The Power Of Being Unpredictable In Your Boxing Sparring

By Author: Rob Pilger
Total Articles: 5
Comment this article

I remind my fighters that predictability gets you beat easy. One of things that drives me nuts when I train my boxers is when they continue to throw one jab or throw the same combo repeatedly. For instance, jab move and jab again is what my new fighters will do at times. They don't do that long at all because I teach them how easily another fighter will time their jab and quickly come over it since they know how many jabs will be thrown at them. They know obviously because the fighter is making it easy by being so predictable.

The true power is in being unpredictable. I'll stay with the jab here in my example here. Changing up the tempo of the jab and how many jabs you throw and where exactly you throw them are terrific ways to keep the other fighter guessing and off his fight plan. If you keep the other fighter guessing you keep him over thinking and reacting. If the other fighter is over thinking he will begin to hesitate. If the fighter hesitates that quickly this creates great opportunities for you to capitalize and score at will because he will be over thinking and confused.

You also keep the boxer ...
... out of rhythm, off his fight plan, while you're in his head. Here's another example. Watch the Pavlik-Hopkins fight. Bernard understands the fight game like no other pro fighting today. That fight will be a fight to study for years to come.

Hopkins did the unthinkable in that fight. He was the bull and lead the whole fight. Pavlik was totally expecting a low punch output, grappling, fouling Hopkins. He couldn't adjust and was never allowed to get into his rhythm because Hopkins fought totally opposite of the way he usually does. Pavlik was simply unprepared for the Hopkins that boxed that night.

Sensing and observing that Pavlik was thrown off by this early on, Bernard continued his constant attack and built on it round by round until everyone saw him going for the KO in the 12th round! No one really expected to see that! Nobody would have been so bold to predict that Hopkins would fight that way and look that perfect.

Bernard of course created that outstanding win by boxing unpredictable while earning himself the performance of a life time. Kelly and all of us watching were taught many lessons that night, one that we never thought possible. Bernard Hopkins proved that youth and power are but tools and experience with fighting know how trumps all.
Ring generalship allow you to dominate a fight. Too many fighters don't know how to change uo their combos to control ring generalship. In this article I'll discuss how.