Getting Inside Against Taller Opponents

cshireman4

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Hey guys, I'm fresh off of 12 rounds of sparring tonight. We got a new guy at the gym with a lot of reach on me. My coach does as well, but I've always attributed the problems he is able to give me to his technical advantages and never really took his height into consideration. Tonight I realized his skills and height have gave me problems. I'm 5' 11" but have long arms, so I've built my game (defensively and offensively) off of working from the outside. With that being said, I'm having issues closing the distance and also have developed some bad defensive habits that really on me having the reach advantage. I know basic strategies like get all the way in or all the way out, jab your way inside, head movement, lateral movement, angles...But I was hoping for some more tactical advice with examples of specific pivots, combinations, feints, etc...Also, s fights (boxing, kickboxing or mma) where the shorter man utilizes these tactics. Willing to do the research, just figured this would speed up my search. Kind of have the itch to get back in the ring/cage. Thanks in advance.
 
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Hey guys, I'm fresh off of 12 rounds of sparring tonight. We got a new guy at the gym with a lot of reach on me. My coach does as well, but I've always attributed the problems he is able to give me to his technical advantages and never really took his height into consideration. Tonight I realized his skills and height have gave me problems. I'm 5' 11" but have long arms, so I've built my game (defensively and offensively) off of working from the outside. With that being said, I'm having issues closing the distance and also have developed some bad defensive habits that really on me having the reach advantage. I know basic strategies like get all the way in or all the way out, jab your way inside, head movement, lateral movement, angles...But I was hoping for some more tactical advice with examples of specific pivots, combinations, feints, etc...Also, s fights (boxing, kickboxing or mma) where the shorter man utilizes these tactics. Willing to do the research, just figured this would speed up my search. Kind of have the itch to get back in the ring/cage. Thanks in advance.

So your an outside fighter trying to work on your inside game and it's boxing......

You really need to stick to looking at boxing fights as methods of getting inside can be different when it involves MMA and kick fighting.....

Timing and footwork is your friend, are you a counter fighter or do you instigate??
 
So your an outside fighter trying to work on your inside game and it's boxing......

You really need to stick to looking at boxing fights as methods of getting inside can be different when it involves MMA and kick fighting.....

Timing and footwork is your friend, are you a counter fighter or do you instigate??

To clear things up, I do both boxing and kickboxing. I have this problem in both styles with my coach. I can out kickbox the new guy pretty easily, just having more trouble with boxing/punching so that's what I was wanting to focus on. I typically like to instigate until I can incite a reaction and then counter off of that. I'll mix things up with jabs, crosses and hooks on the lead, going to the head and body, mixing in feints and looking for tendencies. I throw a 1-2, pull, and hook off of that a lot and that has been giving me trouble because when I pull, I'm still in the taller man's striking range but I can't hit him. I'm aware of the problem, I just revert back to the habit often. Wanting to add a few tricks to the tool belt to use during these occasions.

Another thing is that I will throw punches and they are able to just lean back and avoid them, so I'll usually work the body and then go upstairs. After a few misses at the head, I'll get more explosive in covering distance to find the chin. I have a hard time pulling punches when I do this and usually land shots that are too hard. That is another reason I'd really like to improve getting inside and working from there in a more controlled manner.
 
Stop being a manlet

Ring cutting is your friend. I'm not a boxer so things are different there, but my "style" is heavy on pressure and RC then when at a right range and borderline to the ropes/corner and I can "feel" the timing, I come in with a combination. I like parrying to get in.
 
Stop being a manlet

Ring cutting is your friend. I'm not a boxer so things are different there, but my "style" is heavy on pressure and RC then when at a right range and borderline to the ropes/corner and I can "feel" the timing, I come in with a combination. I like parrying to get in.

So the Queen of Berry's begins........
 
Bait him into moving forward with strikes, and when he does- step forward and throw while slipping his punch.
 

Don't you read the other parts of Sherdog, Manlet class and WMMA can never be p4p GOAT.....

ONLY the combined power of a Manlet Double team can make GOAT......

It's really very simple....

