This is a skill that tends to slip under the radar, IMO. And one which seems to be in decline as more fighters settle for the more demonstrative but passive method of just covering up. List some guys who were good at picking off shots with their hands, actively, whether by smothering, parrying, cuffing, whatever. Foreman was good at this. Deceptively so, especially in his prime. Chavez, too. I'm sure you guys can do better. You go....
Thinking about it, Foreman was pretty good at it. Even old Foreman was fairly adept at pawing and cuffing away shots. Duran and Floyd can both parry. I don't consider Chavez as being particularly good at it to be honest. Mosley used to be quite good at parrying actually, so did JLC. Can't think of any others at the moment. Steve is right, Holyfield could parry.
You think? Can't say I've ever noticed. He generally either leans, covers up or backs up. Any clips or examples come to mind?
The Ibragimov fight. Not what's traditionally considering parrying but he used his left to pick off Sultan's punches out of the air.
I think he does none of those things. He sticks his arm out and that is usually enough to confuse every heavyweight that is not his brother. If not he jumps on them and gives them a extended Ruiz hug. That are his two main defence mechanisms.
Vitali went into that fight with the injury. Parrying might exacerbate an existing injury as the fist makes contact but slides off. One exercise I saw being conducted was of a man who was asked to enter a room 10 times, walk to a counter and pick up a carton of juice. 9 times he walked in, and picked up a full carton. For the 10th trip, they emptied the carton, unbeknownst to the participant, who then used way too much energy to pick the carton up, to the effect that his arm shot up into the air and the carton flew from his grasp. If you throw a punch which slides off, and your arm keeps travelling, then yes I can see damage being done.
Gamboa showed surprisingly good parring in the Mtagwa fight. In fact his overall defense was top notch in that one. Definitely his most impressive performance.
I can't believe no one mentioned Alexis Arguello... that was his primary mode of defense and countering... he was awesome at it
I don't know if it is a lost art or an art that never existed, but it is very rare to see someone parry punches and has been for at least the 20 years I have been watching boxing as a full-time hobby. This is how rare it is: One fight that stands out as having the most-effective parrying I have ever seen and it happened in 1994 and only lasted about one round, maybe two. Aaron Davis against Tony Marshall, fight #1. 3/31/1994 Marshall was a slop pressure fighter with no power but good stamina. Davis stands pretty straight up for the entire first round and parries the piss out of everything Marshall is doing. Then he either gets bored or tired, but he quits doing it and Marshall slopped his way to a victory.
Actually, Marlon Starling was pretty good at it even though he gets more credit for his Winky Wright crab defense. Alexis Arguello was good at it, too. I teach parrying extensively along with the counter jab!
