Karate Case Study: The Front Snap Kick

It's a wonderful thing as a practitioner of traditional martial arts to see a classical technique come back into vogue and be used to great effect in full contact combative sports. John Smith reintroduced the low single leg take-down which appears in dozens of Eastern martial arts forms to the world of amateur wrestling, Jon Jones is bringing back the savate style push kick or "Chassee" to the knee, and between them Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva have brought the front snap kick back into vogue. Following their use of it so masterfully we have seen a proliferation of it's use in mixed martial arts particularly. Even one dimensional grappler Rousimar Palhares landed it out of nowhere, stunning Dan Miller in the UFC. Just the other night Dong Hyun "Stun Gun" Kim, known somewhat for having turned into a "decision fighter" since his move state side, managed to land a Lyoto Machida style jumping kick or "Tobi-Geri". The only thing that made Stun Gun's attempt less impressive was the fact that he had already attempted to land the crane kick over ten times before in the same fight.

The main difference between the front kick that Machida and Anderson threw and the Muay Thai style front kick which is much more common place in combat sports today is in the chambering of the leg. Notice how Machida and Anderson both bring their heel almost to their buttock and then use the bucking forward of their hips to throw the foot out, as opposed to the driving push kick or "teep" of traditional Muay Thai and kickboxing. That is not to say that teeps have not been used to score knockouts before. Witness the kick Kohiruimaki drives into the face of Nitta at 4:44 in this 2005 K-1 Max match. The key difference is that where the Mae-Geri Keage or Front Snap Kick whips up and under the opponent's chin like an uppercut, often cutting through the blind angle, the Muay Thai teep drives straight through the target. The teep is traditionally used to push an opponent back in hopes of him becoming more determined to push forward - walking into strikes as he does, or to push him into the ropes or corner. The snap kick is intended to cause a knockout or punish the body. Though the teep is used more routinely, it is also hard to find fighters who use the kick to it's full potential - Buakaw Por Pramuk being the most notable push kicker in common knowledge.

The front snap kick existed before Anderson and Lyoto (or Steven Seagal if you're feeling particularly gullible) stormed our living rooms with it in 2011, and had been used on the big stages of kickboxing and mma before, but never as effectively to the jaw. Semmy Schilt - the towering Dutch kickboxer - came to the 2009 K-1 Grand Prix with a front kick that he never before or since demonstrated. In three fights with three top kickboxers Schilt brutalised their bodies with snap kicks to the floating ribs and beat each fighter in under 3 minutes, making the total time he spent in the ring that night under ten minutes.  In this fight with Badr Hari - the consensus best in the world at the time of the tournament final, having already KO'd Schilt earlier that year, Semmy brutalises the mid-section of Hari which had never previously been thought to be a weakness. After avoiding Hari's initial charge Schilt connects his first good front kick at 3:08, falling into the clinch. He lands it against the ropes at 3:13 and again at 3:42. Though Hari does not appear wounded, his hands drop in an attempt to defend further uses of his foe's unfamiliar weapon - this allows Schilt to land a huge left straight (I would scarcely call it a jab) that drops Hari. Hari has been down before in fights, his chin being the biggest challenge his career has faced, but it is the wince of pain and the gasps that he is seen to give while sitting up after the knockdown that show the effect of Schilt's front kick. Schilt peppers Hari with jabs, delivers another front kick, some more jabs and then a high kick - Hari's usually high guard is absent though, further indicating the efficacy of Schilt's body work with the front kick. The final kick comes in shortly after - again a front kick to the floating rib, and Hari falls swinging, and writhes in agony once he hits the deck.

The best example of the front kick in MMA that I can offer is not Anderson or Lyoto, but a Japanese lightweight named Katsunori Kikuno. For those of you unfamiliar with Kikuno's work - he is a solidly entertaining fighter and has fought some top names. Suffering a robbery loss to JZ Calvan and outstriking Eddie Alvarez - the consensus best boxer and at the time best all around fighter at lightweight in the world - for almost 10 whole minutes, forcing Alvarez to take the fight to the ground, something he is rarely seen to do. Is Kikuno a great boxer or kickboxer? Hell no. Kikuno fights (or used to fight) from what fans referred to as "Zombie stance", with his hands open, palm facing the opponent in front of him. Kikuno's entire game was the front kick for the first part of his career - and it worked against top fighters. He winded kickboxing ace Andre Dida with one before throwing him to the floor and pounding him out. he brutalised Alvarez and kept him at range with it for the almost ten minutes in their match, and he used it almost exclusively to win his DEEP lightweight title. In recent fights he has abandoned his best weapon and fought almost exclusively with his hands down by his thighs, relying on his chin and punching power, but having seen him at his best it is clear he is wasting his talent in this way.  Though it's a losing effort, this is a brilliant example of how the front snap kick can throw even the best strikers off:

