The biomechanics of how to clock a mofo
While every guy's stood up and shadowboxed during a Mayweather fight, most haven't ever thrown a punch in a real one, most notably Floyd Mayweather. Because you're bound to get in a fight eventually with that haircut, we brought in trainer Luis Lagerman of the new Sobe Kick combat gym, who's worked alongside Ali cornerman Angelo Dundee, to give you a simple three-step tutorial on the perfect punch, which will be the first one on record not spiked with Everclear. Luis says:
Turn your fists over: When throwing a jab or cross, you'll get more reach, power, and leverage if you turn your fist over (palm down). "You're also hitting a body, which is not a flat object", says Lagerman. "If you hit with a vertical fist, you're gonna hurt your hand. You got elbows and chins to worry about" -- finally giving you something in common with Carnie Wilson, when she injures her elbow.
Make impact with the correct knuckles: You want to connect with the index, middle, and ring fingers, as they "have very good support from your arm", according to Lagerman. This ups power and reduces injury. He frowns upon striking with the outer knuckles because it causes your wrist to flex: "The impact is totally wrong on the hand", also something Spicoli learned about getting pizza delivered to the classroom.
Use your whole body: "Everything's gotta start from the floor," he preaches. "When you throw a cross you rotate the whole body; foot, hip, shoulder, and head go with the punch." He's especially emphatic about moving your head to the side and allowing the shoulder to drive the blow, which keeps your face a moving target, which at least now carries designer collaborations, unlike those crappy moving Filene's Basements.
For an uppercut (a much "trickier punch"), Luis suggests getting your hips low enough to get under the blow, and keeping the proper bend in the arm. He says "the power comes from the elbow behind the hand", and therefore that you should keep your elbow angle close to 90 degrees, which is about 8 short of a bunch of dudes who've also never been in a fight.