This is the fourth installment of my “How Not to Punch” series. We’ve covered Jason Lambert twice and Doug Marshall once and now we’re looking at Badr Hari in his recent K-1 bout with Alistair Overeem.
With 1:52 left in the first round Hari throws a looping left hook with his right hand down and Overeem counters with a shorter left hook of his own that clips Hari and sends him stumbling for a second. Almost exactly 50 seconds later Hari does the exact same thing and so does Alistair which shuts off Hari’s lights and ends the bout.
If you watch the entire fight you can see that every time Badr throws a hook with either hand he drops his other hand to nipple level and leaves his chin exposed. Alistair follows perfect boxing technique to counter a wide hooker, throw your own hook that is going to get there quicker and protect yourself from the incoming shot.
Look at the gif for a second and watch the right hand of both fighters.
See how Hari pulls his right hand down as he throws the left hook? His chin comes away from his body slightly in the process of throwing the hook and there is nothing to prevent a return shot. Now watch Overeem, his right hand guards his temple when his head is low and his jaw is protected by his arm and shoulder. As he throws the hook and his head comes up he slides the defensive hand right to his jaw and keeps it pasted there.
The result is clear, Overeem lands flush on an exposed jaw and Hari’s hand (while slowed due to getting jacked) bounces harmlessly off of Alistair’s glove. It really is picture perfect technique against pretty bad technique which is sad considering it came from such a high level K-1 star.
Throwing a punch requires more than just throwing your fist at the other guy, everything from proper foot positioning to proper hip movement and protecting yourself from return shots can not be over looked…obviously.
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