For casuals, boxing is all about punching and combinations. Only the ones who are invested in the sport realize the importance of footwork in boxing. If you’re boxing at an intermediate or a level above, you know the importance of footwork alongside punching and combinations.
For beginners, footwork is an advanced aspect which isn’t taught at first for obvious reasons. However, as you advance, you learn how each facet of boxing plays a crucial role in attacking and defending which includes head movement, punching, defending, all in-sync with proper footwork
A boxing ring by no means is small. As a boxer, you must learn to utilize the full size. You’ll see the greatest boxers often using the full length of ring to their advantage. This involves
Getting in and out of their opponent’s range
Trying to move into an advantageous position
Avoiding danger with fluid movements
Using your entire body in sync with your footwork
Using your feet to set up an attack or defend an incoming attack or a counter
As opposed to the contrary belief, boxing is more than just hands. Top boxers rely on their footwork to get the job done. The likes of Floyd Mayweather and Vasiliy Lomachenko have built their careers on mesmerizing footwork. If you want to learn the science of footwork in boxing, these two are the most contemporary boxers you should study.
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Fundamentals of Footwork in Boxing
Great footwork allows you to maximize the offensive capabilities and minimize the incoming risk. You can use it as an added advantage against a lackluster opponent or for damage control when facing technically advanced fighter. Footwork in boxing is integral if you’re to establish your in-ring generalship at professional level. Let’s start by understanding the different aspects of footwork:
Developing specific footwork skills and techniques allow you to overcome tough situations and exploit potential openings
Constant footwork drills allow you to add speed and endurance which help you last longer in a fight
Footwork with timing and synchronization is a must when attacking or defending. With proper footwork, you can control the outcome
There’s no single footwork rule that you have to follow but there are different techniques that can help you gain advantage over your opponent. With that said, footwork does have fundamentals (basics) which you need to perfect before you experiment. As you progress, you master based upon what suits your style the best, but at core, the foundation needs to be strong.
Here’s what happens when you don’t follow the fundamentals of footwork in boxing:
You’ll have a torrid time connecting with your opponent
You won’t be able to defend efficiently and will always fall prey to the counter
You’ll gas out quicker than your opponent because you won’t have the knowledge on how to utilize footwork efficiently
How to perfect basic footwork in Boxing?
As a beginner wanting to perfect footwork, you should learn to do the little things in the right manner before moving towards the complex part. Some of these points might sound basic but trust me, these go a long way in helping you develop efficient footwork:
Movement
The first thing you want to perfect is the art of graceful movement. To understand movement, you should begin with a strong, athletic stance with your lead foot roughly 7-8” in front of you. At the same time, ensure that your back foot with your toe to your side is slightly behind you.
Bend both the knees slightly and distribute your weight evenly over the hips. As for the upper part, rest your chin on the chest and look in front through the eyebrows with your feet shoulder-width apart. And last but not least, keep your shoulders loose and not rigid. Stay relaxed and calm.
Posture
When you get into the fighting stance and want to move around with flexibility, ensure that your spine is up straight. Your back shouldn’t be bent backward or lean forwards. Your body posture should be planted upwards.
Once you figure that then you must distribute your weight well so that your nose is in line or behind your front knee. Beginners often commit the mistake of leaning forward by sinking the front knee too much. Keep yourself upright.
Foot Movement
When it comes to foot movements, try staying on the balls of your feet whilst distributing your weight to both your legs. You’ll often hear the sentence “Always be on your toes”, which is absolutely correct.
When you using balls of your feet, you are much more agile and can move quickly from one angle to the other just with simple toe movement. One thing you should always remember is that your heel should never touch the ground.
Lead Foot Movement
Using your back foot as a tool to launch yourself and step forward with your lead foot. However, when advancing, remember to slide your back foot so that you’re always in an active stance. What you need to remember is that you shouldn’t come very far off the ground under any circumstances. Thus, cling your feet to the mat.
Even if you happen to raise one foot for a hyper movement, ensure that the other foot is on the mat at all times. Having a foot on the ground will help you to counterattack, spring forward or backward and most importantly pivot. Try practicing this movement forward and backward till you get a hang of it.
Step and Slide Movement
When you’re moving laterally, you must ensure that you step and slide instead of raising your foot. For instance, if you’re going right, step with the right foot while sliding the left to follow and vice-versa. Your first steps should always provide that big explosive push. While the first movement involves stepping, the trailing foot should always glide.
Relax your upper body when moving
Don’t harden your upper body at any time. Stay calm and keep your body relaxed. When you tense up your body, you make pivoting, turning and overall movement harder. Thus, keep your shoulders loose and hands-free.
Do not tense or contract your muscles, just enjoy the smooth and fluid movement. If you’re just starting out, this might take time, but it will eventually happen. Also, don’t relax your arms completely, allow them to sway a bit as if you were on a walk.
Feet Crossing
Probably one thing that you shouldn’t do in a boxing ring is crossing your feet. There’s an imaginary line between the left and the right foot that shouldn’t be bent. When you cross your feet, you go off balance, which makes it extremely hard to change directions leaving you are vulnerable to incoming attacks. Maintain this imaginary line, keep your feet planted and avoid crossing the feet.
