3 Ways to Watch a Fight

How should we watch a fight? What are the things that we should do in order to enjoy, learn from or pick a winner when watching a fight?

In my view, we should watch a fight with 3 very different mindsets. For me, it’s all about what we want to achieve by watching the fight. If you want to enjoy the fight, watch it as a fan. If you want to learn from the fight, watch it as a student. If you want to pick a winner, watch it as a judge.

My hope is that this video will help you get the maximum benefits from watching boxing fights.

Whenever I watch a fight on TV, I always watch it as a fan. I’m watching to enjoy the spectacle, to enjoy top operators engage in battle. I’m watching for the flashing lights, glorious technicolor and over-the-top commentary…which we will come back to.

The point is when watching as a fan, don’t try to score the fight, the two things do not mix.

So what about watching a fight as a student, looking to learn as much as you can from the combatants?

Well, the way I do it is to think about a boxing style in for technical ‘skills buckets’:

• Footwork
• Defences
• Punches
• Body Movement

These buckets I think gives me a logical way of starting to understand the style of a particular boxer.

So, in terms of footwork, some basic things you might look for:

• Is the boxer a southpaw or an orthodox, or a mix of both?
• Is the stance side-on (bladed) or more square?
• Is the boxer straight-line or lateral biased?
• Does the boxer use the pivot, and use the pivot at different ranges?
• Is the boxer a ‘balls of the feet’ fighter or more flat-footed?

When it comes to defences, this is about the arms, the guard position, the methods of blocking. So, we might ask:

• Does the boxer use a high guard, a low guard, a half-guard…some times referred to as the Philly Shell?
• Are defensive blocks a key part of the boxing style?
• Are blocks used against straight shots, hook shots or both?
• Does the boxer use defence as a platform for attack, a basis for counter-punching?

So what about raw offence, the punching ability. Some things to think about:

• Is the boxer straight shot or hook shot dominant?
• Is the boxer a volume puncher or a power puncher?
• How does the boxer build combinations?
• Does the boxer mix up head shots and body shots?

Body movement is all about slips, ducks, rolls and so on (and this sits between defence, power enhancement and feinting for pressure):

• Does the boxer use lots of body movement?
• Is the body movement primarily defensive or offensive?
• Does the boxer maintain balance whilst executing body moves?

Once we’ve look at boxing skills buckets, you can then think about how they are combined by the boxer. A very simple example is does the boxer always fire back after executing a defence – are they a solid counter-puncher?

You can also think about ring-craft, ring generalship. Tactics – reading between the lines. It takes time, but you can actually become quite adept at analysis for learning.

So, finally, what about being a judge – actually coming up with a score for the fight? This can be the most controversial bit about boxing. So, let’s make it simple with some plain rules:

1. Switch off the sound – commentators in modern boxing are sales people
2. 100% concentration
3. Use the basic 3 criteria model (which varies between governing bodies:
   • Number of quality blows on target
   • Domination of the bout – technical/tactical superiority
   • Competitive
4. 10 point must system
   • 10-9 = close round
   • 10-8 = clear winner
   • 10-7 = total dominance
5. Knockdowns matter in the pros, not in the amateurs

Some other methods I use when I’m trying to score a match:

• Watch the space in between the boxers, not individual boxers
• Break a 3 minute round down into 1 minute sections and score accordingly – less likely to have many even rounds.

So there we have it, 3 ways to watch a fight depending upon your desired outcomes.

Cheers

Fran

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