Kikuno throws and lands the front kick at 2:32, 2:35, 2:52, 3:16, 3:28, 3:47, 4:55, 5:00, 5:05, and 7:06. Eddie eventually catches Kikuno and changes strategy by wearing him down on the ground, but this is a career defining performance by Kikuno. Few have made Alvarez suffer so much for a win in recent years, and it was almost entirely Kikuno's front snap kick that did it. One more front kick to finish; 5:02 for the money shot.

Hand Trapping and Hand Fighting

Hand trapping is the act of slapping, pulling or pressing one or both of an opponent's hands out of the way in order to fire a strike through the hole created. Hand trapping can be as simple as slapping someone's hand down and hurling an overhand, or can be a more complex and pressuring art form. Many forms of martial art focus largely on the many variations of hand trapping; Wing Chun and Kali being the main ones, but it exists in Karate, Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai and just about any art form where free sparring is used. Many who watched the UFC match between Overeem and Lesnar will have noticed that Lesnar seemed almost helpless as Overeem stepped forwards toward him - largely due to Alistair's hand fighting. Lesnar (whose shakiness under fire is well known) had clearly been told to keep his hands up by his team and so was reluctant to fire punches, Overeem meanwhile stepped forward, covering the bigger mans hands and eliminating Lesnar's ability to punch while he stepped in to throw is infamous Uberknee. This is an advanced level of hand fighting, and one you will likely only see used by great strikers against less-than-stellar strikers, but many variations on hand trapping exist.

In this clip Japanese boxing phenomenon Hozumi Hasegawa comes out to start the 7th round and immediately drops Gerardo Martinez on the seat of his trunks. If you rewind to 0:05 it becomes clear how Hasegawa managed to drop his opponent with such a basic punch immediately on leaving his own corner. Hasegawa has fought six rounds prior to this in which he, as a southpaw, has been using his right hand to slap down, push around and annoy his opponent's leading, left hand. Immediately after slapping down his opponent's hand he has often used the path opened to throw a right handed jab straight back along his opponents arm - though it is not a damaging punch it has clearly begun to annoy Martinez as when Hasegawa does it again at 0:05 in this video, Martinez instinctively snaps his lead hand back up to cover, leaving the hole needed for the left straight which Hasegawa has already thrown in anticipation of Martinez's reaction. The result is that Martinez's lead hand flies up, exposing his chin and Hasegawa powers a fine looking left straight down the pipe, from which Martinez never recovers and goes on to be TKO'd later in the round.

Another type of handtrap is demonstrated by Fedor Emelianenko (who is going to come up again in this article) against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in their third meeting here. At 15:49 Fedor uses his lead left hand to slap Nogueira's lead left hand outwards and throw an overhand (more accurately termed a "casting punch" by sambo pracitioners) down the middle. This would normally eliminate Nogueira's ability to check the punch, but as Nogueira attempts to kick at the same time, he has the misfortune of running onto the full force of it. At 16:38 you can see what Fedor meant to do without Nogueira running on to his punch as he slaps the Brazilian's hand aside again and throws his overhand down the pipe with frightening accuracy. Nogueira's brilliant chin and heart hold him up where his boxing technique does not however, and he survives the 3 rounds in one of the best heavyweight contests in MMA history. The big hand trap to punches are repeated in slow motion at 21:15 and 21:31.


A third, more advanced form of hand trap is performed with the rear hand, then the lead hand is used to throw a power punch. Most will be familiar with George Foreman and his winning of the heavyweight boxing title for a second time at the age of 45; an interesting note is that for his comeback George hired Archie Moore "The Old Mongoose" to act as his trainer, meaning that his boxing technique and tricks were greater at the age of 45 than they had been when he was in his physical prime. At 7:12 George swings a looping right hand trap downwards, in order to slap down Cooney's lead hand and follows it with a left uppercut that connects. At 7:15 George Foreman comes out of a combination using his rear hand to smother Cooney's famous left hook preemptively, and delivers a hard jab with his left hand, following up with a right hand and a combination on the stunned Cooney, dropping him.

