Bibliotech #1: the jab

The first installment of a massive catalogue of striking techniques. And what better place to begin?

Welcome to the first installment of a long and ambitious project. While writing a recent article, it occurred to me that I use a lot of terminology which I do not always have the time to explain—nor would any of you have the time to read it all if I did. My articles are long enough as it is. Wouldn’t it be helpful, I thought, to save readers any potential confusion by simply linking to a reference explaining the relevant technique—how it works and why it’s performed? A technique library, if you will.

Unfortunately, no one who has ever lived has possessed the right combination of free time and personality disorder to attempt compiling such a reference—until now. So begins the Bibliotech, a catalogue of every striking technique I can possibly think of, from punches to kicks to slips and parries and pivots and everything in between.

And what better place to begin such an ambitious mission than here: with the humble jab, the foundation on which so much boxing craft is built, and an invaluable addition to any striker’s game.

Now, to be clear, this entry will cover just one of the many types of jab. The lead hand is, after all, a supremely flexible tool. When I started jotting down ideas for this project, I was able to come up with ten distinct variations on this one punch. There are pawing jabs, flicker jabs, up-jabs, triphammer jabs—and many more, some of which I’m sure I haven’t even thought of yet.

Today, however, we’ll only be talking about the jab. The classic jab, the standard jab, a.k.a. the stick, as in “stick and move.”

What it looks like

A long time ago, in a distant land called the Sherdog forums, a clever man and skilled trainer named Luis Monda wrote a post illustrating the different types of jab. For his example of the standard jab he chose Ike “Bazooka” Quartey, and I’m inclined to follow suit. Quartey was a Ghanaian boxer who held the WBA welterweight title from 1994 to 1997. He was not quite the best boxer of his day, having the misfortune to share his era with Pernell Whitaker and Felix Trinidad, nor even the best boxer to come out of Ghana (that distinction belongs to the great Azumah Nelson), but Ike Quartey is still celebrated today for his legendary jab, which may be the finest of its kind ever caught on film.