It’s an old and oft-quoted phrase, but nevertheless it has stood the test of time and remains true to this day: “Styles make fights”.
These three words state that, more frequently than not, the ultimate result of a fight – and the quality of entertainment therein – is dictated by the explicit boxing style of the combatants. The core concepts of the various disciplines of boxing mean that knowledge of a fighter’s style means we can instantly conclude several important things about them, including their favoured strategies, preferred types of opponent, and likely career longevity. When they meet in the ring opposing styles contrast and clash in different ways, with certain clashes producing fireworks whilst others producing snore-fests.
The ability to study and evaluate a boxer’s style is a vital instrument in the toolbox of any boxer, coach, or fight fan. It provides insight into how a single fight or even an entire career might develop. If you’re in the ring with gloves on it can tell you what you need to do to outwit your opponent, and if you’re in the audience it can tell you in which direction a sly wager ought to be placed. To “evaluate a boxer’s style” means to quickly and effectively analyse and summarise it in as concise a manner as possible – to categorise that athlete using a convenient mental model.
There are many ways to categorise and compare boxers, here we’ll examine:
- Outboxers vs. Sluggers vs. Swarmers
- Boxers vs. Punchers
- Long Range vs. Mid Range vs. Close Range
- Front-Foot vs. Back-Foot
Outboxer vs. Slugger vs. Swarmer
The classic trinity metric. Simply put, all boxers fall into one of three categories: Outboxers, sluggers, or swarmers, and there is a rock/paper/scissors pattern of dominance between each of the types.
Outboxers like to fight on the outside – using reflexes, footwork, jabs and crosses. When they find themselves on the inside they tend to grab and hold-on until the referee splits them, to be reset at their preferred distance. Examples include Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, and Wladimir Klitschko,
Sluggers are powerful but usually inelegant fighters who fight in that pure-punching range between outside and inside – using strength, hooks, uppercuts and crosses. They are often defensively poor, but make up for this with raw firepower. Examples include Sonny Liston, George Foreman, and Vitali Klitschko.
Swarmers like to fight on the inside – using agility, guarding, hooks and uppercuts. They close distance as quickly as possible to find their ideal range, slipping shots on their way inside till. Examples include Jack Dempsey, Henry Armstrong, and Joe Frazier.
Outboxers tend to perform best against sluggers – whom they are faster and more defensively astute than – but worst against swarmers – who rapidly crowd them and nullify their preference for distance. Swarmers tend to perform worst against sluggers – walking onto their big shots as they try to work their way inside.
While it doesn’t quite account for the subtle differences of hybrid and special types (e.g. boxer-punchers and pure counterpunchers) this is a reliable method of categorisation, as old as modern boxing itself. Aficionados come back to it time and again when comparing and contrasting boxers.
Boxers vs. Punchers
Writ simply: a ‘boxer’ is someone who prefers the technical aspects of boxing: establishing the jab, solid footwork, being elusive and defensively adroit – and a ‘puncher’ is someone who prefers the more damaging aspects of the sport: landing power shots, applying pressure, utilising their strength and hunting for knockouts. Think of this as a continuum line, with ‘Pure Boxer’ at one end, and ‘Pure Puncher’ at the other – giving us two absolute extremes.
Most fighters will tend to err toward one end of the spectrum more than the other, providing a simple and concise categorisation method. Many boxers sit on the central pivot point or close-by on either side – being a boxer-puncher, or puncher-boxer, if you prefer – but many fighters will show a clear preference.
Long Range vs. Mid Range vs. Close Range
This categorisation method goes hand in hand with the concept of all boxers being an outboxer, slugger, or swarmer. It states that there are three distinct punching ranges – long, mid and close – and that a combatant will have a preferred range at which they work most effectively. Throughout fights they will endeavour to maximise their time at this range so they can perform to their best, whilst simultaneously trying to prevent an opponent from spending as much time at their preferred range to nullify their attacking threat.
Some boxers are clearly skilled at fighting across multiple ranges, giving them more options and available strategies in which they can fight. Classic boxer-punchers are an example of a mid range puncher who is also comfortable boxing at long range. Meetings between two boxers with the same range preference become a matter of who most effectively fights at that range, thus the better overall boxer should dominate. In cases such as these a cat-and-mouse game might develop whereby the inferior fighter chooses to fight at a range at which they are less effective, purely to deny their opponent the chance to fight at their dominant range. It is therefore sometimes advantageous for a boxer to fight at a non-ideal range, if their opponent is more disadvantaged by this than they are.
Front-Foot vs. Back-Foot
The difference between a front-foot fighter and a back-foot boxer is usually a matter of their level of preference for aggressive pressure.
An aggressive combatant will predominantly want to fight off the front foot, coming forward and instigating exchanges, forcing their opponent to defend and retreat if overwhelmed. A specific range preference is unimportant, as they will always try to press forward and get into their ideal punching range, whatever it is. This is in definite contrast to back-foot boxers, who tend to be long range specialists; looking to maintain distance by retreating constantly and establishing an effective jab or straight back hand. Of course, some boxers are equally comfortable fighting either front-foot or back-foot, and thus might switch between the two styles as opportunities present themselves. Just because a boxer has more of a reactive, back-foot mentality does not mean that they are necessarily defensive in nature; it purely means that they aren’t the aggressor when it comes to closing distance and initiating exchanges.
It’s very unusual to find, say, a back-foot swarmer, as the two style categories are incongruous: it’s impossible to close distance and put pressure on an opponent if retreat is your main concern. The only time this combination might appear is when two swarmers meet, and one of them decides to let the other do the work of distance-closing, by simply sitting back and allowing their opponent to charge forward.