This same hand trap has been used to great affect in Mixed Martial Arts by the aforementioned Fedor Emelianenko and has resulted in two rapid victories for the Russian. Famed for his right hand lead, which he had used to great affect against Nogueira, Gary Goodridge and Kazuyuki Fujita, the Russian's opponents often carried their lead hand out in front of them, ready to parry the straight right. This presented Emelianenko with the opportunity to loop his right hand over their lead hand in a faked punch - turned hand trap, and follow with a hard left hook.

Against Zuluzinho the Russian executes his hand trap to left hook combination (now known around the internet as "zulu'ing") at 0:30 and it is repeated in slow motion several times at 1:00. Finally, proving how difficult this technique is to deal with, Tim Sylvia, a top ten heavyweight at the time took on Fedor in 2009, only to be dispatched in 27 seconds by the same combination and a follow up from The Last Emperor.

Other fighters with excellent hand traps are Andre Arlovski - who attempted to use them against Sergei Kharitanov most recently, Anderson Silva - who landed a wicked left straight against Nate Marquadt using exactly the same technique Hasegawa used in the first video, and Lyoto Machida who similarly uses a slap down of the lead hand to southpaw left straight almost exclusively.

High Kicking: How It's Done

High kicks are the Holy Grail of martial arts and landing them consistently secures superstar status for a kickboxer or mixed martial artist just as well as a knockout punch does in boxing. There is something uniquely impressive about watching a head kick master such as Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic send an opponent's head snapping sideways and their body crumpling to the ring canvas. As frightening in it's effects upon the recipient as it is an awe inspiring feat of flexibility and explosiveness meeting perfect timing; a perfect high kick in a major promotion will be viewed millions of times on Youtube and propel the kicker into title contention in at least the fans' minds.

No man has done more for the publicity of the high roundhouse kick than Mirko Cro Cop; his head kick wins over Igor Vovchancyn, Wanderlei Silva and Aleksander Emelianenko fill highlight reels all over the internet. Cro Cop's head kick is interesting because, unlike the later entries on this list, he never off balances his opponent with a push to bring their hands down (the Peter Aerts method), he simply kicks them in the head from outfighting range. Cro Cop, a southpaw, lacked the slick combinations of other strikers and would have been a simple one trick pony if he had not developed two other techniques to prime form; his left straight punch and his left body kick. Through the use of his straight left punch - which was strong enough to fracture Bob Sapp, Josh Barnett and Kazushi Sakuraba's orbital bones (the latter two from his knees on the ground) - Cro Cop was able to make his opponents forget their strict right hand position - which every opponent held rigidly in defence of the side of their head at the start of their meeting with him. Through his left body kick Cro Cop was able to mop up against the disciplined opponents who kept their hand up at all costs.

Watching this extremely short fight against world class striker and MMA fighter Igor Vovchancyn, it is clear how disconcerting just a couple of Cro Cop's left straights are. Igor comes out of his corner looking disciplined, with his right hand up high and away from his head to soften Mirko's kicks, but just a minute later he is bringing it in after being stung by Mirko's straight. Mirko doesn't even need the hand completely out of the way, as he is content to kick through the less sturdy guard Igor presents.




Here, in Japan's premier kickboxing promotion, K1, Mirko fights New Zealand's Mark Hunt. A former Grand Prix champion who got by on his huge punch and having arguably the best chin in combat sports history, Hunt was able to take the full force of Mirko's kick and get up, but Mirko's set up was picture perfect and the clip has made an appearance in dozens of highlight reels. Hunt's defense has improved somewhat when he meets Mirko and it gives the Croat trouble throughout the fight, but Hunt's attempts to utilize better head movement to evade punches backfire when Cro Cop catches him getting into a pattern. Notice at 5:43 as Cro Cop fakes to attack with the straight, Hunt goes to fire back but pulls short when he realizes that Cro Cop is in position to defend. Mirko immediately fakes again and Hunt leans to his right to slip the straight left. Mirko's left straight and left high kick require the same step with the lead foot outside of the opponent's lead foot, meaning that by conditioning an opponent to expect a straight punch when Cro Cop steps, he can instead throw a high kick without his opponent seeing the foot being placed in position as a telegraphing of the technique. In the most effective cases he can convince the opponent to duck into the kick, just as Hunt does.

