Old School Boxing Defence
Jimmy Carter was a three time lightweight champion in the 1950’s and is one of those fighters you watch and immediately think of the old school style which a handful of boxers in recent times use styles and tricks similar to what Carter possessed. From watching Jimmy Carter fight you would be forgiven to think that James Toney has similar characteristics in the way he boxes too so in this video I am going to have a look at something which immediately jumped out at me when I was watching Carter fight, which was how he would use the lead forearm to defend punches.
The first thing I noticed was the lead forearm block and high elbow being used to defend the right cross, this is an old school move and something you might have seen in more recent times from undefeated two weight champion Andre Ward. This is a very effective move, essentially pushing the opponents right cross harmlessly over the top and if you happen to catch his elbow with the right cross, that is going to cause a lot of pain – even more so if the elbow hits the inside of the wrist or forearm.
Carter would also use this lead forearm block defence to set up his own counter attack, blocking the right cross with the forearm and then returning fire with his rear uppercut. Carter would do this in different ways, he might step in to smother the right cross with his lead forearm, pin your arm as he does so and then hit you with the uppercut or he might use that lead forearm to turn it into controlling your head, steering you into his uppercut or even a short right.
Another sweet little trick we see Jimmy Carter using is the shoulder shove with the lead shoulder, Carter would shove you back with his shoulder and then he would use his lead glove to again push you back and as he did so he would follow through with a short lead uppercut.
These are little tricks you can easily add to your game, especially if you use the old school boxing stance of the rear hand under or in front of the chin with the lead hand held lower. The forearm block acts as a barrier and the first line of defence as opposed to the more reflex orientated shoulder roll, I find the lead forearm block and high elbow much safer to use for the every day boxer as compared to the rolling of the shoulders because the latter does require a certain level of athleticism and reflexes not required in using the lead forearm block.