SKILLZ & DRILLZ-THE "OVER" PUNCHES, OVERHAND OR OVERHEAD
THE SNEAKIEST PUNCHES IN THE BUSINESS
Have you ever sparred or fought in a competition and your opponent seems to crouch lower and
lower, he or she seems to be headed for the canvas behind your rapid fire jabs, then sudddenly you are looking up at the lights
with a crowd around you. You wonder what happened and where have you been over the last couple of days.
In the second scenario, there you are a kickboxer or mixed martial artist, you blocked your opponent's
lead jab. In a split second, you barely see a windmilling hammerfist coming from behind his body, above your head, then crashing
down perfectly on your face. The whole upper half of your body hits the canvas back first, your ankles in the air
like the Twin Towers looking like they are going to hit the lights.
In both scenarios , you have been pummeled by the sneakiest punches in the fight business.
The "Over Punches".
The punches are designed to travel a path that is looping over a guard and surprise an opponent
when he is:
Even though I like to call the punches, "sneaky", they can quickly change the outcome of a fight.
Boxer over punckes are mostly overhand in nature, meaning the punches loop tightly over an opponent's
guard, It also can be thrown over a peek-a boo type guard, hitting the upper face or forehead, snapping the head
onto the neck and back causing a knockout. Ihe falls, particularly from the martial arts circular windmilling or
wind up overhead punch can injure an opponent causing crippling falls onto the neck or head. Most of the time you
may see this type of punch coming, but the circle cause it to gain so much speed and power that it is almost impossible to
stop. It is illegal in most sanctioned martial arts competitions and illegal in boxing.
Overhand/overhead strikes in boxing are a little different. The boxer sets his opponent up
by dipping the opposite shoulder from the one that the punch is being thrown, which give the punch more momentum and
power. The technique is complete, clean and legal.
To conclude add "over" punches to your arsenal. You will find that no matter how fast, tall
or strong an opponent is, there is no escape from a well timed "over" punch/
After the punch lands, your opponent's new friends will be Tweety Bird and his family flying
around his head.
As always. "Keep Your Guard Up and Keep On Punching!"
