Using Timing To Beat Speed With Teddy Atlas
Timing is the key to an effective boxer, as it doesn’t require speed nor power; it only requires the ability to read your opponent and anticipate his move at the right moment for a maximum impact.
Besides just being an effective method to work with, timing is essential to deliver knockouts, as a knockout requires only two things: Power and Timing. If we understand the importance of timing and improve upon it, we will most certainly see an increase in significant strikes landed throughout the fight.
To have good timing, we must know when to punch, and the only way to know is to anticipate through analyzing body movements and patterns in our opponent. Timing can get better as it is a response that can be improved through drilling and exercises.
Many people find it hard to improve their timing, and they fall victim to speed-based athletes because they miss some key factors related to timing. Some are trying to improve it with the wrong training program, and others are technically not good enough to counter their opponents.
Practitioners that want to improve their timing should follow the current training program in the following order:
In the following video, Teddy Atlas will share his approach with us about timing-based tactics.
Who Is Teddy Atlas?
Teddy Atlas is one of the best teachers in boxing; he has trained countless world champions and has gained the reputation of a legend in the sport. Teddy had a special teacher to learn from, the great Cus D’Amato. Teddy is also known for his short history with Mike Tyson, where they spent three months training together before they had an incident that got them separated.
The Leapfrog Tactic
In this video, Teddy will show us the different ways we can time our opponents. The good thing about timing is that it allows you to deal with what Teddy calls “speed demons” who are just faster than you, and without good timing, you won’t get to them.
We must remember that speed is about genetics, and it is not something that can really be taught, but we can learn how to deal with speed using timing to make the fight fair. Never forget the saying “Timing beats Speed” because it can save you in many situations where your athletic abilities don’t match your opponents.
When we are using timing to eliminate speed, we even the plain field, and the chances of us winning will increase significantly. We have a few tactics for timing, and teddy will show us the first one which he calls “the leapfrog.”
The Leapfrog is simply a method of timing the jab with the right hand; when we face a jabber that is always in our face, we can time him with our right hand and hold his jab back as he is afraid he will get countered. So this is a great tactic to make our opponent’s think twitch before throwing a punch at us.
The first thing we need to develop is awareness and calmness for this tactic to work. If we are calm and aware, we will be able to recognize the patterns behind our opponent’s jab and anticipate when he will throw it.
Once we recognize the patterns, we can time his jab with our right hand over the top. Let’s look now at some patterns we should acknowledge in our partner when he jabs:
- Opponent’s jab without moving his head
- Opponent uses the same rhythm and speed all the time
- The opponent throws a lazy jab and doesn’t return his hands to his face
When we are ready and know our opponent’s next move, we can set ourselves up and position ourselves optimally to time his attack, and in this case - his jab.
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