One aspect of jailhouse boxing that makes it so dangerous is the mindset behind it. The style was created in prison, meaning a lot of the techniques were created assuming that you are outnumbered and fighting for your life. JHB is quick, dirty and has an explosive intensity to it. The analogy of a growling dog about to attack can be used to describe this intensity. Even though a dog is much smaller than a man, when it is about to attack, it instills fear in most people. That is because an angry dog devotes its entire being into protecting itself. It projects a feeling of menace… no hesitation no self-doubt only action and motion. That's what you thrive for in jailhouse boxing. Many martial arts teach you to maintain a distance between yourself and your opponent but JHB is different. Jailhouse boxing is about invading a guy's space, crowding him and making painful contact whenever possible.

Jailhouse boxing teaches you to react to movement, instead of trying to spot and defend against specific attacks. If you train yourself to attack movement, then an opponent's feint (which is intended to open you up to an attack) becomes an invitation for you to attack him, disrupting his strategy. Retreat is frowned upon in JHB. You need to be able to fight with your feet planted, but there are some minute movements that can get you out of harm's way. One such move is pivoting. Pivoting on your lead foot moves your head an inch or two away from your opponent. An inch or two can be the difference between being hit or not. Also, by fighting on the balls of your feet and leaning forward, when you do go back on your heels, you give yourself a few inches of distance to work with… sort of leaning back without actually leaning back.

Body segmentation is another defensive trick. Jailhouse boxing is a very economical and efficient style and part of its defense is doing just enough to get you out of harm's way. A prime example of this is the way Floyd Mayweather and Bernard Hopkins use their shoulders for defense. When they see a punch coming, their lead shoulder moves up and forward to shield the chin and jaw... a very simple, very effective move. This in addition to a parry or a slip adds an extra layer of effectiveness to their defense. If being choked from behind, rolling the shoulder can give you a few inches of room to throw an elbow into your attacker's ribs. Slipping is yet another example of segmentation. Tyson could avoid jabs and straights effortlessly by simply moving his head to the left or right. This allowed him to dodge punches even while moving forward. Muhammad Ali was so good at slipping that when viewed at regular speed, a lot of punches looked like they actually hit him. He would move his head just a fraction of an inch out of the punch's range