Marlon Sandro fell foul of the same mistake in Bellator FC. Sandro is a world class featherweight with phenomenal power, but lacks the technical finesse of the featherweight division's other strikers. Here he makes the mistake against the seemingly overmatched Pat Curran of believing that his defense is as world class as his offense - his overactive head movement and wild sways down to almost hip height get him caught by a high kick with plenty of follow through on it.

Here Mirko picks up another easy knockout from an opponent so concerned with parrying his punches, while simultaneously so inexperienced in doing so, that Mirko can simply kick around his opponent's outstretched arms. Notice in the slow motion replay at the end of this very short clip how Cro Cop doesn't even throw the left straight but instead reaches inside of his opponent's right hand and turns his hand outward, cupping Nagata's wrist until he knows it won't get back in time to stop the kick. A nice little trick from the high kick master which is worth investing the time to learn.

Much of Cro Cop's success with the high kick however can also be attributed to his impeccable flexibility and athleticism. Indeed, as Mirko aged the knockouts began to disappear, and head kicks were almost always blocked by opponents he would have finished in minutes during his prime. Cro Cop's hip flexibility was always stunning, and Bas Rutten observed that it was this flexibility which made it difficult for opponents to discern whether his kick was coming in at leg height, rib height or head height. Peter Aerts is a phenomenal head kicker who has never been known for his flexibility, and he accomplishes his kicks largely (though not exclusively) through the use of off balancing techniques. Watch at 2:06 of this classic K-1 match as Aerts pushes his opponent away from him hard, causing his opponent to drop his hands instinctively to keep his balance. While it would be hard to punch a man that you have just pushed away, a kick is much longer and does not require you to draw back your hands, so it is possible to begin the kick almost simultaneously with the push.

To finish, I'll offer another nice application of the push away head kick seen in the Aerts match above. Here Bantamweight striking master Mamoru 'The Fro' Yamaguchi slows down the fast starting American, Stonnie Dennis in the clinch, before achieving a double handed neck clinch, pushing him onto the ropes and knocking him unconscious with a beautiful high kick. As you can see at 1:42, when Yamaguchi pushes him away Stonnie's hands are in no position to defend himself as he is correcting his balance, making the kick as simple as aiming at his temple.

The Lever Punch or Doubling Up

Doubling up is the act of throwing two successive blows with the same hand, and can be extended into tripling up, quadrupling up or to any number imaginable - limited only by speed, ambition and arm cramp. The term Lever Punch or Crowbar punch was coined by Soviet Boxing Team Head Coach K. V. Gradapolov in his "Tactics of the Foreign Masters" to describe the legendary black pugilist Peter Jackson's seemingly unique tactic of throwing a hard left hook and without drawing his shoulders back completely throwing another one immediately afterward. This action served to break the opponents guard and concentration as after a hard left hook a hard right punch is almost always expected. The second punch did not matter much to Jackson who simply used it to "lever" open some space in which to fire his powerful right hand, but in recent years it has been possible for the second or third successive punch off of one hand to be used as a damaging blow. A brilliant example of "doubling up" or "lever punches" is Manny Pacquiao's fight with David Diaz:

Manny Pacquiao throughout his career had experienced the advantage of being a southpaw - awkward and unseen by most fighters with savvy managers. Against Diaz he fought another southpaw - effectively neutralizing Pacquiao's ability to lead with his left hand. As a southpaw against an orthodox fighter it becomes a contest of power punches seemingly as both sides find it much easier to land a straight with their rear hand (usually their power hand) than with their jab. Jabbing in a contest involving a southpaw and an orthodox fighter is usually largely ineffective unless one participant fights with their lead hand and shoulder down as Diego Sanchez made the mistake of doing against Martin Kampmann a few months back. In this fight Manny had to prove he could fight with his lead hand, and he did it VERY convincingly. At 0:25 Pacquiao uses a slapping lead hook to jump to the side of Diaz, following it with a short uppercut off of the same hand, bringing Diaz's head up for a hook off of his rear, left hand. Manny lands a lead uppercut to the body followed immediately by a lead uppercut to the head at 0:38. By not bringing his hand back to his guard in between Manny is able to bring the punch through Diaz's blind angle, the point down by his feet that he cannot see through his peripheral vision, and so the punch lands with surprise and good effect. Emmanuel Steward - a far wiser man than most in combat sports - breaks down the combination in slow motion at 1:00 noting it's rarity even in modern boxing. Pacquiao again doubles up later in the fight, this time using a jab to lead uppercut combination that lands flush at 1:43 of the video.


