LEFT HOOK - Boxing's DEADLIEST Punch....

1nce Again, the LEFT HOOK Showed Us Why it's Boxing's DEADLIEST, Most DANGEROUS Punch...Courtesy of a SINGLE Left Hook, Tall Paul was FUBAR....Roy Jones LIVED & DIED by the Left Hook...The LEFT HOOK Beat Ricky Hatton TWICE...Joe Frazier Got to the Hall of Fame by Virtue of his Left Hook...

What is it about the LEFT HOOK that Makes it Soooo CONSISTENTLY Damaging & What R Some of your Favorite Left Hooks of All Times???....



REED:mj:

 

favourite left hook(s) of all time starts and ends with Bob Foster, imo. See Dick Tiger, Vincente Rondon, & Mike Quarry

 

The left hook is MOST effective when it follows a right hand, because the opponent never sees it coming. A fight that comes to mind to back this up is years ago when Kirk Johnson stretched Oleg. In this case, Martinez's left hook came from Paul's blind side and he never saw it. Same case as Hamed-Kelly.

My favorite left KO is probably Foster's on Quarry. Mike LITERALLY looked like he was dead when he hit the canvas.

A slept on left hook KO beauty is Roy's KO of Sugar Boy Maligna. All the more impressive, cause Maligna was suppose to have one of the best chins in boxing.

 

Tito on Vargas nuts to get out of trouble. Also the one in the 12th of that fight that nearly decapitated FV.

 

It was a left hook thrown from a southpaw stance, which was more of a cross/hook. Like REED said, it was very similar to the punch Tarver caught Jones with. Very difficult to land, but when it does, it wreaks havoc.

 

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Comes from outside your field of vision & travels a short distance. I think it's as simple as that.

I agree with your assessment - most dangerous punch there is.

 

Your forgot Ray Robinson vs Fulmer.......:nono: And Wlad vs Chambers.....:nono:

The left hook is a simple question of physiology and form.

For openers, the liver and other vital organs, and other nerve centers, exist on the right hand side of the body. To the left is the stomach {which hurts but it's just a bag really} and above to the right is the heart. But the Kidneys and liver are all there to be hit, nice and in the path of the left downstairs. The liver tapers nicely into the path of the left hook downstairs, as do the floating ribs and kidney. Nice.

Of course, there is a matter of form and stance in boxing. Humans tend to throw wide looping shots, it is a simple matter of having relatively long limbs and fighting at relatively close range. It is human nature to allow a limb the full use of it's range. Try squatting in one place for a long time- you get tired very fast, much faster than standing for the same period of time.

To throw a true, deadly short straight right is very hard indeed. Marciano threw the most famous of them all, and he had very short arms to begin with. Furthermore, for the vast majority of fighters, the right is further from the target, it requires more talent to throw it, or squaring up to compensate. How many fighters threw brilliant right hands without squaring up? Jones, Floyd, Ali...really talented guys.

Conversely, the left hook allows us to indulge our physiological handicaps, it is easier to shorten our arms into a bend than it is to shorten them along a straight line, simply by folding them at the elbow. The left hook is also, pound for pound, a more damaging punch as it involves that motion which physiologically causes the most damage, the rocking side-to-side motion. It comes in from the side, catching the head high or on the jaw will equally cause discombobulation.

Now a right cross can do this too but it needs to be timed over the jab- again it involves more skill. The straight right will snap a mans head back but back-to-front doesn't shake the brain quite like the side-to-side motion. Remember Wlad landing straight rights all night on Peter in their first fight, then one left hook has the guy all at sea? Floyd had lit Hatton up with straight rights that snapped his head back, but the left hook which snapped his head to the side did all the damage. Floyd could never have thrown a straight right to time Hatton coming in there, but the left arm across the body shortened the arm and still allowed for enough of leverage, catching Hatton on the one exposed side of his head {the right} from where Floyd was standing.

