Switching off an Opponent
You may know Buddy McGirt better as one of the best boxing coaches in the world but let’s not forget McGirt was one of the best boxers in the world in the late 80’s and early 1990’s. A two weight world champion including the Lineal champion at Welterweight I have made a few videos on McGirt and it is clear to see why McGirt translated his ring success into a successful coaching career – McGirt was a shrewd operator and always looked like he knew exactly what he was doing and constantly out thinking his opponent.
In the video below McGirt uses a trick I have written about previously on this site and that is switching off an opponent. What this means is you almost overuse one punch or maybe even one hand so much that the opponent switches off about the threat of another weapon. For example you may throw a lot of 1,2’s that the opponent stops worrying about having to defend against the hook. Once the opponent is conditioned not to defend the hook after the jab, cross, you then slip the hook in after the 1,2.
Now in his fight with Howard Davis Jr, Buddy McGirt was throwing a lot of left hooks in the opening round, mixing up the left hook to both the head and body and mostly leading with the hook. McGirt was not following up the hook with any other punch such as the right cross so with Davis not expecting any shot after after the lead hook, he began to circle to the right of McGirt to move away from the constant left hooks that McGirt was throwing at him. However Davis doesn’t realise he is being walked into the right hand and now as he continues to move to his left(McGirt’s right) away from the left hook he is moving into the direction of McGirt’s right so when Davis nears the corner and has to turn, McGirt leads with another left hook but this time he follows it up with something he hasn’t done yet – the right hand and with Davis not expecting the right hand and moving in it’s direction, the punch lands flush and the fight is waved off.