What is a boxing jab?

Answer 1

A jab is a straight punch delivered with the lead hand... If you are in a proper stance, this would be the hand closer to your opponent. For a right handed fighter, the jab is thrown with the left hand. For a southpaw, the jab is thrown with the right hand.

A jab should be thrown with full arm extension, quickly out and then back in to the boxer's guard. It is important that after throwing the jab, you pull it back immediately into the defensive position. While the jab is a great weapon because of its quickness, it can become a liability if the motion(s) made after making contact are not rapid and concise. Slowly pulling the jab back after throwing it ("leaving it out there" in boxing parlance) leaves the right handed boxer highly vulnerable to an opponent's right cross (or a southpaw opponent's right hook) while it leaves the lefty vulnerable to an opponent's left hook (or, again, if the opponent is also a southpaw- the straight left cross of the opponent) ... The same rules apply to "dropping" the jab; in other words, throwing the jab and then lowering the lead hand on the way back to a defensive position... this, too, makes you vulnerable... (see Max Schmeling KO12 Joe Louis for the most famous example of this)

A jab can also contain a little extra "oomph" when the boxer steps forward with the lead foot while throwing it (i.e. a "step jab") ... this makes the jab sting considerably and it is something that Joe Louis would later master after his failing against Schmeling. The downside of this method of course is that the jab is not as quick and can not be doubled-up or tripled-up in the same fashion as a more traditional jab. Besides Louis, one can see exemplars of the art of the step-jab in the examples of Sonny Liston, Ike Quartey and Matthew Saad Muhammad, Carlos Monzon, Sandy Saddler and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Ken Norton also made good use of this weapon as a counterpunch, most notably against Muhammad Ali.

Among the most notable masters of the art of the traditional jab are Larry Holmes, Sugar Ray Robinson, Thomas Hearns, Muhammad Ali (though, he dropped it constantly and made up for it with great reflexes), Ezzard Charles, Harold Johnson, Pernell Whitaker and Bob Foster.