Hand Position For the Hook Punch - 2 Schools of Thought

When most people are taught to throw the hooks in boxing, they are told one of two ways to position their wrist and hand. First is with their thumb pointed upwards (if the thumb was extended). 

Second is with their thumb pointed inwards. There are many opinions as to why one is better than another but no matter what anyone says, no matter how much experience they have, there is one truth and it is this:

There is no right answer.

There is no way in which to position your wrist, of those two options, that is inherently a better, more effective way to throw a hook. But this Hall of Fame boxer throws it with their thumb in. But this coach teaches with the thumb up. But my trainer coached the Cuban Olympic team for 40 years, I have the right answer. But my uncle was in Golden Gloves! None of this matters, as it relates to this question. No matter what any tells you, no matter how smart they are, no matter how accomplished in boxing they are, there is no right answer.

The answer depends on you, and we are all a little different. Most people will think whatever way they were initially taught is right because doing it the other way feels weird. It's probably obvious but this is because they are used to and have practiced the initial way they were taught so of course it is going to feel natural to them. Sometimes your body composition will have some effect too. The length of your arms, types of shoulders, even certain muscles more developed can make one way feel better in the beginning vs the other.

I have heard coaches and trainers acknowledge that there is no right way to throw a hook, but then qualify it by saying that one works better for one thing, whereas the other works better for another thing, so it just depends on personal preference based on how important those things are. Like for instance, I have heard people say that the thumbs-up can give you more power but thumbs-in can give you more reach for longer distance hooks. I don't believe either of these things are inherently true. Again though, body composition can play some role. So for instance, if you had longer and stronger biceps muscles, you might be able to get more power on the thumbs-up hook because it uses more bicep than the thumbs-in. But maybe not. And it is the same thing with reach. You may find it easier to throw more of longer, obtuse angle hook one way but there is no physical reason that this would true, outside of just the way you are put together and even then, the difference is negligible.

I teach people brand new to boxing to throw hooks in the thumbs-up position. This is because it is the way I personally prefer and also because one thing that new people tend to struggle with is punching with their top two knuckles. A lot of beginners sometimes hit with the wrong part of their hand, particularly the pinky and ring finger knuckles. If you throw a hook with your thumb up and your elbow is in line with your fist, it is impossible to hit the wrong knuckles with your hook, just because the larger knuckles stick out further. 

Thumbs-Up Hook

Thumbs-In Hook

When throwing a hook with the thumb turned in and palm facing down, it is very easy to hit with those wrong knuckles, particularly on the lead hook, as you are pulling backwards. Of course that can also be fixed simply by proper positioning but it's one less thing for someone to struggle with early on. Sometimes I have noticed that in general, the more people try to rotate their wrists for punches, the more potential they have for landing the punch with a non-straight wrist, which is less powerful and can lead to injury. Whatever punch you throw, you always want to have a straight wrist upon impact and I have never heard one person say otherwise.

Again though, I must qualify this by saying that the thumbs-up position is very natural to me so I am just looking for logical ways to support it, exactly as I describe a couple paragraphs above. It is true that I have witnessed people hitting their pinky knuckles more with the thumbs-in hook but I also may be more likely to notice in that situation. If someone came to our club with boxing experience and could throw good hooks with their thumb in, I would not try to change that unless they were running into the problem mentioned above or having wrist problems on impact. I have trained some people who have a really hard time bringing their elbows up, parallel with their fist and shoulder, and suggested they potentially switch to thumbs-in, as it can help them bring their elbow up.

The default goal of throwing hooks is to strike from the outside. To go around your opponent's guard, provided you are standing in front of them and hit the side of the jaw, the temple, or the ribs when going to the body. We want to do this in the most efficient, effective way possible that is also defensively responsible. There are many factors that go into achieving this goal, but whether your thumb is pointed in or up is not inherently one of them. And plus, EVERYBODY's uncle was in Golden Gloves!