Also, as stated, the left hook can catch you on the temple/high on the head and do you {Chuvalo vs Quarry...you get that staggering dance result} or it can catch you lower down, on the chin, a la Vitali vs Danny Williams. More often than not, the right will land on the forehead, which is pure bone, or in the face, neither of which are KO spots. The right hand has to be BING on the chin- Hearns vs Duran, or be so brutally heavy as to cause the required effect- Lewis vs Rahman II.

The left hook just has more torque, more places to land, and requires less skill from all the fighters throwing it.

 

Ray Robinson-Fulmer 2
McCallum-Curry
Pettaway-Brown
Tyson-[insert name here]
Walcott-Charles 3

 

Wlad vs Chambers

Wlad vs Shufford

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Tuaman vs Ruiz.

 

Ummm... you guys know that wasn't a lefthook last night, right?

 

Well...left hand.

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EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm glad someone else realized this...

 

Yeah, left hand. You know the difference, right?

 

It was a HYBRID Punch...Overhand Left/Left Hook...An OVERHAND Left Hook, if U Will....Just as there's Such a Thing as a Left Hook/Left Uppercut (HOOKERCUT), there Can Also B an Overhand Left Hook...



REED:mj:

 

As far as I'm concerned, it's not a left hook unless it's coming off your lead foot.

 

Ah!!!...So U're 1 of those Guys::...

REED has a Homey that's a PSUEDO Boxing Trainer, who will Argue All Night Loooooong that a Right Hook DOES NOT Exist...Sorry, but when there's a HOOK-like Motion of the Arm on the Punch, that's a HOOK...


REED:kidcool:

 

A right hook does exist... southpaws throw them all the time. ::

 

Exactly...

The Dude's just an IDIOT...1 Drunken Night, REED Called about 20 Different Trainers who All Told him he was a DUMBFUCK...



REED:shit:

 

And what did you call them back?

 

Uh, Martinez is a south-paw. That wasn't a left-hook at all. It was a straight left. Should the mod change the title of the thread to, "The straight left - boxing's deadliest punch?"

 

Agreed.

 

:atu:

Uuuuuh, there was NATHAN "Straight" about the Punch, Doub...So a Southpaw CAN'T Throw a Left Hook???...U Sound just like the Aforementioned Boxing Idiot REED was Referencing....There's a CLEAR HOOKING MOTION of Martinez's Left Arm...This ISN'T Rocket Science Fellas...It was a HYBRID Overhand Left/Left Hook....Williams ATTEMPTED to TRADE Hooks w/Martinez, but Martinez's LANDED 1st...



REED:hammert:

 

It was a hook, Martinez arm was at 90 degrees from the elbow.

 

Wouldn't it technically be a cross? Or is that just another word for straight left?

 

A "Cross" LITERALLY CROSSES the Body @ Somewhat of a DIAGONAL Angle, Before the Point of Contact...Tommy Hearns Threw TEXTBOOK Right Crosses...

Martinez's Kill Shot Looked like a LOOPING Left Hook to REED, but it Could Also B Considered an OVERHAND Left Hook....



REED:hammert:

 

I have to say I don't consider it a left hook.

It wasn't a straight down the pipe Pacman esque left hand, but it wasn't a hook either.

It was a sort of arcing/overhead left hand thrown from the southpaw stance with the fist horizontal, not vertical like a hook.

Obviously the punch wasn't straight, but the way it was thrown was more similar to a cross than a hook.

 

Depends on your Definition...

The Shot NEVER Actually CROSSED Martinez's Body Though...A Cross CROSSES (Prior to the Point of Contact) & There's a HOOKING MOTION on a Hook...There was a Definite Hooking Motion in Martinez's Arm...Like REED Said, he Thought it was More of a LOOPING Left Hook, but an Overhand Left Hook will Suffice...



REEDopcorn:

 

the above debate is what made the shit effective. martinez throws shows from awkward angles because he's so athletic.