In the image above, the red line is the centre line position of the boxer’s head. Green is for gloves, and the yellow line is for food. Above, you saw Floyd appearing closer to Maidana to attract a jab. In this example, we’ll see exactly the opposite.
Herein, you can see Lara appearing further away from Alvarez. Notice the distance; look at the line on the left-hand side. Look at the red line and the yellow line and the gap between them. Also, the distance between the head and gloves is extremely less. He’s almost tucking his gloves near his head. Watch the disparity between the red and green line as compared to the yellow line, i.e. Lara’s lead foot positioning.
On the contrary, check out Canelo’s stance. Just like Maidana, he is in a uniform stance. The distance between the yellow, green and red line is almost the same. Which is even more traditional modern boxing stance as compared to Maidana above.
Now compare the lines, and you’ll see the difference in stance. Lara’s positioning makes Canelo feel that he is further away from Lara. Since Lara’s body is further away, Canelo doesn’t seem to worry too much. However, that’s not the truth as it’s a deception. Lara is just inches away from Canelo if you consider the lead foot placement.
Distance deception is the art of footwork and not just the head as we learned earlier. Many people mistakenly think that it’s the head position. No, it’s not. Lead foot position is the primary factor when it comes to distance deception. Canelo is right in front of Lara, but he doesn’t know because Lara’s pulling back his body. And Lara is going to use this distance deception technique to catch Canelo off-guard. These are the tricks and trade of a technically sound boxing fighter.