The Roll
Going under hooks without going anywhere your legs cannot follow.
The Roll
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En esta lección
- Roll under a hook with the legs rather than the waist
- Finish the roll in a stance you can punch from
- Counter on the way up
Clave del entrenador — Roll under and come up on the other side — never come up where you went down.
What a roll answers
Hooks travel horizontally. You cannot catch one cleanly and parrying one is difficult, because it is not coming down a line your hands are on. Going underneath it is the natural answer.
The roll — sometimes called a slip-and-roll or a bob-and-weave — takes your head under the punch and brings it up on the other side, in position to hit.
The mechanics
- Bend the knees, not the waist. Your chest stays roughly upright throughout.
- Dip under the line of the punch — just under, not to the floor.
- Travel laterally as you come up. The U-shape is the whole technique. A V-shape brings you back into the punch.
- Come up in a complete stance, hands still at your cheeks.
- Eyes forward the whole time. Looking at the floor is the most common and most punished error.
The counter on the way up
Coming out of a roll, your legs are loaded and your body is already rotating. That is a cross or a hook waiting to happen — you do not need to reset first.
- Roll under their lead hook, come up outside, throw the cross.
- Roll under their rear hook, come up inside, throw the lead hook to the body.
If you have to stand up straight before you can punch, you did not roll — you ducked. Ducking removes your head from the exchange and puts nothing back into it.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Bending at the waist | Head goes forward into the uppercut |
| Rolling too deep | Slow to return, blind while you are down |
| Coming up on the same side | The second hook of the combination finds you |
| Dropping the hands | The roll only defends one punch; the hands do the rest |
Drill it
Two rounds rolling under a rope or a partner's arm, left to right and back, checking that your chest stays upright. Two rounds with a partner throwing slow wide hooks: roll only. Two rounds: roll and counter on the way up. Then one round of roll-counter-roll — the second roll is what stops you standing tall to admire the first counter.