How to perfect advanced footwork in Boxing?
As an intermediate fighter who wants to improvise the footwork techniques, you should focus on sharpening your skills. Since you already know the basics, sharpening your skills will allow you to stand apart from the crowd.
Learn efficient pivoting
If you’ve been with us since the start of this year, you’d know the emphasis with put on pivoting in every martial art. Pivoting similar to pivoting in Taekwondo can help change the direction of your attack within a second.
With pivoting, you’re able to create new angles and openings which come after your throw off your opponent’s line of attack which makes it so crucial. Pivoting is a small but the most important element for efficient footwork.
When you’re starting with pivoting, try to keep your weight on both feet with your hands in front of you. Now this might sound easy, but even at a professional level, only the best boxers pivot fluidly and instantaneously which makes them stand out.
Push off your back foot
Use the momentum to turn 45-degrees in either angle using your toe
Keep changing the directions
Quickly slide your back foot, so you can pivot and follow your movement simultaneously
Learn to pivot, enter a new angle and then rest by returning to your original position
Short and Explosive steps
In advance footwork techniques, practicing short, explosive steps that help you stay near your opponent’s range is the key. You want to maintain the range i.e. the distance where you can land a punch effectively without needing to outstretch. Using your footwork, you can attack, evade, dodge and even dictate the speed of the fight.
We’ve seen in our Gennady Golovkin Masterclass, how GGG uses footwork to dictate the pace of the match. The best way to master this step is by practicing moving inward and outward. Learn to dance near the edge of the range, so all that’s needed is a small step to launch an attack or step out of an incoming attack. When trying these short explosive movements, remember these few points:
These movements should be within 6-8 cms and no more
Initiate by pushing off your back foot
Use your momentum to rotate using your front toe in a 45-degree angle
Slide your back foot so you can follow the initial movement (Synchronizing)
Practice diagonal movements
Diagonal movements cut out your work and make you extremely efficient inside the ring. To move diagonally, you should follow the line of your lead foot. Whilst keeping your spine straight, keep your movements short and avoid crossing your feet.
First try moving forward and then to the left. And then try moving back to the right. To make it simpler, an orthodox boxer should have his/her left foot forward and should move diagonally in a Northwest direction (forward and left) or a Southeast direction (back and right).
In either movement, try pushing off your back foot with an explosive step forward. Move along the angle of your lead foot and insteps pointed towards the correct direction. Step your front foot forward by 2-3” and then move it 2-3” to the left. A similar technique can be used for moving towards back and right.
Practicing full mobility movements
By moving diagonally away from your front foot, you’re doing the opposite of what we learned above i.e. following your lead foot. This is a great technique to open up an attacking lane. When you move away, instead of moving in, you open up your opponent’s body.
For instance, as an orthodox fighter, you can move diagonally back to create an opening towards your opponent’s body. This technique, however, is much harder to pull off. Your motions need to be short and quick and you should keep your feet planted at all times. It’s pretty similar to the movement we learned above, except you use your front foot like a brake which allows you to cut short the movement and move out with a surprise element.
Your opponent generally doesn’t expect this movement and thus when you pull it off. You’ll instantly find yourself in an advantageous position.
Importance of footwork in Boxing
I’m quoting this for the second time, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”, if there’s anything basic we can take away from this infamous quote by Muhammad Ali, it’ll definitely be the movement. The first part of this quote highlights the importance of movement whereas the second part highlights the importance of power, accuracy, and efficiency.
At the end of the day, your opponent cannot hit what he cannot see, a quote which has actually been brought to life by Hi-tech Lomachenko. His footwork is so ahead of its time that his opponents can barely make out what’s happening around them. He literally plays with them.
One of the things that I personally don’t like is the amount of time boxers spend on striking and actual contact. But if you work with the most experienced boxers, they’ll limit those sessions and have you master the forms wherein you work on your defensive side of the game which includes hand placement, stance, and most importantly footwork.
Balance
Floyd Mayweather Jr. ended the Tenshin Nakusawa hype train last year. He schooled the young prodigy on accuracy and efficiency. Ask any expert and you’d that Floyd’s success can largely be accredited to his excellent defense and balance. It’s not just his superior athleticism but also his impeccable balance and center of gravity which has helped him control most of the fights throughout his career.
His footwork is sleek and is always on point. Floyd dances with purpose. Using his footwork and low center of gravity, he is able to use his body to land powerful punches whilst being able to defend the incoming punches. He’s hardly off-balanced which allows him to put maximum power behind his punches. Not just that, his positional excellence ensures that he creates frequent openings and lands unexpected strikes.
Weight Distribution
The way you distribute your weight goes a long way in determining the overall effectiveness of your boxing style. Your balance generally comes from your footwork – the way you’re able to attack, defend or counter your opponent’s punches in any situation. Your center of gravity works with balance which relies on hips, legs and knee movement. The way you distribute your weight determines the effectiveness of your movement and overall stability.
