The Best Boxing Stance and Guard for Beginners (+5 Advanced)

The first things you need to choose in boxing are your stance and your guard. You probably already know about the basic stance and guard (and if you don’t, don’t worry, we are going to talk about them in a minute).

But what nobody teaches you are the other stances, you can use, depending on your style of fighting or on the situation. And this is what we are going to discuss in this guide – all the possible boxing stances and guards, their advantages, their drawbacks and in which situations you can use them.

The basic boxing stance and guard

Stance – To get in a basic boxing stance, first, you need to imagine a line under your feet – right between them. Your front foot toe and your back foot heel need to be on that line and they should be a little wider than shoulder length apart (the front foot is your weak foot). The angle between the back foot and the imaginary line should be 60-70 degrees and roughly 45 (or less) degrees for the front foot angle. Lift your back foot heel slightly off the ground – that will increase your mobility. Bend your knees a little (for better balance and more power). The weight should be on both your feet.

Guard – Keep your rear hand (your stronger hand) on your cheek, protecting the chin – the palm should be facing you. Your lead hand should be roughly 7 inches in front of your chin. Keep the elbows and the chin tucked in. That way you will be able to protect your body from hooks and uppercuts and also it will be hard for your opponent to land a clean shot on the chin. And that’s very important because most of the knockouts are caused by a shot in the chin.

A combination of the basic stance and the basic guard is perfect for beginners.

Is there a proper boxing stance and guard?

In my opinion, there is no such thing as a proper boxing stance or proper boxing guard. Because the different boxers use different stances and guards depending on their style. The stance and the guard that boxers use also depends on the defensive/offensive techniques they use most often. Some stances and guards allow you to do certain things but don’t allow you to do others. That’s why there isn’t a “perfect boxing stance/guard”.

But there is a conventional boxing stance that is recommended for beginners (which I described above). If you are an experienced boxer you probably won’t need it, but if you are new to the sport this stance is probably the best option for you. It allows you to move quickly, to attack but also to easily defend yourself. It’s a good idea to start with the basic stance and after you gain some experience, you can try something else that gives you more options.

Advanced stances and guards

By using some unorthodox guard and stances you can get different advantages. For example, some of them are great for offense while others for defensive techniques and mobility.

Scoring

I scored all the following attributes of the guards and stances, which I described in this article, using a 10-point scale. Here are the attributes:

Power
Offense
Defense
Range
Balance
Mobility

We are going to discuss all the pros and cons of the different boxing stances and guards so you can see which one is the best option for you. We will also take into account what strategies the athletes of the different combat sports, other than boxing are using and how we can apply it in boxing. I am talking about combat sports such as Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Taekwondo etc.

Types of boxing stances

It’s important to understand that you don’t need to use only one guard or stance all the time. You can switch them during the fight, depending on the situation. After a minute, I will give you examples in which situation you should use the different guards and stances and also when they aren’t effective.

*By “stance” I mean the placement of your feet when boxing. And by “guard”, I mean the positioning of your hands and upper body. Some people may say that those are synonyms, but I want to discuss them separately because you can do a combination of different stances and guards.*

We are going to start with the feet positioning (your stance). But first, I want to make sure you know what is the difference between an orthodox and a southpaw stance.

Orthodox vs Southpaw stances

The vast majority of the boxers use the orthodox stance. For this stance, your left hand and left foot are in front of you, while your right hand and foot are at the rear. The southpaw stance is the complete opposite – the right hand and foot are in front of the boxer and the left hand and the left foot are at the rear.

Most of the times the orthodox fighters are right-handed, while the majority of the southpaws are lefties (although there are some right-handed southpaws and left-handed orthodox boxers). The idea is to put your weaker side closer to your opponent, while your stronger side (your stronger leg and hand) at the rear. That way you can generate more momentum and hit harder with your rear hand (the stronger one).

When two boxers in opposite stances are fighting, both fighters are mirroring each other. In such situations, usually, the southpaw boxers have an advantage because of the southpaw strategy they can use against the orthodox fighters.

So after you know if you are an orthodox or a southpaw boxer is time to dive into the different stances you can use:

Basic stance

Power: 5/10

Range: 5/10

Balance: 5/10

Mobility: 5/10

The basic stance is the first one your coach will teach you when you start boxing. This is not a defensive stance, neither offensive one. It’s something in the middle. It allows you to attack and move back quickly without losing balance, which is really important, (especially when you’re a beginner).

Although this is a basic stance, it’s really effective. Even some professional boxers, such as Manny Pacquiao or Vasyl Lomachenko, use it.

Pros: Very balanced stance (good defense and offense). It’s great for beginners.

Cons: Too ordinary. Using it you won’t get any special advantages like when using some of the other stances.

Wide stance

Power: 9/10

Range: 3/10

Balance: 8/10

Mobility: 2/10

When using the wide stance, your feet should be stretched out more, than when using the basic stance. Also, your knees should be bent a little bit more. That way you will be much more stable and you will be able to generate more power (because of the leverage your lowered stance gives you). The wide stance is great for hard punchers and boxers who like to counter. The fighters who use it basically trade mobility and reach for power.

How to do it:

It’s very similar to the basic stance with a few differences. The first one is the greater distance between your feet (roughly about shoulder length + 1/3). Your knees should be bent a little bit more. That’s important because this stance gives you better balance but only if you bend your knees enough. Otherwise, you can lose balance easily when getting punched or even when your opponent just pushes you.

