Boxing Tricks – Punching with the Roll
Salvador Sanchez might have gone on to become Mexico’s greatest ever boxer but sadly died in a car accident aged just 23. Not only was he headed for greatness in a land full of supreme fighters, he would have become an all time great boxer and one of the best, possibly even the best featherweights of all time. Well to be fair, you would say Sanchez, despite passing so young – can still be classed as an all time great after 46 bouts.
Sanchez did a lot of things well, the first thing you notice about Sanchez is his counter punching. His head movement is excellent and he is always putting the pressure on his opponents, punching, moving, counter attacking and he did the latter by moving his head and punching off the slip or punching with the roll, which is what we see Sanchez demonstrate in this short video below.
Commonly in boxing, if a fighter rolls under a punch, he will finish the roll and then end the move with a punch. If the boxer rolls under a left hook, the typical punch to follow is the right cross, if the puncher rolls under a right cross, you will usually see a left hook(mostly to the body) delivered. Now there is nothing wrong with this technique, it is something you as a boxer should be doing, always be looking to counter if you make an opponent miss – make them miss, make them pay as they say. Salvador Sanchez though took this up another level by punching with the roll, this meant Sanchez was delivering a power punch right at the moment his opponent had opened up and was most vulnerable – not even leaving them enough time to draw their guard in time to block or evade the shot. By the time you had missed, Sanchez was already throwing his counter punch as he came up from his roll, which was very hard to defend against. To compound matters, Sanchez would dip as he got in position, taking him off the opponents eye line meaning the shot would almost be coming at an overhand position, again this makes it very difficult to see and thus defend against. We know that taller fighters can sometimes struggle against shorter fighters when they are throwing the up and over punches(uppercut, overhand right for example) because of the angle it is delivered from, by dipping before the punch and roll, Sanchez was making use of this same tactic as he punched with the roll.
Salvador Sanchez was an excellent fighter, we hear the term Mexican style and think of these great Mexican warriors who come forwards and brutally break you down, taking one shot to hit you with two, always attacking – Sanchez was a great Mexican fighter but his style was not that of a typical Mexican warrior. Sanchez was slick, he applied pressure, was immensely fit and was an aggressive counter puncher with a smart defence. You can read more about ‘Chava’ in my book Forgotten Legends of the Ring.