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I have a young fighter that has been developing nicely. I’ve been taking my time with him and making sure he absorbs and displays the basics before moving on. He’s been with me for about three months now and in any other gym he probably would have had his first fight by now.

I’m patient though. I want to see certain things repeatedly done before even thinking about his first fight. Tonight in sparring he started to display what I want to see.

I feel patience is very important ingredient in coaching. Fuck, rush a kid in fight sports and you make him glove shy, make a fighter glove shy and it’s pretty much over.

Patience allows a coach and fighter to gel, allows a coach to learn more about his fighter, and allows the fighter to develop at a pace they’re comfortable with.

Some gifted fighters can obviously be pushed and developed faster, but to watch a young fighter start to take impressive form lets you know that the patience involved was indeed warranted and needed.

Take a step forward, then take two step backwards, but steady progressing never the less with a patient coaching style allows a fighter to really become all that they can be.

You know what they say…Haste makes waste, and it ruins untapped potential.

Here’s a drill I like to use with my fighters while teaching them how to defend against body shots. You just don’t see much of this being taught to young fighters anymore.

One of the rules I have in my gym is throw few single jabs. It instantly pisses me off if I see a fighter do it more than once. I get enraged if I see a fighter flick it or paw with it even more.

The jab is an awesome weapon when used correctly. When watching the Mosley-Margarito fight yet again I was impressed with how Mosley doubled and tripled up his jab. Doing that allowed him to land his power shots. The conductor that got Shane working the jab in that way was of course Nazim Richardson. He knows boxing and knows what the jab can do. The jab allowed Shane to do what he wanted to do to Antonio, keep him at bay, out of rhythm, and mesmerized by it.

Watch that fight again and see for yourself. Fuck those flicking jabs which Shane does still throw a lot of. Solid double and triple jabs allow you to control the rhythm and distance of a fighter. It just opens up many opportunities while closing the opposing fighters would be opportunities as well.

Need more proof on the potency of the jab? Study the great Larry Holmes and watch how he positioned fighters and controlled them with his jab. Yeah, he did it for eight years as heavyweight champion of the world!