Following up from the previous post regarding the basic guard, in this post, I’ll be touching on another type of guard, commonly known as the high guard. It is pretty much the same as the basic guard only that for the high guard, you hold your hands much higher than before. When you’re adopting the high guard, your hands/ clenched fists will have to be close to your temples. Keep elbows tucked in close to the body.
The high guard is a very defensive stance. It gives your opponent a false sense of target where he or she will mostly be punching your elbows and forearms (which still can hurt just so you know hahaha). You can still move your head/ upper body to minimise getting hit even though the punches are only landing on your arms.
When do I use the high guard?
There are surely a few pros and cons to using the high guard. Like I said before, it depends on the situation where you want to use it. I personally use the high guard when I want to walk my opponent down. Usually in the later rounds when my opponent’s punches have dropped in power, I will shell up with the high guard, walk forward and slowly bring him to the ropes. This can disturb my opponent psychologically because it will be as if I’m saying that “your punches do not hurt”.
Another situation when I will use the high guard will be when I can anticipate correctly what kind of punches my opponent will throw, the timing, and rhythm of his punches. This will be what I call the catch and shoot technique.
Basically, once my opponent is done throwing his punch or last punch of a combination, the moment that punch lands on my elbow, forearm or gloves, I will immediately reply with my own single power punch or a punch combination. I will attempt to catch him with my punches before he is able to bring his hands back to defense mode. It is useful to know that each time a boxer throws a punch, there will always be an opening to land your own counter.
What’s bad about the high guard?
I won’t exactly say that it is bad but if you are not familiar with using the high guard or you use the high guard because you are desperate, you can be in big trouble.
The high guard might make you a little too defensive and you might not be throwing enough punches to be winning a fight, especially if your opponent is a high level out boxer who stays busy throughout the fight.
Be smart and practice both the basic and high guard. Be prepared to be in different situations where you will need to use the different skill sets so that you can give yourself the best chance to win.
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