Another beautiful example of doubling up from the boxing world is Mike Tyson's famous combination of the jab, rear hook to the body and rear uppercut. He used this to effectively finish tough British heavyweight and all around nice guy, Frank Bruno. At 9:37 Mike has had Bruno reeling but has failed to finish by swarming on him, so he takes a step back and reconsiders his strategy. Pushing Bruno against the ropes he sinks the right hook to the body and immediately follows up with the right uppercut. Again as the punch had started down by Bruno's trunks, Tyson's uppercut was not telegraphed in the usual way by his glove leaving his own chin and dropping below his shoulders.




The professional kickboxer and K-1 superstar Gokhan Saki has some of the fastest hands in his division, also being one of the smallest men in it. Gokhan Saki throws some of the most inventive combinations of any fighter in the world, let alone at heavyweight. In his fight with "Flashy" Freddy Kamayo, he completely outshone his opponent and upstaged Kamayo's moniker by throwing heavyweight power in lightweight combinations. At 0:55 he throws a jab, cross, left hook to the head and a left hook to the body, following it with a hard low kick, and Freddy's night only gets worse from there. After stunning Kamayo with a solid counter hook, Saki follows him to the ropes and immediately begins using smoke and mirrors to baffle his opponent rather than swinging wildly for the finish. At 2:03 Saki quadruples up by throwing a left hook to the body, a left uppercut (through the blind angle) and a double left hook to the head in rapid succession. At 2:31 Saki tops off his performance by tripling up with his left hand, throwing a right hand, tripling up the left hand again, then rolling his left hand over his opponent's head, using it to rip down Kamayo's left glove and land a right hand that sends Freddy sprawling across the canvas. Kamayo is game and makes it to his feet but the damage is done and a stoppage follows seconds later.

Mention is needed for how this underused tool appears in MMA. It is rare that you see it used but when it is, it almost always scores and I believe that fighters will pick up on this soon. The Diaz brothers, Nate and Nick are exceptional at throwing multiple punches off of one hand in quick succession. Nick's hands are so hyperactive throughout the fight (though in a strangely slow rhythm) that I won't even attempt to pin point all of the double ups he performs but I'll observe a few just to illustrate the point. At 4:00, 4:15, 6:48, 9:51 and 9:53 and 9:54 Diaz throws two punches off of the same hand in rapid succession. There are numerous other examples of doubling up in this half of the fight alone, but good luck counting. Diaz's work rate is incomparable and on most of the occasions he doubles up a punch one of the two lands, and by the 9:50 mark both are landing.

A few honourable mentions: Takanori Gomi was a fierce MMA puncher in his prime and doubled up to great extent against the (on paper at least) much better striker Jens Pulver - using a lead hook to the body to bend Pulver towards the following lead hook to the head. Fedor Emelianenko also used a beautiful combination against Mirko Cro Cop that consisted of a right straight to the southpaws sternum, a left uppercut to meet him as he bent forward and a left hook to loop around Cro Cop's guard as he attempted to defend himself.

Finally no article on doubling up would be complete without a mention of Roy Jones Jr., I am not even going to attempt to offer individual times for this video as I believe anyone who hasn't seen it should watch the entire three minutes; it's pretty inspiring. If you're really pushed for time just forward to the end, but you'll be missing some of the best left hook work in boxing history.

The Cross Counter

Some techniques get better with age, like a fine wine, and the Cross Counter is certainly one of them. The term "cross" has some to mean a straight right hand to the head, when in fact it originally referred to a right hook combined with a slip to the left - or what is commonly termed an "overhand".

Unlike the modern overhand we see utilized in Mixed Martial Arts by inexperienced strikers, the Cross Counter is designed to place your head inside of your opponent's jab so that your looping punch can travel over the top of his extended arm. The move came to prominence under the great Joe Gans but had existed even before he began fighting in the late 1890s. In the Spalding athletic library's first volume on boxing - guest written in part by the first gloved heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan - a great many variations of the Cross Counter are given. Here is a picture from the longtime Soviet boxing team head coach K. V. Gradapolov's book "Tactics of Foreign Masters". Gans is on the right, performing his cross counter over an opponent's jab.

