HOW TO WATCH BOXING: TAKING AWAY THE JAB By Adam Abramowitz W hen watching boxing, you will often see a network analyst review the “keys” to the fight. And if you watch enough of these breakdowns, you’ll frequently see that Fighter A must “take away the jab” from Fighter B to be successful. That sounds simple, but is it? The jab is the foundational punch of boxing. It’s the rhythm-setter, the range-finder, the prober, and in some cases it can be just as destructive as a power punch. It’s the closest punch to the target, the basic building block of boxing. Every fighter learns to throw the jab before trying to master any subsequent punch. But how many fighters have devoted a similar amount of time in trying to take the jab away? The good jabber will already have a built-in advantage over an opponent who is trying to take it away, due to years of repetition with the punch. Taking the jab away can be done, and it can be accomplished in several ways. Let’s dig into a number of them: RANGE Because it involves extending the arm, a jab is a punch that can best be landed at midrange or at distance, where there is a spatial pocket formed between two fighters. But what happens when the preferred range to land a jab ceases to exist? That can happen in a few scenarios. One is to get all the way in, another is to stay all the way out. Both tactics can take away a jab if executed effectively.
There is a type of boxer sometimes referred to as an ambush fighter, who knows exactly how to stay out of range for a jab. That boxer will stand away from his or her opponent at a distance way too far for an opponent to land the jab. Roy Jones Jr. was a great ambush fighter. Jean Pascal and Carl Froch could be as well. They stayed away, and then they found a specific moment to rush in with shots, usually from an angle. This scenario confounds the traditional jabber. He or she
won’t be able to jab the ambush fighter, because the ambusher sets up shop too far away. And the ambusher is rarely coming in the front door; they are leading with shots from unusual entry points, doing damage and then getting out of range to repeat the cycle. Another way to take a jab away is to smother it, get so close to the fighter that the opponent can’t extend his or her arms to connect with the jab, which is a punch designed to control
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