Target Atlas
BoxingKickboxingMuay Thai

Body Shots: Where to Land Them and What Opens the Body

There are three main body targets: the liver on their right side, the solar plexus in the middle, and their left ribs, with the spleen behind them. The liver and the solar plexus have their own pages. This one covers how to throw and defend body shots, and their left side in depth.

Tap any strike on this page to hear FightFlow call it

See also:

Liver shotSolar plexus
FightFlow TeamChecked October 12, 20269 sources

Quick answer

Where
The liver on their right side, the solar plexus in the middle, and the lower ribs on their left side, with the spleen behind them.[1,2]
What reaches their left side
Your right side. In every style, the body hook; in kickboxing and Muay Thai also the roundhouse kick and knee. Rear weapons if you stand orthodox, lead weapons if you stand southpaw.
Why it hurts so much
A bruised or broken rib hurts every time you breathe in, cough or move.[3,4,5]

Orthodox opponent, facing you

The three body targets, and their left side in depth

What reaches it

Your stance

Orthodox: left foot forward, the usual stance for right-handers. Southpaw is the mirror.

Your style

Tap a strike to hear the call exactly as FightFlow says it in a round.

Knees count as kickboxing here because WAKO K1 rules allow them. WAKO Full Contact and Low Kick rules do not.[6]

How to throw a body shot

The basics are the same for every body shot; the target decides the side. From orthodox, your right hand and right leg reach their left side.

  1. Change level with your legs. Bend your knees so your shoulders drop, instead of reaching down with the arm or bending at the waist.
  2. Rear body hook: turn your rear foot and hip, keep the elbow close, and drive the fist into their lower ribs, under their left elbow.
  3. Keep your other hand on your chin, and come back up behind your guard.
  4. Rear roundhouse kick, in kickboxing and Muay Thai: step your lead foot slightly out, turn the hip over and land with the shin, under their left arm.
  5. Southpaw: your lead body hook reaches the same side, and in kickboxing and Muay Thai so do your lead roundhouse and switch kick.

What opens it

Their left arm guards this side, and in a busy exchange that arm is often doing something else.

Each exchange is shown for orthodox against orthodox. In the app the calls follow your stance, so as a southpaw you drill the mirror image, aimed at the other side. Tap Hear it and FightFlow calls it three times, at the pace it uses in a round, so you can shadowbox it.

Target

Left ribs

They jab

Their left arm leaves the ribs.

You

Read the jab coming.

They

They jab. For a moment their left arm is out, not on the ribs.

Finish

Rear roundhouse to the body, under the arm.

While their left hand is out, that side has no cover. A kick lands under the punching arm; in boxing, slipping outside the jab lines your rear hand up with the same gap.

In the app: Rear roundhouse

Open in FightFlow

Their guard goes high

Hit high and the elbows follow.

You

Jab, cross, lead hook to the head.

They

They shell up high against the punches. Both elbows lift, and their left side opens.

Finish

Rear roundhouse to the body.

The hook pulls their guard high and turns your hips, which loads your rear side. The rear weapon goes in under the elbow before it comes back down.

In the app: 1-2-3, rear roundhouse

Open in FightFlow

Train it in FightFlow

Hear the setup, throw the shot

Every exchange above opens straight into FightFlow's Combo Builder, and FightFlow calls it out loud during your rounds in the same voice. 10 free training minutes a day.

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How to defend a body shot

If you stand orthodox, your left ribs sit under your lead arm.

  1. Keep your elbows in over your ribs. Most body shots land when an elbow lifts or an arm is out punching.
  2. Bring the jab back the same way it went out, fast. While it is out, your left side is open to their right kick and their right hand to the body.
  3. Against a body hook, drop the elbow onto it.
  4. In kickboxing and Muay Thai, against a roundhouse kick to your left side, raise your left knee to meet your left elbow, or step back out of range.
  5. Breathe out sharply and brace your stomach as a shot lands.

Myths, checked

False

“You can always tell a bruised rib from a broken one by how it feels.”

Apart from a felt or heard crack, they cause the same symptoms, and examination alone misses many fractures. Both are usually treated the same way, but a suspected broken rib on the left needs checking for the spleen.[5,7]

When to get checked

Pain that lasts or gets worse needs checking, and a suspected broken rib on the left side needs checking the same day for the spleen. Call your local emergency number (999 UK, 112 EU, 911 US) or go to an emergency department straight away for pain under the left ribs with dizziness, faintness or looking pale, new pain in the left shoulder, breathlessness or chest pain that is getting worse, or coughing up blood, even hours, days or weeks after the hit. Do not stay alone, and do not drive yourself: ask someone to drive you or call an ambulance.[1,5,7,8,9]

This page is general information, not medical advice. If you think you are hurt, see a doctor. Where your gym or governing body has stricter rules, follow them.

Learn the technique

The Muay Thai Body Kick: Mechanics, Setups, and Solo Drills How to Throw an Uppercut: Power, Setups, and Solo Drills Boxing Counter Punching: Timing, Traps, and Drills (A Fighter's Guide)

Sources

The medical and rules statements on this page come only from medical references, peer-reviewed studies and official rule books, each checked against the source text. Fight technique is our own. Last checked October 12, 2026.

  1. Spleen problems and spleen removal. NHS, 2023.
  2. Spleen. Cleveland Clinic Health Library, 2021.
  3. Bruised rib care. MedlinePlus, US National Library of Medicine, 2025.
  4. Rib fracture: aftercare. MedlinePlus, US National Library of Medicine, 2026.
  5. Broken or bruised ribs. NHS, 2024.
  6. WAKO Rules: Full Contact, Low Kick and K1 Style. World Association of Kickboxing Organizations, 2022.
  7. Thoracoabdominal Injuries. The Adolescent Athlete (Springer), 2018.
  8. Ruptured Spleen. Cleveland Clinic Health Library, 2022.
  9. Return to Play After Liver and Spleen Trauma. Sports Health, 2014.

More targets

Open the Target Atlas

Liver shot

Their right side, behind the ribs

Solar plexus

The center, just below the breastbone

Low kick

The outside and inside of their front thigh