The last difference is that your back foot heel shouldn’t be always lifted off the ground. Boxers do this to improve their mobility, but when using a wide stance, your focus is on the power rather than movement. So your feet should be planted.

Pros: More power in your punches and better balance.

I recommend using this stance when your opponent closes the distance but you want to stand your ground instead of moving backward. It can be also effective when you want to counter with a powerful shot as the other boxer comes into you. It can also be used in close distance, for example when you are pressing your opponent against the ropes.

You can use the wide stance even when brawling and trying to knock your opponent out. Actually, it’s effective in every static situation (when you don’t need to move to reach your opponent).

Cons: Poor mobility and lack of reach.

When using the wide stance your feet are planted so you won’t be able to move quickly and to use your full reach. That’s because your rear hand is far away from your opponent so it will be hard to catch him if he keeps a distance.

Also, chances are your legs will get tired quickly because you need to keep your knees bent more than usual all the time. So better use this stance only when your opponent is close enough to you so you don’t need to move to catch him. Be mobile and quick for the rest of the fight. Otherwise, a fast boxer with a longer reach than you will outbox you easily.

Sideways stance

Power: 4/10

Range: 8/10

Balance: 3/10

Mobility: 9/10

This stance is used in martial arts such as taekwondo and karate. But in some situations, it can be applicable in boxing also. That’s because it gives you great mobility and range, especially for your lead hand. The other benefit of the sideways stance is that when you use it, you become a narrow target so it’s harder for your opponent to catch you.

How to do it:

The sideways stance is almost the same as the basic one. Again you need to imagine a line under your feet. But this time your front foot toe and the balls on your rear foot need to be on that line. Your rear foot should be almost right behind your front foot and both feet should be almost parallel to each other. You can lift your rear foot heel off the ground slightly. And you can shift the weight between your legs during the fight (something like the pendulum step).

Pros: Great stance for creating and maintaining a distance and for “in-and-out-movement”. More reach with the jab and more power in the rear hand cross.

As I already mentioned, this stance is used in Taekwondo which is a martial art which requires a lot of movement. So by using the sideways stance in boxing, you can really improve your mobility and movement speed. As I already mentioned, it’s a great stance when it comes to in-and-out-movements, so you can use it to attack your opponent quickly and then to quickly go back to a safe distance.

The other cool thing about it is that in a sideways stance you become a narrow target, which is great for your defense. Also with this stance, you can use the maximum reach of your jab. And you can build huge momentum with your power hand cross so it can be much more powerful than a cross thrown from a basic stance.

This stance is a great option for you if you are an out boxer (someone who likes to fight from a distance and move a lot and often use the jab).

Cons: You can easily lose balance when you get caught with hooks (especially left hooks) or even when throwing rear hand hooks. You don’t have much power in your lead hand so your only real weapon is your rear hand cross (which is far away from the opponent so sometimes it’s hard to catch him with it).

The other drawback of this stance is that you are really mobile but only when it comes to linear movements. You can quickly move back or forward but it’s hard to move left and right which sometimes is really important (for example when you’re pressed against the ropes).

I recommend using this guard when you really don’t want to close the distance between you and the other fighter. For instance that can happen when fighting against a hard puncher with a shorter reach than you. If that’s the situation, you can use the sideways stance to maintain a distance, jab him a lot and eventually catch him with your cross. Even if you can’t knock him out, you will probably land more punches and win on points.

Squared stance

Power: 8/10

Range: 4/10

Balance: 4/10

Mobility: 6/10

The squared stance is commonly used in Muay Thai. I like it because when using it you have power in both your hands (unlike the sideways stance). This stance can be really effective when your opponent is trapped against the ropes because you can use the squared stance to put even more pressure and prevent him from escaping. And, of course, to land powerful shots with both your hands.

Something similar happened in the fight between Maidana and Maywheater where Marcus Maidana used a squared stance to press Mayweather against the ropes and to land hard right overhands.

How to do it:

Do the basic boxing stance. Then move your right foot 3-4 inches to your right and your left foot 3-4 inches to your left. That’s it. You are in a squared stance now.

Pros: You can throw powerful shots with both your hands and you can easily move to your left and right or to pivot at an angle.

It’s a great stance when you’re fighting from the inside and using the swarmer boxing style. Or as I already mentioned, when your opponent is pressed against the ropes.

Cons: This stance leaves your body open for punches, because when using it you become a bigger target, so it’s harder to defend yourself everywhere. Another disadvantage of the squared stance is that you can lose balance easily if your opponent pushes you back or if you get a hard punch in the head. That’s why I recommend using it mainly when the other boxer is on the ropes. There you can lean on him to keep your balance.

The reach of your punches isn’t great – you can’t use the maximum reach of your straight punches, like when using, for example, the sideways stance. The last drawback is that, with this stance, you can quickly move to your left or right, but you will be much slower when it comes to moving backward or forward.

Boxing guard

In my opinion, (similarly when it comes to boxing stances) there isn’t a guard that you should use all the time. You can change your guards during a fight depending on the situation. For example, if you face a defensive opponent you can use a loose guard or even keep your hands down to bait him to attack you. On the other hand, when fighting against an aggressive boxer, a defensive guard such as the Philly Shell is a great option.

Some boxers change their guards multiple times in a fight. A great example of this is Floyd Mayweather. He usually uses the Philly Shell guard but when fighting against opponents who like to fight from a distance, he switches in a high guard and starts walking them down.