For instance, in a normal stance, you’d want to distribute your weight evenly towards both feet so as to allow you the flexibility of movements in any direction. When you change directions, you automatically transfer the weight in a particular direction which helps you carry your momentum in a particular direction.
When you hit a heavy bag or your opponent, you tend to transfer the weight on your front foot so to add momentum and force. Similarly, when you’re moving around, you maintain a neutral stance so you can effectively move in either direction. Weight distribution is crucial in each movement in order to help you stay balanced.
Types of Footwork in Boxing
There is more than just one footwork technique in boxing movements. Boxers are always active in the ring, trying to find a new position that places them in an advantageous position. Thus, you’d never see a boxer standing upright not moving in any directions. There’s constant movement – forward, backward and lateral which they use to land, set-up or avoid a particular punch or combination. Few of the well-known footwork techniques in boxing movement include:
Shuffling
When you think of shuffling movement inside a boxing ring, you think of Muhammad Ali. His incredible movement in and around the ring helped him cause havoc around his opponents. In practice, a boxer shuffle is more than just a quick turning of your feet in an alternate direction.
When shuffling, you keep your weight on the balls of your feet whilst trying to kick one foot out in front and then tap the heel out. You can watch the example in the video below:
By remaining light on his feet, Ali is able to shuffle in a unique way. His lightning-quick movements were too ahead of its time. Even if you’re boxing to stay fit, shuffling helps you learn how staying light-footed improves the overall movement with much more freedom.
Sliding
We have seen sliding more than a couple of times above. It’s the core foot movement. Similar to shuffle which in its own rights is a core movement for engaging your opponent, slide is an actual movement without which you can’t compete at an advanced level. Every professional boxer is able to generate force or momentum because of this movement. You don’t just walk into a strike; you slide in and out of your opponent’s strike. This allows you to move freely.
Sliding comprises taking a quick step forward with your front foot with your back foot remaining in the boxing stance. Now as you move your front foot, you quickly follow your back foot by sliding it forward as well. Avoid dragging your foot as you don’t want to create resistance.
The best part about sliding is that you can perform this movement at any given time. You can do it when attacking or when backing away from a punch or moving sideways. To use it defensively, your front foot pushes your body in a lateral direction or in a backward direction with your back foot remaining in a boxing stance. It’s the exact opposite of what you do when advancing forward.
Pivoting
Pivot can be seen as a slide’s sibling. While slide helps to maintain an upright posture and balance, pivot allows you to turn to either side just through a simple movement. You’re able to turn the entire direction of your body and not just feet with the help of pivoting. To pivot, you keep one of your feet on the ground and then rotate your entire body around that foot. (It’s practically applicable in every sport. You can see it in not only Taekwondo but Basketball as well).
What pivoting essentially does is that it helps you work the tight spaces. In moments, when you don’t have enough room to move your entire body, pivoting helps you to evade a strike, deliver a strike or counter-strike by helping you move quickly. If you anticipate an incoming punch or combination, you can pivot quickly in one direction and place yourself in the perfect position to attack the exposed parts of your opponent’s body.
Pivoting begins with force applied on to the front foot followed by the transfer of weight on the ball of your foot through a swiveling motion. You either move to the right or the left based upon your opponent’s position.
Best Boxing Footwork Drills
There are many drills you can do to improve your overall footwork. But as far as a drill for beginners and amateur goes, emphasis should be laid on improving the strength and balance. Thus, here are some of the best drills to improve your boxing footwork.
Using Jump Rope
Jump Rope is a highly respected drill honored in all forms of martial arts and boxing. Jump Rope though a basic drill helps to improve your endurance, agility and most importantly your coordination. There simply isn’t any drill that is more effective than collectively combining all of these together. When using a jumping rope, try to use a drill called boxer skip which helps to improve footwork and conditioning.
Box Jumps
An important part of a cross-training routine, Box Jumps are essential in working your calves and overall leg condition. Plyometrics require the force of the body to exert maximum force in a short duration which helps improve the overall speed and power. It’s a great drill to build your lower body strength.
Tire Jumps
Yet another drill from cross-training routine. Tire jumps require you to move in and out of the tires in a quick manner. The movement is super quick and thus needs a lot of pressure which strengthens your leg muscles especially your thighs, which helps improve your balance in boxing.
Ladder Drills
Training ladders are very popular in the world of boxing and martial arts. They are used to develop great speed and agility with drills. With these drills, you turn your footwork into muscle memory which allows you to work your feet in a subconscious manner. As a result, your overall movement becomes fluid because you aren’t forcing yourself but rather flowing with the motions.
Dance
This might sound crazy but many legendary boxers such as David Branch and Juan Marquez used ballet dance form as a tool to increase the overall footwork. Dance though it sounds unconventional is a great way to develop balanced footwork whilst improving the overall flexibility in movements.
Conclusion
I hope this comprehensive guide on footwork in boxing helped you learn about boxing footwork. If you’d like to study the science behind it in detail, you can read about the boxing footwork of top boxers such as Lomachenko, Gennady Golovkin, and Floyd Mayweather to name a few in our Boxing Masterclass.
