Boxing

Boxing Haymaker Punch: How Can You Throw It Perfectly?

boxing-haymaker-punch-how-can-you-throw-it-perfectly

You cannot say that Boxing is all about punches, but you can definitely say that boxing is mostly about punches. How do you throw your punches? How much power do you have for throwing your punches? Which part of your opponent’s body are you targeting for your punches? These are all that matters in a boxing game. You have to see and focus on all these things.


Boxers tend to learn many techniques to make their punches powerful and land them on their opponent. They also prefer to learn those punches which are very powerful so that they can knock them out with their punches. The most powerful punch considered by many boxers, martial artists, and fans around the world is the boxing haymaker punch. Out of all punches, this is called the most powerful and best punch to knock your opponent out. This article will explain in detail all about the haymaker punch and how you can throw it at your opponent.

1. What is Haymaker Punch in Boxing?

  • Haymaker punch is not like the typical punches used commonly in a boxing game. It is a punch that is thrown by moving your arm and hand back, swinging it, creating more distance between your hand and your opponent, and then striking your opponent with the momentum of your whole swinging body. This creates more force, which makes the punch more powerful. With the increased distance, the time for making the punch and landing on your opponent also increases. It has this drawback somehow. Increased time for punch means that your opponent can defend the punch, or they can simply escape the punch.

  • So you cannot use it at the start of the match, thinking that if you throw this punch, your opponent will going to be knocked out. That is not going to happen. Instead, you have to make the punch in that situation when your opponent has faced some other punches already and is a little bit fazed out. That will be the perfect time and situation for you to make the punch. Then, you have a high chance that if you make that punch, your opponent will be knocked out by you.

2. Why is it Called a Boxing Haymaker Punch?

  • Farmer cutting the hay with a scythe is the haymaker origin. The punch is called a haymaker punch because the manner in which the punch is generated is very similar to the cutting of the hay with a scythe. Hay is a form of grass which is cut and dried. The farmer cuts the hay with the scythe, their arm fully extended, they make a swinging motion and do it with much power. The same goes for the haymaker punch in which a fighter throws their swinger arm at their opponent, and their arm is also fully extended. That is why the punch is called the haymaker punch.

  • Haymaker is basically one full power punch that is designed to knock somebody out and more often, your technique is not perfect on this. It is engaging your whole body into the shot and there is usually not a good follow-up. It is not a combo style where we can even rip an overhand and come to a body shot. It is that kind of and we are ripping right through with every little bit of force we can muster. You cannot throw a Haymaker straight down the middle. It just does not work. They are usually overhand style, hook style, or they could even be uppercut style.

  • Just make sure that, on either the front or back arm, you are engaging the entire body and following through on the punch. There are many people who have been making these powerful punches in professional matches. But on the top of the list is Deontay Wilder. Most heavyweight fighters in the world will also execute these all the time because they know whatever extra power comes from the Haymaker, maybe 20-25%. That is just an estimate and that extra power is enough to put somebody clean out.

3. How Can You Make the Perfect Boxing Haymaker Punch?

  • Normally, when you throw a hook, you go with your shoulders. That is sort of the rotation. If you are facing towards your opponent, your body rotates about far from your opponent. That gives you a decent amount of distance you can follow through the target. But in a wild haymaker punch, you are probably going to whip through to your opponent. You have to do a full rotation so you can maximize that follow through power.

  • Disconnect the heel off the back foot if you go the opposite direction off the lead foot so your feet are not stuck to the ground and you are limited or impaired in your movement. Disconnect will give you so much more power through that bottom half of your body. The punch is not going to hit the target and pull out as you often do when we hit pads. You are going right through the target and rounding back to your head again. There are downsides to this, but there are some positives in the power that we can generate.

4. Footwork in Throwing the Wild Haymaker Punch

  • Now, the footwork that you need to utilize aside from the twist is how you cover the distance effectively. Because, let's be honest, this is not a punch that comes out of nowhere. It is not like when you are moving around, and you snap out a jab and hit somebody, and they are like, whoa, where did that come from? This punch is a little more rounded and to close the distance, you are going to need a little bit of footwork.

  • So, if you are coming off your opponent's back arm, you will probably step once with your front foot and hit hard. If you are coming off your lead arm for some reason, you are probably going to roll under and do a double foot spring. The legs have to be engaged. You generally don't want to just stand here and just throw, especially if you are thinking aggressively. If you are being defensive and somebody is coming to you and you just dropping your weight and whipping through, it is a counter punch that you will plant.

5. Mistakes Beginners Do While Making the Boxing Haymaker Punch in Boxing

Now, a couple of things to keep in mind about a Haymaker that most beginners do wrong is they will pull the hand way back to get the wild haymaker punch happening. So if you are standing and you are going to hit, instead of loading the body and unwinding and keeping everything a little tighter, they will pull and aim right through. This is why, very often, people don't teach this at the gym. It is one of those techniques that is very sloppy. It is one of those techniques that you don't really need to know how to do because everybody does it, and many people do it incorrectly, but if you can dial it in, it is absolutely an effective punch.

