For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It’s no different in the fight game. You try and land something they’re gonna attempt to fire back aka a counter. Act too samey they’ll punish it every time, almost to a fault……So why not give them something to bite to get a better boon? One thing to remember is sometimes the missed punch isn’t necessarily a wasted punch if you know what you’re doing with it. If you know the opponent is going to throw at you each time you act, maybe we can discourage them by countering the counter
One of the best at this is Guillermo Rigondeaux always showing punches as if he is shadow boxing in the fight, he will constantly show you a punch but not necessarily committing to it. Leaving a gamble of should you just look at it and get caught with something or get in and punish the little game?
If you’re able to tell that someone is ready to engage when they feel like you missed. It can set up other traps to force distance again.
When someone is constantly seeing the same starting punch, it primes one’s reflexes to always act on the potential threat be it offensively or defensively. They may even have the right counter in mind but not be prepared for what follows after due to focusing on that one moment.
We can even do this feigning “bad” technique leaving the jab out long enough to make someone feel confident to counter it with the right hand or a jab themselves.
When you practice your fundamentals, you learn how to use those little mistakes to create traps because in the end everyone uses the same punches/kicks, the technique in its most basic sense is the same including basic ideas on how to punish what appears to be poor technique
So get back to your training reassess what you have done and rebuild your game
Article Written by PJ the Fight Architect