Anchor Punch! (diary entry)

Tonight’s Triple C lesson based its technical martial arts side on developing the “Anchor Punch” and using the technique as inspiration for two other techniques. We then focused on lower body strength, covering mainly pushing actions and then a small amount of strength cardio. The anchor punch is a move that Muhammad Ali popularized when he knocked out Sonny Liston in their rematch in May 1965. At the time – and even some circles today – critics speculated that the fight had been thrown. Ali knocked Liston out halfway through round one with what the press called a “phantom punch”. Other excuses were offered by Liston and his corner man to downplay the effect of Ali’s punch and there definitely appears to have been some confusion between the referee, the timekeeper and the editor of Ring magazine, but the existence of the punch has been validated in later years. Film footage today reveals that Ali set Liston up for a short downward chopping jab in pretty much the manner Ali described.

Because Ali was such a good self-publicist, inspired a lot by the heel professional wrestler, Gorgeous George, and had a wicked sense of humour to boot, much of his commentary was not taken seriously at the time. Ali cited the world’s first black heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson, for the origin of his anchor punch, but this idea has been disregarded too. Many of those who believed Ali’s assertion that it was a legitimate punch that felled Liston seem to cite his reference to Johnson as a rare example of modesty. Ali, they contend, “invented” the punch. As if the great boxer needed any further credit! One author wrote Johnson off as being “more of a clinch fighter”, but this is a gross simplification of the great man. If the footage of Ali in 1965 did his “phantom punch” no justice then Johnson’s early 20th century film must be considered an insult to the fighter’s ability. I can see where Ali is coming from in referencing Johnson’s style. He was very much a fan of Johnson and loved the play of his life, “The Great White Hope”, but there were other similarities besides their ability to aggravate the Caucasian establishment of their time and use it to bolster their boxing careers. Both were defensive fighters who set up their opponents in style. Johnson’s clinch-fighter reputation is comparable to Ali’s rope-a-dope strategies that he would make famous later in his career. However, what I found particularly useful in teaching defensive fighters was the way they both baited and lured their opponents onto punches.   The anchor punch has been further vindicated, along with the overhand punch, in the world of MMA. Anderson Silva famously brought it back into focus when he scored heavily with the shot on Yushin Okami and Forrest Griffin. The latter, an earlier bout, saw Griffin knocked out by this technique. The downward angle of the shot gives it the title. It anchors an opponent to the ground and the angle it hits the head is perfect for creating brain-shake. However, the same could be said about the overhand punch. Both punches are delivered using the same shoulder/arm downward movement. The difference is in the set-up. The overhand is a rear hand strike and often delivered in the same way a hook might be thrown with the striker dropping below their opponent’s highline and attacking from the side. It can be delivered off a slipping or rolling (bobbing/weaving) action to an incoming punch, but equally it can be done as an attack in its own right. Whatever the tactic, the overhand is typically an advancing move coming in at an angle. The anchor punch is delivered on a tactical retreat.   The anchor punch is considered to be a jab. This qualified only the fact it is delivered with the lead hand. However, it does not operate in the manner we throw a typical jab. It isn’t used to make distance or pick off targets. It is a close relation of the back-step jab and is comparable to the pivot jab. The anchor punch involves drawing an opponent forward and striking him in a semi-circular downward motion with the lead hand. Many good fighters angle off and feign an angle step before throwing the punch. This is the way we worked within my client’s current style of fighting. The lesson began with a warm up on the focus mitts. We went straight into my opponent’s style, dropping the lead hand, which is perfect for the anchor punch. We went through baiting and also countering another defensive fighter. The anchor punch was then covered on the heavy bag, so that my client could practice it away from our regular sessions. Stepping onto a self-defence line the anchor punch is used off what Geoff Thompson called a negative fence. John Anderson taught me this approach by initiating an aggressive single hand shove and shifting back slightly. Here the enemy moves forward onto a cross. A person proficient in delivering the anchor punch could throw the curving shot from the lead hand.

  We then brought in a low lead leg front kick or teep, following the anchor punch method. The typical Thai front is delivered in a manner similar to the anchor punch in that you strike downwards. Usually applied as a pushing technique, the teep can be turned into a stamping low kick using the heel instead of the ball of the foot. Like the anchor punch, an effective way to deliver this kick is by angling off when drawing an opponent forward. Perhaps stretching the principle a little far, I looked at setting up for lowline takedown. Here we used a single wrist grab coming off a single hand push to prompt an opponent to pull back, setting them up for foot sweep. My feeling is that although this principle can be taken to the ground two things should be considered. Firstly, we have to take the premise into a broader field and look at defensive fighting. This has been done in a previous lesson when I was introducing my client to the defensive style of sport fighting. However, I found that just because someone was inclined to fight defensively at the stand up and clinch range it did not mean they would fight that way on the ground. I have known several, particularly larger fighters fight from the top position on the ground when they have been natural “catchers” at the other two ranges.   Strength training began with the back squat. My client is showing increased ability to lift heavier weights for respectable sets of repetitions. We then did some loaded sled pushing and pulling for strength development, followed by the push/pull combination sled exercise to add to his strength/cardio routine detailed in our previous lesson.   Highly Recommended for this Diary Entry:  5 Types of Jab

Rio Judo Chop, Anderson Silva, Muhammad Ali and the Anchor Punch

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