up with a big right hand as your back foot catches up with you, it’s the classic one two combo. If he doesn’t go for your hook and just blocks, then OK, he just follows up with the left hook and other punches and get out when you’re done, or stay in if you’re a good insider. If he swings the left hook and you’ve landed well, then his right hand will land, then he’ll step to the right at an angle and start a second attack. This entire interaction should take about a second or less.

2) Quick/False Jab, Slide Head Left, Left Hook Then Straight Right Hand – Similar to the first tactic, you want your opponent to throw the left hook, he loves it and thinks he is good with it, like this Let him think he’s going to work and taking it off. In this combo you only expect to land the straight right the rest of the punches are just a trap this is the beauty of good boxing the punch you are trying to land is in the way and out of sight but you know exactly what you are doing . So, you throw a quick jab to tempt him into hooking him, slide to the left and then come back at him with a big left hook and then **bam** the straight right. When you slide to the left, his left hook should graze you or even make contact, but since you slide in the same direction as the punch, it will have little effect.

3) Straight Right Double Jab – This isn’t your typical straight right double jab, you’re going to dive down and through him and aim your jab at his chest on the left side, it’s not as smart as your classic double jab. and the right hand where you stand tall. Instead, you’re going to go down a little bit more, drop your chin deep into your chest, raise your hands really high almost like you’re going to dive head first into this guy. You want to be more protected because your goal is to get the left hook out of his right glove and then throw your right right after you feel it. When you come in with this you’re trying to be solid like a train on the tracks, you want to jab at his left shoulder or left chest, this will open him up a little bit for when you throw the right hand. He’ll throw his left hook and most likely two or three. After his double jabs connect with his chest/shoulder, he’s going to throw that right hand to the center. You’re essentially going to walk through the fire of his left hook in a tight stance and throw your right hand after his left hook has fizzled out.

These three tactics will allow you to deal with the counter left hook every time.

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