Overhands and the shovel hook (diary entry)

17.11.13

As with yesterday’s client, we looked at slipping and rolling actions. This included working the slipping with stepping off at an angle. We covered the overhand right and the round kick. Then we trained slipping with a standing arm-triangle as a clinch and into a takedown and submission. We also covered rolling off hooks and following them up with hooks and arm triangles.

With this particular client I isolated the overhand right. This punch can have devastating power and is frequently used as a finisher. Rocky Marciano is perhaps the most famous exponent of the punch, sometimes known as the “phantom overhand”, and he could deliver it from some incredible distances for a short fighter. However, Ernie Shavers was also an amazing user of the overhand right. Today, the "Superman Punch" sees the overhand right used as a spectacular aerial strike in mixed martial arts.

This time I also looked at other targets presented by rolling off the hook. On the right hand side of the body, rolling can open your opponent up for a liver shot. This is usually delivered using a shovel hook, a short and powerful punch that comes in at sharp right angle. From here I brought in Mike Tyson’s famous uppercut/hook combination. The bobbing motion provided by rolling defence generates a lot of upward power into this short and fast combination. When performing bobbing and weaving, I have the fighter make contact with his partner’s shoulder. This encourages a tighter counter-attack when it comes to delivering the high and low hooks as well as the uppercuts and shovel hooks.

Following the pattern of yesterday and Monday’s lessons, we included the sit-through as part of understanding the roll.