It’s good to be a strong boxer who’s capable of unleashing a barrage of power punches. But, if your defense is weak, you might still experience a gruesome beatdown in the hands of a more “balanced” boxer who’s mastered the Philly Shell. In this article, we’d check out tips that’d help you level up your game.
Top 5 Tips on Perfecting the Philly Shell:
- Tuck Your Chin in at the Centerline
- Maintain Your Fundamental Defense
- Don’t Block Your Vision
- Leverage Your Upper Arm to Block
- Pivoting While in the Shell
Truth be told, the Philly Shell is not for beginning boxers. It’s nuanced, so I expect you’ve got basic boxing moves down before you use it. It’s an excellent position that allows you to defend, execute set ups, and counter punch. Now, let’s explore the tips in some detail.
Tuck Your Chin in at the Centerline
You’d agree that sometimes, something that seems like a little thing can have an enormous impact on whether you win or lose. One of such things is tucking in your chin at the right position. When you’re standing in the classic or peek-a-boo boxer stance, you tuck in your chin in the centerline of your chest, right? It’s understandable that when you use the Philly Shell, you might tuck in your chin closer to your collarbone and shoulder. After all, you’d be using the shoulder a lot. It’s understandable, but it’s a rookie mistake.
If you do, it actually reduces your ability to defend yourself, because it limits your chance of doing a full shoulder roll. The length of the roll is shortened, and that limits the chance of deflecting the punch. When your chin is tucked in right at the centerline, you have more mobility, which translates to more coverage from your lead shoulder. Granted, the distance between the collarbone and the centerline of your chest isn’t much. It’s just about an inch. But, trust me, it can mean the difference between protecting yourself or going home with a broken jaw! So don’t forget, champ. Keep your chin tucked in, right on the centerline of your chest.
- Maintain Your Fundamental Defense
While leveraging a Philly Shell, it’s tempting to just focus on the frontal part of your body. After all, it’s closer to your opponent. The truth is, excellent pugilists, focus on all parts of their body. So, you want to make sure that you’re not neglecting your rear side. You’ve got to be super-alert so that your reflexes are right on the money. The way you position your rear hand and how you’re using your rear elbow are vital. Your rear hand and elbow are powerful weapons, don’t forget to wield them. Your rear elbow must be raised high, so it acts as a cover.
In other words, make sure you’ve got your fundamental defense down. Adding the Philly Shell makes you more lethal since your standard defense is already in place. But, if you ignore your rear side, a swift and smart opponent could feint, make you think they’re coming at you from the frontal part, switch mid-action, and deploy a deadly blow to your undefended side. That’s not fun (if you ask me).
- Don’t Block Your Vision
To execute the roll, you’ve got to turn a bit, as you use your shoulder to deflect the punch. When you turn, it’s all too easy to turn too much, and momentarily block your vision. That way, you may not see a hyper-swift blow aimed at you. No matter the angle you assume when you turn, you don’t want to unwittingly use your shoulder to block your eyes! So, even when you turn, you must still be able to see your opponent at all times. If the roll is too short, you’re unprotected. If it’s too long, you could cover your eyes. When you roll, you just need a small motion. Nothing exaggerated.
You’ve got to find the sweet spot: the midpoint between too much and too little. While you’re training, you could practice with a partner or in front of a mirror. If you’re in front of a mirror, and you’re at an angle where you can’t see yourself, then you know you’re doing it wrong. Don’t be Joe Frazier, in the Thrilla in Manilla. At a point, Mohammed Ali had beaten him so much, he could hardly see! You’ve got to see and anticipate your opponent’s moves all the time.
- Leverage Your Upper Arm to Block
In addition to the shoulder roll, you can also use your upper arm to intercept punches. You’d raise your elbow up a bit to block effectively. The elbow is a powerful part of the body. If your opponent threw a power punch, and you blocked it with your elbow, they’re likely to feel serious pain, when their knuckles connect with your elbow. Even if their punch were to glide off your elbow as it continues forward, its momentum and impact are reduced or even halted. When you’ve got your elbow up, you can block, you can frame, you can clinch, you can come around…it gives you a couple of options to set up your next move.
- Pivot While in the Shell
The ability to pivot, dip and duck is one of the most vital skills in your defense playbook. You’ve learned how to do that while in the classic stances. Now, you’ve got to practice them while in the shell. Distribute your weight, so that you’re resting more on your back leg. You’d be more stable that way. You’ve got to maintain your rear hand positioning and be ready to shoulder roll even when you dip, duck, and pivot right or left. That way, no matter what angle the punch is coming from, you still have your chin tucked in right on the centerline, your shoulder ready to roll. And your rear hand is ready to deploy the elbow and other parts are ready to block punches hurtling at you.
You just need to practice the moves several times and it’d gradually become second nature. When you become good at it, you’d become more evasive, you’d be better at countering, and you’d be able to set up an awesome offense. Imagine that you dipped… and before your opponent could stabilize their balance, you unleashed an uppercut that connected! Such is the power of being comfy in the shell so that you can move with ease.
Get Your Stance Right
You’ve got to get your position right. Your right hand should be on your cheek (to protect you from hooks and crosses). From that position, you can easily block jabs, too. While the left hand should be placed on the abdomen. When a punch is aimed at you, you roll the shoulder (that’s to say you twist it inward a bit and at the same time raise it up). When a hook is aimed at your body, simply use your right and left elbows for defense. Most of your weight is on your back leg.
Bend your Waist
When you’ve just aimed a powerful hook at your opponent, and they’ve retaliated. What do you do to defend yourself? By the way, the simple defense tip we’re looking at is for when you sent the hook all the way through. They’re hurling right at you with a hook that can take your head off. Bend your waist considerably, while keeping your feet firm. Trust me, they’d miss and close the distance, because they’d be unbalanced. You got off their hook. But, immediately unleash another hook to the left side of their body. It’d startle them. That’s if they don’t fall to the ground.
Adjust to your Opponent
If you’re about the same height (or a little taller) as your opponent, all that you’ve read so far is enough. But, if they’re taller, you’d need to improve your speed, so that you can lean forward or backward to duck the punches. If you don’t, because they’re taller, they have a better reach, and can easily hurt you. If you checked out Mayweather vs. de la Hoya, you’d see how “Money” defended himself so well against “Pretty boy” Hoya, who’s taller.
Finally, it’s vital to remember that you’re only gonna be as good as the number of times you actually practice. The Philly Shell system is probably the best position in all of boxing. Mayweather is undefeated, and this system is his go-to stance. I suspect it’s one of the secrets to his astonishing success. The shell is not impenetrable, but it’d protect you from a lot of blows.
So, you wanna practice it often with a good coach and sparring partners that’d help you master it so that it becomes intuitive. You also want to work on your speed and reflexes. You’ve got to be swift, champ, to bring out your best as you punch and roll in your shell.