Rear Hand Position: Devin Haney (Patreon)

• LMA Curriculum 

In a fighting stance, your hands are not static. There are usually five reasons why you'd move your hands. You move them based on what you're trying to do, in reaction to what your opponent is doing, out of comfort, for mechanical reasons, or unconsciously. Still, your hands need a default starting position or a position zero—your ready position.

The adage of keeping your hands up is generally good, but much like centrism, it flattens all concerns to be equal when they are not equal. But centrism is the easiest stance to take because all you're doing is splitting the difference.

But where should our hands be if we're willing to put in the work and invest more than one day into this project? If you say by your chin like you're holding a telephone, then you're tacitly saying you believe the most likely punch is the hook. But the most common punches are straight punches, not hooking punches—the jab followed by the rear straight. Then where should your hands be?

There are many ways to hold your lead hand, and what's most appropriate also depends on the sport or context. But in general, you want your lead arm to occupy the inside lane, the lane that leads to your chin. You can do this by holding your hand in front of you or by occupying the inside lane with your lead shoulder and keeping your lead hand low. They're both the same concept applied differently. This is why I prefer teaching the way broadly so you can apply it appropriately to your conditions.

Here, Wladimir Klitschko is using the lead hand to occupy the inside lane. Punches must get past his lead hand, lead shoulder, and rear hand before they can get to his chin. Since he mostly fights from open space, straight punches are his primary concern.

Here, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is using his lead shoulder to occupy the inside lane. Since he was a counterpuncher fighting bigger men, he used this style to draw his opponents in to counter—unlike Klitschko, who was usually the bigger man.

Here, Ichiro Miyata, from the popular boxing manga/anime series Hajime no Ippo, is demonstrating the lead shoulder defense. But notice his rear hand? We always assume the hand goes to the side of the chin, but historically that wasn't the case. It's worth mentioning that the creator of the series is also a boxing trainer and historian.

When kicks are involved, however, you want your lead hand up because your shoulder won't be enough of an obstacle for kicks. (Klitschko started in kickboxing before transitioning to boxing.) This is why I teach the lead hand up because you can use it for boxing and kickboxing.

The primary defensive hand, however, isn't the lead but the rear. The reasons are twofold: first is that it's the hand closest to your face, and second, your lead hand will be preoccupied with attacking. So if our primary concerns are blocking straight punches and occupying the inside lane, your rear hand shouldn't be by your chin but in front of your chin.

A modern boxer who's really disciplined about their read hand position is Devin Haney. He'll normally hold his rear hand in front of his chin or rest it right below. From that position, he can transition from blocking the front of his chin to the side of his chin.

From distance, the most likely punches are straight punches because they are the longest punches. Position zero is always a defensive position. You don't think offense first, you think defense first. Before you can hit, you must avoid being hit.

Haney prepares for possible incoming straight punches before throwing his own 1-2.

What happens when you throw a rear straight? Your body twists, making your rear your lead and your lead your rear. Then where should your hand be?

Haney lands his straight and uses his left hand to block any oncoming counter straights from George Kambosos Jr. From that distance, the hook will fall short, as we see with Kambosos's left hook. Furthermore, Haney's straight will naturally block the path of the left hook. The most available punch for Kambosos is the straight, but Haney is already blocking it.

Distance is your first defense. As the distance closes and you're able to land your straight punches, so can your opponent. What's important to keep in mind is that distance dictates the attack. It is possible for hooking and looping punches to land from distance, but those are also easier to spot. Your primary risks are straight punches, so have your rear hand ready for them.

After landing his jab, Haney knows Kambosos will want to land his own jabs. So as Haney backs up, he flares his hand open to catch any incoming jabs.

When Haney lands the 1-2, and Kambosos tries to land a counter right, it's Haney's lead hand occupying the inside lane that automatically blocks the punch. You don't have to have your hand flush to your face. It just needs to be in the path of the punch.

As the gap closes between you and your opponent, you have to watch out for strikes to the side of your chin (or face).

As Haney gets closer, he moves his rear hand by his chin, ready to block not only the side of his chin but also the side of his head.

When trading in the pocket (close range), Haney is looking to block hooks. But whenever there is distance, Haney immediately places his rear hand in the lane of straight punches. He'll go back and forth based on range.

When Haney lands a hook to the body, he understands that also means his opponent can land a hook to his face. So whenever he throws a hook, he preemptively blocks the hook. Likewise, when he throws straight punches, he preemptively blocks straight punches. Whatever you can do, your opponent can mirror.

Even when tired and hurt, where is Haney's hand? Ready to block straight punches because there's distance. Having the rear hand in position is the bare minimum.

Much of defense is knowing the rules of offense: what can happen at what range and what can happen based on what you're doing (e.g., if I'm hooking, they can also hook). If you already know this and have practiced enough, you shouldn't need to think about it and be defending automatically.

Another defensive element is vision. Anything coming from the side, whether it's a hook or kick, has to travel a longer distance than straight attacks. Not only does this give you more time to spot them, but the movements are also bigger, making them easier to see. (In contrast, this is why straight attacks are so hard to see and defend.) Since you can't simultaneously block the front and side, you block the front and bank on seeing attacks to the side to defensively modify.

The final defensive component that should take much of the guesswork out of defense is knowledge of your opponent. This can come from a variety of sources. You can preemptively study your opponent. You can look at their height and reach and make an educated guess that if they're taller than you, you have to watch out for attacks from distance. If they're shorter, you must watch out for close range attacks. If it's self-defense, they're most likely looking to knock you out and/or grab you. This means rear straights and hooks to clinch—hitting for maximum damage while closing in.

But none of these sources beat experience. This means probing your opponent early on to learn their habits. It also means getting lots of sparring rounds to learn all the different fighter types. Just because you've never fought someone before doesn't mean you haven't fought someone like them in the past.

Since the fight starts from distance, your starting position should block punches from distance. Then you adapt accordingly without straying too far from position zero and always returning to position zero.

– Sam