Intelligent Boxer, San Francisco, CA (2026)

11/10/2018

Recapping our Punch Analysis revealed live on ’s Before the Bell prefight show.
In the fighters previous 34 rounds, on average, Usyk has out-worked and out-landed Bellew by nearly 2x. A daunting statistic taken in any interpretation. Nonetheless, as anyone that has watched the Ukranian knows, not all punches are created equal. Though Usyk’s output may double that of Bellew’s, the quality to quantity ratio of those landed likely tells a more competitive story.
While both fighters output increases, on average, over time, Usyk’s doubling of output goes from 60 punches to 120 by round 12. To put this in perspective, by the most physically demanding rounds, Usyk is punching at a blistering pace of nearly 1 punch every 1.5s.
Again, its crucial to take into account the low power and velocity of Usyk’s output, but it should not discount the difficulty in having to deal with this amount of output, particularly as the fight moves into the late rounds.

11/10/2018

Reviewing our Usyk / Bellew Punch Analysis for ’s prefight show.
Usyk’s Top Punches: While care was taken to exclude feints and other non-threatening punches, Usyk's jab count is impressive and perhaps only matched by stable mate . The key here for Usyk, as with Loma, is not necessarily the quality of his jab work, but what it sets up, how it probes for tendencies, distracts and applies pressure.
Bellew’s Top Punches: Bellew’s most effective punch in raw quantity is the jab, largely as a function of the amount he throws it, however, his most effective punch by hit rate, is the left hook to the body, coming in at 43%. Given Usyk’s constant upper body movement combined with his high jab output via southpaw stance, we suspect there will be an increased focus on this punch.

@ San Francisco, California

09/11/2018

A look back on our punch analysis for ’s brand new show.
Points of note:
1. Khan’s punch selection is dominated by his jab-cross which combined together form nearly 75% of his offense. It’s interesting to consider how similar Mikey Garcia’s punch data might look yet how vastly different their boxing styles are.
2. Khan’s lead hook interestingly far out-lands his right hand, and is overall his most effective punch. This is likely proportional to the amount of jabs Khan throws as he brilliantly convinces his opponents to “think jab” before mixing in a one-off hook in between flurries.
3. In Khan’s last 4 fights (excluding Vargas), surprisingly, 94% of his punches were thrown to the head. That has interesting defensive implications for Khans future opponents. Gone are the days of Khan’s liver shot on Maidana.
4. Punch Flow chart shows how Khan sequences his punches, as mentioned earlier, Khan mostly sticks to boxing fundamentals: the jab-cross, throwing it approximately 67% of times more than one punch is thrown. This may in part explain why his cross lands at such a low rate, with this kind of predictability and given that the cross is the second punch in a sequence, there’s simply more time to anticipate and defend.
Our next show will air live on Twitter and Facebook for Joshua Povetkin on Sept 22nd on .
@ Birmingham, United Kingdom

09/09/2018

A look back on our Amir Khan stats segment as discussed on ’s prefight show
Khan shows a classic boxer’s punch selection, predominately jabs with nearly 75% of punches thrown boxings most basic: 1-2.
Interestingly, in Khan’s last four fights, he’s nearly completely neglected the body throwing 94% of punches upstairs.
Stats compiled and presented via the Intelligent Boxer Smart Stat Engine.

07/31/2018

We revisit Oleksandr Usyk’s exquisite control of distance in his dismantling of Murrat Gassiev in the World Boxing Super Series Cruiserweight Final.
Covered here is just one aspect: back step and counter. Gassiev’s pressing and one dimensional entrance into the pocket was available for these all bout. Where Gassiev would push, Usyk would pop back, when Usyk would run out of space, he’d pivot off changing the angle. Usyk fought with discipline and smart footwork to force Gassiev to fight in his most disadvantageous position: in the middle of the ring, on the outside.
’s Father, Anatoly Lomachenko and the high agility, non-linear Eastern European school of boxing is bright as ever.

05/14/2018

There’s much to be said about what both Linares and Lomachenko were able to do in the ring Saturday, but in this short, we’re more interested in what didn’t happen. How was able to defuse ’s dazzling outside footwork that has embarrassed so many before him?
1. Counter-clockwise pivot. It turns out, escaping Lomachenko as an orthodox fighter was easier done than said. Linares does this simply and safely by committing to the full 180 degree turn and pivoting into space as oppose to on the spot. Last, Linares does well to keep his eyes on Lomachenko and not get buried in his gloves like so many prior opponents.
2. Destabilizing. Linares uses his arm and body weight to destabilize Lomachenko on the turn stealing his leverage while pushing him further out of the pocket.
3. Stiff Arm. At times Linares simply outstretched his arm controlling his weight or using his lengthier reach to keep Lomachenko at bay.
Linares clearly did his homework and it makes one wonder: how much of Lomachenko’s skillset will stand the test of time and how, if at all, will Lomachenko adjust as more and more opponents become privy to his tendencies?
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04/30/2018

