Target Atlas
BoxingKickboxingMuay Thai

Liver Shot: How to Land It and What Opens It

The liver shot goes to their right side, on your left as you face them. A clean one can fold a fighter who looked fine a second earlier.

Tap any strike on this page to hear FightFlow call it
FightFlow TeamChecked October 12, 202614 sources

Quick answer

Where
Their right side, at the bottom of the rib cage. On your left as you face them.
What reaches it
Your left side. In every style, the left hook to the body, and as a southpaw the straight left to the body too. In kickboxing and Muay Thai also the left kick and knee. Lead weapons if you stand orthodox, rear weapons if you stand southpaw.
Why it drops people
No study has measured it. The usual explanation is a nerve reflex that briefly drops heart rate and blood pressure. It is a theory, not a finding.[1,2]

Orthodox opponent, facing you

Their right side, behind the ribs

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.[3]

How to throw a liver shot

From orthodox, the liver shot is your lead hook to the body. From southpaw, the rear hook does the same job.

  1. Bend your knees to drop level. Do not lean forward or drop your hands to get there.
  2. Shift your weight onto your lead side, then turn your lead hip and knee in as the hook comes round. The power comes from the turn, not the arm.
  3. Keep the elbow close and the forearm short, and dig the fist in at the bottom of their rib cage on their right side, angled slightly up.
  4. Keep your rear hand on your chin. Their left hook is the natural counter.
  5. In kickboxing and Muay Thai the same side takes a lead roundhouse, a switch kick or a lead knee, in Muay Thai often from the clinch.

What opens it

A guarded liver is hard to hit, because the right elbow sits right over it. Most liver shots land because something moved that elbow first.

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

Liver

Their guard climbs

Head shots pull the elbows up.

You

Jab, cross to the head.

They

They cover up. Their right elbow comes off the ribs.

Finish

Lead hook to the body.

Two shots upstairs make them cover high. The hook goes under the elbow they just lifted.

In the app: Jab, cross, lead body hook

Open in FightFlow

They throw the right hand

The arm that guards this side is busy.

You

Jab to draw their return.

They

They fire the right hand back. Their right arm is out, not on the ribs.

Finish

Slip outside the right hand, then lead hook to the body.

Slipping outside puts your weight on your lead side, which loads the hook. Their right arm cannot cover the ribs while it is punching.

In the app: Jab, slip lead, lead body hook

Open in FightFlow

They shell up on the cross

Covering high leaves the side.

You

Jab, cross to the head.

They

They cover the head and stay square in front of you.

Finish

Lead roundhouse to the body.

The cross coils your lead hip. Kick off that turn, or switch your feet, and the kick lands on the side their cover leaves.

In the app: Jab, cross, lead roundhouse

Open in FightFlow

Their hips square in the clinch

Square hips put their body in front of your knees.

You

Clinch up.

They

They fight your grip and square their hips to you.

Finish

Lead knee to the body.

With their hips square, your left knee comes straight up into their right side at the bottom of the ribs. A hip turned in toward you would jam it.

In the app: Clinch entry, lead knee

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 liver shot

If you stand orthodox, your liver is on your right side, behind your right elbow.

  1. Keep your right elbow down over your right side. Most liver shots land when that elbow lifts.
  2. When you cover a head shot, cover with the glove and keep the elbow low, rather than lifting the whole arm.
  3. Bring the cross straight back to your chin. A slow return leaves your right side open.
  4. In kickboxing and Muay Thai, against a body kick, raise your right knee to meet your right elbow, or step back out of range.
  5. Breathe out sharply and brace your stomach as a body shot lands.

Myths, checked

False

“The liver sits below the ribs, so you aim under them.”

Most of the liver sits behind the right ribs, not below them. That is why the hook lands at the bottom of the rib cage, not in the soft belly underneath.[4,5]

Not proven

“A liver shot drops your blood sugar.”

No study has measured blood sugar after a liver shot. Studies that measured it before and after whole boxing and MMA bouts found it went up, not down.[6,7]

When to get checked

Stop after a hard body shot that leaves lasting pain or nausea, and get checked the same day. Call your local emergency number (999 UK, 112 EU, 911 US) or go to an emergency department straight away for feeling faint or light-headed, vomiting, blood in your pee, vomit or stool, pain spreading to the right shoulder, or belly pain that keeps going or gets worse, even hours later. Pain that eases does not rule an injury out. Do not stay alone, and do not drive yourself: ask someone to drive you or call an ambulance.[8,9,10,11,12,13,14]

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

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. Vasovagal Episode. StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf, 2023.
  2. The Hepatic Nervous System in Development, Regeneration, and Disease. Hepatology, 2021.
  3. WAKO Rules: Full Contact, Low Kick and K1 Style. World Association of Kickboxing Organizations, 2022.
  4. Anatomy, Abdomen and Pelvis: Liver. StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf, 2022.
  5. Liver. Cleveland Clinic Health Library, 2025.
  6. Effects of Boxing Matches on Metabolic, Hormonal, and Inflammatory Parameters in Male Elite Boxers. Medicina, 2019.
  7. Biochemical Differences Between Official and Simulated Mixed Martial Arts Matches. Asian Journal of Sports Medicine, 2016.
  8. Ruptured Subcapsular Liver Hematoma Following a Kickboxing Match. Gastro Hep Advances, 2026.
  9. Liver trauma: WSES 2020 guidelines. World Journal of Emergency Surgery, 2020.
  10. Blunt Abdominal Trauma. UMass Memorial Health, Health Library.
  11. Return to Play After Liver and Spleen Trauma. Sports Health, 2014.
  12. Treatment strategy for hepatic trauma. Chinese Journal of Traumatology, 2016.
  13. Thoracoabdominal Injuries. The Adolescent Athlete (Springer), 2018.
  14. Stomach ache. NHS, 2023.

More targets

Open the Target Atlas

Body shots

The three body targets, and their left side in depth

Solar plexus

The center, just below the breastbone

Jaw shot

The chin and the jaw