"dont fight his fight"
- Thread starter shs101
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When Ray Leonard first fought Duran, he lost because he "fought Duran's fight".
In other words, Leonard chose to engage Duran on Roberto's terms (he fought flat footed and elected to go toe to toe with him). In the process, he ended up losing.
In their second fight, Leonard didn't fight Duran's fight. He was more mobile, used his footwork and agility to frustrate Duran. Therefore, he ended up making Duran quit.
It's another way of saying "fight your own fight" or "do what you do best".
If I'm a slow and plodding fighter that likes to put ppl on the ropes and you're a fighter that likes to move and take the center of the ring, or vice versa, don't get caught up doing what I do.
Many times, when in a fight, one fighter will find themselves fighting at a pace and style that is dictated by their opponent. For some, it's almost a natural thing to do. Instead you want to be the one that is dicatating the where and how of the fight, or minimally not allowing your opponent to do so.
The concept here is that if you do "fight his fight", you are now fighting how he fights best and not how you fight best. This will likely lead to you losing.
If I'm a slow and plodding fighter that likes to put ppl on the ropes and you're a fighter that likes to move and take the center of the ring, or vice versa, don't get caught up doing what I do.
Many times, when in a fight, one fighter will find themselves fighting at a pace and style that is dictated by their opponent. For some, it's almost a natural thing to do. Instead you want to be the one that is dicatating the where and how of the fight, or minimally not allowing your opponent to do so.
The concept here is that if you do "fight his fight", you are now fighting how he fights best and not how you fight best. This will likely lead to you losing.
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It means don't play to your opponent's strengths. If he's a guy who likes to move around and use the ring, don't follow him around but instead cut off the ring and try to pin him in the ropes. In MMA, if he's a ground guy then stand and strike. If he's a standup guy then try to go for the takedown for some ground and pound or maybe a sub.
When I spar (yeah haven't fought yet just training) boxing a lot of the guys I'm with try more of a boxer type fighting. In couple punches then out. They want me to move slow and stay out in their range. We don't have a ring to spar in but there is a taped square (that is used for a karate class and disregarded for boxing class) that we usually are in so I imagine its a ring and try to manipulate him into a "corner" and try to get in and infight instead of just plodding around at his distance. But pretty much what everyone else has said: Fight your way and to your advantages and skills not his way. I just wanted to give a slightly different illustration
In MMA this gets even more important. If you are a striker don't grapple, if you are a grappler don't get in strikefest. "dont fight his fight" is just another way of saying do what you do best and to hell with what the other guy wants you to do.