6. Downsides to the Boxing Haymaker Punch

There are some downsides to this wild haymaker punch in boxing. Following are some of its downsides;

  • It takes a little more time than other punches in boxing. More times means that your opponent has more time to react to your punches. They can defend your haymaker punch more easily than your other punches.

  • Haymaker punch is situation dependent. You cannot throw it any time during the match. If you throw it at the start of the match, your opponent will defend it easily. You have to see when your opponent is a little bit submissive to you; only then you can make the punch.

  • An additional downside to this punch is you are not generally stringing together multiple Haymakers because it's so much slower. If you throw a hook uppercut, then you don't have to worry about downtime between punches. If you have to execute that same hook, uppercut Haymaker style, it is just so slow unless you have an opponent in front of you whose damage injured, and they are just shelled up and you're just ripping away trying to finish. You may have seen some high-level boxers who do these styles of punches even when they are fighting for World titles.

7. How Can You Defend the Haymaker Punch in Boxing?

You can easily block a haymaker punch. The following are three ways to boxing haymaker punch defense:

  • The first way is to lower your head. The perfect target for most people to land their punches is the head or face. Your opponent will try to land their haymaker punch on your face. When they are punching, you just need to lower yourself below their level of punch and then grab them across their back and lock your hands up their back. Afterwards, you can just sweep them with their legs or just also do a suplex.

  • The second way for boxing haymaker punch defense is the pull counter. When your opponent throws the punch, just pull yourself back away from your opponent’s punch and then counter their attack by punching with your right hand.

  • The third way for a boxing haymaker to defend against haymaker punch in boxing is by kicking your opponent’s chest. When your opponent tries to punch you haymaker style, pull yourself back and then kick on their chest with your legs.

8. Boxing Haymaker Punch vs Hook

Following are the differences between boxing hook and boxing haymaker punch:

Differences Between Haymaker Punch and Hook
Haymaker Punch Hook

In a haymaker punch, the whole body swings to generate maximum power and momentum.

In hook, you rotate only your hips, not your entire body.

Haymaker punch is not focused on any specific area of the opponent’s body.

In hook, you focus on punching the specific area or side of the body.

Less Technical.

More Technical.

9. Last Words

The boxing haymaker punch is the most powerful punch you can make on your opponent in a professional boxing match. This makes it necessary for you to learn haymaker punch if you are a boxing athlete. You should learn both how you can throw a haymaker punch and how you can defend against boxing haymaker punch. It is a wild punch and very powerful. But it is a little bit easier to block as compared to other punches because of its slow speed of punching. So you have to be very careful about when you are throwing this punch on your opponent. 

10. Frequently Asked Questions

10.1 What is a Boxing Haymaker Punch?

It is a punch that is thrown by moving your arm and hand back, swinging it, creating more distance between your hand and your opponent, and then striking your opponent with the momentum of your whole swinging body. This creates more force, which makes the punch more powerful. 

10.2 What Does a Haymaker Punch Look Like?

A boxing haymaker punch is a punch that is thrown by moving your arm and hand back, swinging it, creating more distance between your hand and your opponent, and then striking your opponent with the momentum of your whole swinging body. This creates more force, which makes the punch more powerful. With the increased distance, the time for making the punch and landing on your opponent also increases. It has this drawback somehow. Increased time for punch means that your opponent can defend the punch, or they can simply escape the punch.

10.3 How Can You Make the Boxing Haymaker Punch Correctly?

In a wild haymaker punch, you are probably going to whip through to your opponent. You have to do a full rotation so you can maximize that follow through power. Disconnect the heel off the back foot if you go the opposite direction off the lead foot so your feet are not stuck to the ground and you are limited or impaired in your movement. Disconnect will give you so much more power through that bottom half of your body. You are going right through the target and rounding back to your head again.

10.4 How Can You Do Boxing Haymaker Defense?

The following are three ways to block a haymaker punch:

  • The first way is to lower your head. Lower yourself below their level of punch and then grab them across their back and lock your hands up their back.

  • When your opponent throws the punch, just pull yourself back away from your opponent’s punch and then counter their attack by punching with your right hand.

  • When your opponent tries to punch you haymaker style, pull yourself back and then kick on their chest with your legs.

10.5 Who Invented Haymaker Punch?

Farmer cutting the hay with a scythe is the haymaker origin. The punch is called a haymaker punch because the manner in which the punch is generated is very similar to the cutting of the hay with a scythe. Hay is a form of grass which is cut and dried. The farmer the hay with the scythe, their arm fully extended, they make a swinging motion and do it with much power. The same goes for the haymaker punch in which a fighter throws their swinger arm at their opponent, and their arm is also fully extended. That is why the punch is called the haymaker punch.

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