In what might be one of boxing’s most dominant performances, we take a look at a less commonly acknowledged aspect of Floyd Mayweather’s near flawless Philly Shell. Floyd is near perfect at medium and long range yet near unknown on the inside. Simply put, he doesn’t fight there. For a defensively inclined fighter, perhaps its too chaotic, you have to fight too perfect to not take damage, but what’s more interesting here is how he avoids it. In this short, we cover just one of many ways he does this: his elbows.
Marquez is well known for his well timed right hand, a punch that has sent some of the best to the mat, but not Floyd. effortlessly shoulder rolls Marquez’s most lethal weapon and flares his elbow upward winning a handful of benefits:
1. Creating distance. Floyd, seemingly looking to avoid the ropes in this bout, stands his ground, rolling the overhand right of a mauling Marquez. To reset the distance, Floyd flares his elbow, pulling up to reset Marquez back to mid range. This has another effect:
2. Destabilizing. In moments were Floyd is entrenched in with Marquez, creating space with his elbow simulteanously destabilizes Marquez, pushing him backward out of the pocket.
3. Obstructing. Floyd’s flared up elbow completely obstructs Marquez’s famous right hand. Its seen time and time again throughout the fight, but perhaps no clearer than the first clip in this short.
Even if Floyd was always supposed to win against a great, smaller fighter, he didn’t just physically dominate Marquez, he completely outboxed and nullified him. The silver lining in mismatches, be it skill, weight, or otherwise, is the chance to see a fighters complete and unadulterated skill set. In this aspect, Floyd did not disappoint.
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02/05/2018

Continuing our series, we revisit Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana’s rematch. In what would end in a more convincing Mayweather win, Maidana manages to put himself on the short list of fighters to hit Floyd clean. Here’s how he may have done it.
Due to Maidana’s relative success with Floyd on the ropes in the first bout, it was clear Floyd showed a concerted effort to avoid the ropes the second time around. In the early rounds, Floyd does this with lead and counter right hands off the back foot over Maidana’s light pressing jabs.
Particularly in the third, Floyd lands 2 of 3 pull counters cleanly with 2 more lead rights while backing into the ropes.
But with seconds to go in the third round and Floyd backing into the corner yet again, Maidana looks to have picked up the pattern, drawing a pull counter from Floyd and for the first time, following up with a perfectly time overhand right in what looks like to be an otherwise perfectly executed trap on Floyd.
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01/30/2018

We take a look at a few ways Errol Spence Jr. opens up Lamont Peterson’s guard.
1. Punch diversity and accuracy. is a solid, steady combination puncher with exceptional punch diversity. He works his opponents up and down the body mixing setup and power punches beautifully. Combine this with his ability to loop punches and find and target small openings and it makes for a very difficult time defending.
2. Vertical fist. Used by many fighters, Spence turns his hand over to the narrower side, weaving his hand through Peterson’s guard repeatedly throughout the fight.
3. Pull down. A less common tactic used by Spence twice in the fight. As with most pull downs, the risk is always in getting a hand that close in the first place. We think his use is particularly good here: it starts as a stiff arm to control distance over a forward pushing Peterson. Once Spence gains control and Lamont’s leverage, he slides his hand down to create an opening. Subtle, practical, and clever.
4. Creating distance. Worthy of a video on its own, Spence uses his forearms, hands and arms to push or bump Peterson throughout the fight to get back into his dominant mid range. In the clip captured here, notice how Spence comes inside just as Peterson begins to make forward momentum. His timing, intentional or not, destabilizes Peterson, pushing him away all while creating the distance to attack from.
5. Banging the gloves. Punches along Peterson’s guard may not always land clean, but one way they serve is to keep Peterson’s guard high, minimizing his field of view and creating future openings. Finally, make no mistake, power punches on the gloves might not give points, but they still hurt.
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01/28/2018

Intelligent Boxer started a year ago with the simple goal of sharing the intelligent side of boxing. The part of boxing that is nuanced, under appreciated, misunderstood and often just plain missed. This month we surpassed 50k followers and on behalf of Intelligent Boxer, I’d like to thank all of you for the support, direct messages, and enthusiasm. Here’s to an even better year two.
Special thanks to for inspiring and opening my eyes to this side of the sport years ago.
Special thanks to for the HBO 24/7 inspired remix track.
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01/22/2018

We take a look at how Errol Spence Jr. controlled range in his title defense with Lamont Peterson.
1. Defensive Jab. Spence uses a simple, mostly non-threatening jab to keep Peterson at distance. Not unlike GGG, Spence’s stationary tendency to be grounded and balanced affords him the opportunities to time Peterson’s weight transfers nullifying and stealing any momentum into the pocket. Sometimes this is a full blown jab, other times a flickering jab, and can be as simple as holding his hand out, obstructing Peterson’s vision and crowding the punch zone.
2. Stiff Arm. Peterson’s most common entrance into the pocket was dropping under Spence’s frequent defensive jab. When would get beat positionally at the perimeter, he’d often drop his hand onto Peterson’s shoulders, stealing momentum and leverage, obstructing vision, and crowding the punch space, all while pushing Peterson to either side to reset. is another fighter of recent that does this extremely well.
3. Changing the angle. This is mostly self explanatory but Spence’s timing of this showed great ring awareness to avoid getting hung up on the ropes and get back to his dominant middle ring position.
Congrats to Errol Spence and his team on his first title defense and terrific performance. With Thurman still on the comeback, who might be next?
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12/20/2017

We dip back into the Canelo vault to show one of his favourite tactics: setup punches.
Canelo rarely if ever comes through the front door without feints or setup punches. As with feinting, the setups Canelo throws are mostly about drawing a reaction or creating a distraction while getting into range or opening up attack surface to do real damage.
Notice how Canelo doesn’t fully commit his weight on the lead, that’s for the power shot that follows. Tyson, Patterson, Chavez, to name just a few, do this basic very well.�.�We are tracking to hit 50k followers in time for the new year. Thank you for all your support, direct messages, and comments.�–––––––––––––––
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