“Defend yourself at all times” is an age-old adage in the sport of boxing. Yet there have been plenty of fighters in the sport’s history who have been successful in neglecting their defense. Pernell Whitaker, Floyd Mayweather, Naseem Hamed and James Toney are a few.
Their “hands down disrespect of an opponent” style is flashy and at times brilliant. When they are able to slip and evade shots, it’s like poetry in motion.
So it comes as no surprise that other fighters — lesser fighters — have tried to imitate their ways. The amount of success they’ve had is a completely different story however.
One guy found out the hard way that “defend yourself at all times” pretty much means defend yourself at all times.
The First Time He Got Hit Should Have Been A Wake Up Call
In a recent video making the rounds online, two fighters are shown duking it out in a low country boxing match. While one fighter stuck to his fundamentals, attacking from range with solid defense, the other thought he was untouchable. Big mistake!
His opponent was having none of it. He tried to shake and bake, slip and slide, with his hands draped to his sides. After eating a left hook that obviously stunned him, you would think this guy would have learned. But no, he thought he was Roy Jones Jr. in there.
You can actually hear his corner in this video yelling at him to keep his hands up. If only he would have listened, then maybe he wouldn’t be on the wrong end of this viral clip.
Too Bad He Didn’t Listen To His Corner
The last right hand knocked him out cold as he lay motionless on the bottom rope. What a way to go out.
“Keep your hands up” and “defend yourself at all times” is real folks. So anyone out there looking to make a career out boxing, don’t make the mistake this guy made. Defense is just as much a part of boxing as offense.
