Basic But Very Effective Boxing Combination With Souleymane Cissokho
It’s often said that the fundamentals are fundamental for a reason. The fundamentals are generally the easiest and first thing that new fighters learn but that's not the only reason that they are fundamental. It’s also because they tend to be very effective despite their simplicity. Fundamentals are the techniques that you should be using the majority of the time in your sparring sessions or competitions. They are what you can rely on to keep you safe and to always be effective if done correctly.
In terms of boxing and even just striking in general, it doesn’t get more fundamental than the good old one-two. These two straight punches are the bedrock of pretty much all striking combinations and especially so in the sport of Boxing. The one-two is not only good at setting up other strikes in a combination but it's also a powerful combination in itself. Seriously if you really think about it, the one-two punch combination is super underrated. It’s safe to throw, it keeps you at a safe distance and it scores really well. There’s just too many good things to say about this stable of combat sports.
In this video, Souleymane Cissokho goes over a short but sweet and very effective combination that only uses the jab and the rear straight. Souleymane Cissokho is a Senegal born fighter who competes out of France. As an amatuer he won the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the Light-Middleweight class. He now competes as an undefeated pro boxer and is the current French super Welterweight champion.
The video starts off with Souleymane’s coach saying that the combination that Souleymane is about to show is one of his favorites. The combination is pretty much as simple as it comes but has one unique twist to it that you don’t often see talked about. First Souleymane throws your standard one-two nice and hard. After that you would expect another strike as a follow up but no, he instead uses his lead hand to frame off his opponent. He places his lead hand on his opponent’s lead hand but he doesn’t just put it there, he uses a strong frame.
You need to be forceful with this control, this makes sure that your opponent can’t fire back at you. Having a forceful frame might also knock your opponent back which might lower their guard, making it easier to land your follow up shot. After framing with your lead hand you are going to finish off this combination with another hard cross.
This combination is effective for a few reasons. First, the frame creates a pause that breaks up the rhythm of the fight, which will confuse your opponent. The second is that the frame creates a level of control on your opponent from which you can work off of. You don’t have to place your frame on your opponent's lead glove, you can place it anywhere you want that’s possible. The rear glove, their head, their shoulder, their collar bone, whatever you feel works.
You don’t even need to have the frame on them, you can just put your lead hand out in front of their face. Doing this will blind them so that they can’t see your cross coming and it’s always the shot that you don’t see coming that knocks you out. If you’re trying to block your opponent’s vision, keep in mind that bending your wrist back and showing them the inside of your glove will cover more of their vision.
If you like this combination and want to learn more from Souleymane Cissokho and his coach then check out his complete video series “Crisp Boxing Fundamentals And Workouts By Souleymane Cissokho” Available exclusively on Dynamic Striking.