Manlet + Manlet = Man
 
watch marciano fight or tyson, they both use very different tactics to get close too their opponent, i prefer the marciano approach as it relies less on speed and timing, when you parry the jab instead of stepping back to your right step forward with your right foot, i like this particular technique as it puts you in range to throw a really hard right hand. it has to be a strong parry and you need to slip too your right and under the jab slightly. i was never really in range to land decent right hands until i learnt this now i can land them frequently and with impact. tyson used throw a jab wait for the 1-2 and slip to his left moving forward and come back with the left hook he knocked a lot of people out with this.
 
Kovalev vs Ward, both I and II. Masterful tactical display of a man outplaying another man with longer reach and arguably better punching.
 
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You can use solar flare.
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I Haven't competed in seven years but got a fight in 3 weeks against a guy who is taller and had a long reach as some have said watch marciano, tyson and Dempesy .
 
I have the advantage of being able to work fairly well out of both stances. One of my favourite ways of getting inside is setting up in an southpaw vs. orthodox stance and then throwing the rear leg round kick to the arms a few times, retracting the kicking leg as normal. After the opponent is used to that, I throw the rear round kick and put the kicking leg down in front to close distance & switch my stance and either grab the clinch or follow up with punches depending on how the distance is like and what openings I see.

Or you can spend a few hours watching Saenchai's fights, he has the answers to everything.
 
Kinda sad no one has mentioned Joe Frazier yet.

 
I have the advantage of being able to work fairly well out of both stances. One of my favourite ways of getting inside is setting up in an southpaw vs. orthodox stance and then throwing the rear leg round kick to the arms a few times, retracting the kicking leg as normal. After the opponent is used to that, I throw the rear round kick and put the kicking leg down in front to close distance & switch my stance and either grab the clinch or follow up with punches depending on how the distance is like and what openings I see.

Or you can spend a few hours watching Saenchai's fights, he has the answers to everything.

It helps to be ambidextrous with some shifting in boxing also, but using the cross in that fashion. Watch MM Haglar or GGG.

Marciano would do a shift before throwing his left hook, also. Some people called it a Gazelle punch, but I always thought the Gazelle punch was more of a leaping punch that Patterson or Tyson would do. I think Marciano would do a Gazelle, but most of the time it looked more like a shift making the left hook a rear hook.
 
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Kinda sad no one has mentioned Joe Frazier yet.



Frazier had more of a Bob and Weave to a crouch which isn't that great against Muay Thai and/or knees.

I didn't like that too much in boxing either. JF's constant B and W style was decent to protect against body shots and hooks, but what you need to worry more about straight punches against a taller fighter. He ate a lot of jabs. It allowed Ali to control the fight and Foreman's jabs were powerful as hell. Foreman timed some of his B and W''s to a crouch with uppercuts also. I like Tysons constant slip motion more than the constant B and W motion. Maybe someone can explain Frazier's style better to me. I don't understand it that much.
 
The first thing I would suggest is to make sure you're using your full reach -- most people don't. If you're 5'11" with long arms (as you described yourself) then you shouldn't be at that much of a disadvantage unless you're fighting a very tall lanky person. If you're fighting a basketball player, to be honest they may have an almost insurmountable advantage if they are otherwise equally skilled. There is a reason that they list a fighters' reach as a key stat ...

I'm big myself (6'3", 245lbs) but in my gym often face guys much bigger. One of my sparring partners is 6'7". I'm the only the third tallest. One thing I've found is to not be intimidated by it. In fact I've found that most tall guys are surprisingly timid if you put them under pressure. Just go after them.

Getting inside ultimately requires you to accept you might eat some shots to do so. It is similar to shooting in for a takedown in MMA -- if you're afraid of getting hit on the way in you're not going to be successful.

In most fights I've studied where a much shorter guy gets inside it happens usually by cutting off the ring and getting the guy on the ropes.

Overall, reach (and sometimes height) can be a real advantage but you can try to sacrifice yourself to get inside or push them against the ropes and even the odds. I don't think there is any special trick, except to keep working on your footwork and get an actual skill advantage.
 
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