The overhand has been called the great equalizer, but in truth the Cross Counter is even more dangerous. As so many top boxers and fighters have been taught to "establish the jab", it is almost certain that a fighter will open 90% of his combinations with a jab. A great many competitors who have been overmatched on paper have been able to land spectacular knockout blows on a complacent "scientific boxer" through the use of the Cross Counter from the opening bell.

For those Mixed Martial Arts fans among you, many of you will be familiar with Aleksander Emelianenko - the younger brother of heavyweight demi-god, Fedor and one of the most frightening boxers in MMA. Despite destroying fighters like Sergei Kharitanov and Pedro Rizzo, and being competitive with Mirko Cro Cop, Aleks was still knocked out quite recently by the first punch his opponent threw. Magomed Malikov, a relative nobody - comes out bubbling with nervous energy and obviously lacks the comfort which Aleks feels in the stand up game. From the start it is also clear that Magomed is waiting for Aleks to step into range, which he fakes several times. As soon as Aleks commits to stepping in however, Magomed cracks him with the Cross Counter over Aleks' jab.

Many of you will also be familiar with Alistair Overeem's overhand or Cross Counter. In his match with Ben Edwards, Alistair showed enormous improvement in his boxing game from his previous performances, where his over-reliance on knee strikes led to the K-1 organization (unfairly in this fan's opinion) banning the Thai clinch. Notice at 1:30 and 20 seconds later at 1:50 how Overeem uses his head movement coincided with a huge right hook to catch Edwards while he's jabbing. The beauty of the Cross Counter is that it can be landed after the jab has landed if the opponent is slow to draw it back, as at 1:30, or as the jab comes out, as at 1:50.

Many call the overhand a sloppy punch; but I implore those among you who look on it like that as an offensive weapon to consider it's context. When thrown as a lead or as part of a combination, the overhand is pretty telegraphed and amateurish, but when a lead is drawn out of the opponent and the Cross Counter employed, the overhand suddenly becomes the most dangerous weapon in a striker's arsenal.

Tyson's Crazy Right Hook

Greetings and welcome to this blog wherein I hope you'll join me delving through the archives of boxing, kickboxing and other combative sports' greatest fights. I hope to provide a good number of tear ups for those fans who love back and forth action, and a few technical breakdowns of some of the greatest finishes and techniques of all time. Everything stated on this blog is absolutely my own opinion or interpretation and I stand to be corrected by readers, and would love to hear the views of all those who make their way here on the footage I link.

    A Mike Tyson knockout is a good way to start any day - viewing one that is. Maintaining one of the highest knockout ratios of any fighter, the stocky heavyweight is one of the best known and most divisive personalities in boxing history for good reason. The second match in Tyson's comeback following release from prison in 1995 for rape charges,  Mathis was undefeated at the time of the fight and gave Mike some problems in the first and second round, but only in so far as remaining on his feet against Tyson's fury.

While Tyson's comeback is remembered mainly for Mike's abandonment of the slick combinations, head movement and footwork that made him so fearsome in his prime; this fight had a couple of truly phenomenal moments. Those with more than a passing familiarity with striking martial arts or the sweet science will be well familiar with the term "angles". Angles, referred to seemingly constantly by colour commentators but are rarely used in the modern boxing game, are a position where a fighter can land blows on his opponent without them being able to throw back at him. If an opponent acquires an angle on a fighter, the latter has no choice but to 1) back off, or 2) turn to face his opponent again, leaving time and space for the former to punch him.

Mike's angle in this fight is one you'll rarely see used. At 0:24 and 2:15 Tyson leaps to his opponent's right side, switching into a southpaw stance and loading up an enormous right hook. While moving into an opponent's right hand is not encouraged by most good coaches, Mathis is squared up so that he cannot put much power behind his right hand, and Tyson is able to move safely past his opponent's right shoulder; leaving Mathis to simply cover up. Surviving the first attempt through his wits alone, Mathis is too slow to adjust the second time and is sent sprawling to the canvas by one of the finest unique blows I've ever witnessed.