How to Throw Every Basic Punch in Boxing: Jab, Cross, Hook, Uppercut

Boxing has four basic punches: the jab, the cross, the hook and the uppercut. Throw the last two with either hand and you get the six numbered punches a coach will call out for the rest of your boxing life.

We have written a full step-by-step article on each one, with photos and a tutorial video. This page pulls the main ideas from those four articles into a single place, so you can see how the punches relate to each other before you drill any one of them.

What all four punches have in common

Read the four tutorials back to back and the same instructions keep showing up. The punches really do share most of their mechanics, and once you own these habits, learning a new punch mostly comes down to the path the fist travels.

• Start from your stance. Feet about shoulder-width apart, lead foot forward, knees soft, hands up, elbows tucked in.
• Power comes from the ground. Push or pivot with a foot, turn the hips, and let the shoulder follow. The picture used in three of the four articles is crushing a cigarette butt under your foot as you rotate.
• Rotate the fist. The hand turns as it travels so the knuckles line up at impact, which protects your wrist.
• Keep the other hand home. The non-punching hand stays on your face, and the shoulder of the punching arm rises a little to cover your chin.
• Snap back to guard. The moment after a punch is when you are most open, so the hand returns the instant it lands.

Now for what makes each punch its own thing.

The jab

The jab is the lead-hand straight punch and the one you will throw more than any other. It is fast and low-risk, and it is not really about hurting anyone: it measures distance, interrupts the other person’s rhythm, and opens the door for everything else.

How to throw it:

• Extend the lead arm straight out, with no loop in the path.
• Rotate the fist so the palm faces down at full extension.
• Snap it back the instant it lands. Think of a whip: fast out, fast back.
• Keep the lead elbow in line with the fist. A flared elbow is slower and easier to see coming.
• Add a slight hip turn and a push from the legs for pop without losing speed.

The full tutorial with step-by-step photos is in how to throw the perfect jab, and you can watch the jab tutorial video to see the whole motion at speed.

The cross

The cross is the rear-hand straight punch, and it is your first real power shot. It travels the same straight line as the jab, but it comes from the back of your stance, which means the whole body has a chance to rotate into it.

How to throw it:

• Extend the rear arm straight toward the target, palm turning down at impact.
• Push off the rear foot and pivot it as the arm goes out.
• Turn the hips and let the rear shoulder come through.
• Keep the elbow directly behind the punch. If it swings out sideways you lose force and telegraph the shot.
• Keep the lead hand up the entire time.

The cross is hard to land on its own because it takes a beat longer to arrive, which is why it almost always follows a jab. The one-two is the first combination anyone learns for that reason. The full breakdown is in how to throw a powerful cross, and the cross tutorial video shows the hip rotation clearly.

The hook

The hook is the first curved punch. Instead of going straight, the fist travels a horizontal arc around the guard, which makes it hard to see and hard to block. It works best at close and mid range, where a straight punch would be cramped.

How to throw it:

• Start from guard and swing the arm in a smooth horizontal arc, elbow bent.
• Turn the palm slightly toward the floor as you make contact.
• Pivot the foot on the punching side and rotate the hips through. The arm only carries the force the legs generate.
• Lift the shoulder to cover your chin and keep the other hand home.
• Bring the fist back the moment it lands.

One detail worth knowing: there are two accepted styles.

• American hook: finishes with the palm facing you and the knuckles horizontal.
• European hook: finishes with the palm facing down, which engages the shoulder more and supports the wrist better.

Both are used at the highest level, and our tutorial teaches the European version. The step-by-step version with photos is in mastering the hook, and the hook tutorial video is the best way to see the arc and the pivot together.

The uppercut

The uppercut comes from below. It travels a vertical path up through the middle of the guard, and because most people are watching for straight and hooking punches, it often lands by surprise. It is a close-range punch and it demands more timing than the other three.

How to throw it:

• From guard, dip the legs slightly, then drive the fist upward on a vertical path.
• Rotate the hand so the palm faces you at the end of the punch.
• Keep the arm bent and let the hips and the pivoting foot supply the force.
• Keep the elbow close to your body on the way up.
• Keep the shoulders raised to protect your chin, and return to guard right away.

The full article is mastering the uppercut, and the uppercut tutorial video shows the leg drive that is hard to describe in text.

Putting the punches together

Once you can throw each punch on its own, the numbers take over. A coach calling “1-2-3” wants jab, cross, lead hook, and you should not have to think about it.

• 1 Jab
• 2 Cross
• 3 Lead hook
• 4 Rear hook
• 5 Lead uppercut
• 6 Rear uppercut

A sensible order to build up:

• Jab alone, until it is automatic.
• Jab-cross, the 1-2.
• Jab-cross-lead hook, the 1-2-3.
• The same sequence with a rear uppercut on the end, the 1-2-3-6.

Each step adds one new punch to a sequence you already own. If you want more sequences to work with, our beginner combos article lays out a handful that use nothing beyond these six punches.

Practicing without a coach in the room

Reading about a punch and drilling it are different things, and drilling it alone is where most people get stuck. The Shadow Boxing App is built for exactly that gap:

• It calls out punches by number during a round, so you react rather than plan.
• Every one of these four punches has its tutorial video inside the app, playable right before a workout.
• Beginner exercises start with the jab and cross only and add hooks and uppercuts as you go, which mirrors the order above.

The technique itself does not come from us guessing. We work with real boxing coaches on every exercise and every tutorial, and the four articles linked above were written with them. The videos are ours too: we film them in the gym with the coaches you see on this site, so what the app shows you is the same jab, cross, hook and uppercut a coach would teach you in person.

Pick one punch, read its article, watch the video, then do a few rounds where that punch is the only thing you care about. Come back to this page when you are ready for the next one.