Getting Inside Against Taller Opponents

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 .

Thanks for the advice and best of luck!
 
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.
Yea he is around 6' 4" and very lanky. Not much power and I don't shy away from taking punches to give them, I just can't help but to think I could be a little more economical in doing so sometimes. Unfortunately the gym I spar in is just open wrestling mats throughout the room or I would try and make it a point to cut off the ring as you mentioned.

I've been able to gather enough info and watch enough examples that I believe I can be more effective tonight in sparring. Thanks for the help all, I'll follow up after sparring and let you know how it went. My cardio is getting back to where I'd like for it to be, so I've been able to focus on other more technical weaknesses as of late, which has been way more exciting. Cheers!
 

I've watched this before, but his been a while.

Found a good list of other examples as well for anyone interested:
  • Floyd Mayweather VS Diego Corrales
  • Shane Mosley VS Oscar De La Hoya 1
  • Nate Campbell VS Ali Funeka
  • Ray Leonard VS Thomas Hearns
  • Roberto Duran VS Iran Barkley
 
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.
Something that helps me is find the sweet spot right before his punch (where he can't jab you and obv you can't either)draw an imaginary line and keep that distance at ALL times unless you are ready to attack, don't hang out in the mid range with your feet planted.
Now from this distance (right on the outside of his punch) you will try to time him stepping in.
if you time him stepping in you take that step in as well, and meet him in the middle (keep in mind hes most likely going to try and close that distance with a punch since your right on the edge. Move your head step in at a dominant angle fire your combo, stay all the way in or all the way out...repeat.

So your feinting from that line outside his reach, faking entrys, moving angles, draw him towards you, meet him in the middle, dont chase

I have short reach for my weight so it's nothing new to me, this shit seriously works, i don't know if i can explain it any better on my phone.
But just meet him, you can even pressure your opponent and cut off the ring from that distance, once HE trys to close, BOOM meet him in the middle he just made it easier for you.
You wont be taking unnecessary damge against a less skilled fighter with this basic concept in your mind, its a simple strategy that goes a long way.
I suggest watching rigo box, when he fights much taller guys it still appears as if he has the reach because hes moving them into his punching
 
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Update: Went another 12 rounds last night and I have to say, there is no such thing as a dumb question. Thanks for all the responses, I improved a great deal and got the better of almost every exchange. One big thing is I was getting lazy and throwing my combos while stationary. I ripped the body a lot more consistently and also started targeting his arms when he would throw punches. I always stock the opponent too, so drawing him in and closing the gap/feinting more was very sound advice. We'll have to see how he adjusts moving forward, as some of my success may have been a result of the new looks I was showing him.
 
Kovalev vs Ward, both I and II. Masterful tactical display of a man outplaying another man with longer reach and arguably better punching.
Ward va Froch was even better. Froch had much more reach but Wars outjabbed him heavily.
 
I've gotten inside taller chicks but I can't seem to do it consistently. Wait, what was the question?
 
I've gotten inside taller chicks but I can't seem to do it consistently. Wait, what was the question?
Everyone's the same height lying down

Except for fat chicks
 
all fighting is common sense most people dont actually sit back and think about things obviously if guys taller than you and longer reach your gonna have issues if he know show to use it so your gonna have to either counter punch him make him commit to strikes and go under or over them or lots of jabbing and feinting to get in
 
I am having a newbie success in the following way.

Against SP walk forwardish towards your left.

Against Orthodox walk forwardish towards your right.

In this case the most common hits will be jabs and lead hooks. Watch for these or trigger them with fakes or your own jab.

When they trow slip under and side step in the same time. That whole movement is a proper boxing side step anyways.

Tadam you are in a mid or close range sometimes even in an angle.

Negatives it is taxing and takes up a lot of energy.

Keep in mind this is a new experience and has nos not been tested a lot.
 
People always suggest tyson, Zambidis and guys like that. And yes obviously they do some things great and for a generally shorter guy they may be a good blueprint. But if you are a guy who is not short and doesn't fight that way usually then you can't just change who you are. If it was that easy you'd tell everyone to fight like Klitschko when he's taller and fight like Tyson when he's shprter. Iobviously don't need to explain that this isn't how it works.

You can take some things guys like Tyson do but in the end you have to know who you are and find a way within your style that wprk against taller opponents. maybe add single techniques like a cross counter over te jab whiel slipping to the inside etc and stuff like that. But you won't just put your hands up and become a peekaboo fighter.

Klitschko has fought taller opponents than himself, so has Lennox lewis and neither of them found imitaditing tyson or frazier was the right move and it would have obviously looked ridiculous. They just changed there strategy and tactics, became more aggressive added single small thing slike the cross counter, going to the ody more and things like that but they still fought like themselves.

Examples of that are Mayweather vs Corrales, Lennox lewis vs Vitali Klitschko (among others like Grant), Wladimir Klitschko vs Wach/Tony Thompson/AnthonyJoshua(even if many of them weren't taller), Joe Louis vs Braddock/the Baer brothers and other tall fighters who had to go up against even lengthier opponents
 
I would personally spend some more time working the slip line and slip bag, with some empashis on forward movement while punching and sliping. The best way to get inside on someone is to let their fist fly past your head.
 
Stepping. Slipping. Lateral movement

Every punch he throws should feel like he's taking a huge risk.

Constantly be ready to side-step and show him that you're about to take an angle on him if he throws anything. Every one of his strikes takes longer to retract than yours. He's in danger.

There's only a narrow ring of range where he has an advantage. Outside of that, you're safe. Inside of that, he's in terrible danger. If he doesn't know exactly where your head's gonna be, as you cross through that narrow stripe of range just at the end of his straight punches, you're good.

I see guys forget what they're doing, and just stand there, not moving, in a range where he can hit them, but they can't hit him. They get discouraged, or tired, and they just decide to sit there and get hit.

When you get in, he might try to smother you and throw his arms over you, because he knows he can't win at this range, so he'll try to get the fight to stop for a second, so he can reset.

Don't let him. Juke to the side. Throw his arms off to the side and unload on him with round punches.

There are whole regions of space inside the sphere of his reach where you're not in danger, but he is, and you can just go crazy for a second and flurry at him: under his elbow, with your head in his chest, with your shoulder under his armpit...there's a lot more space in there that's bad for him than is bad for you.

There's something that I've noticed Anthony Joshua doing sometimes (not that he usually has any reach problems) that really works well for a shorter guy. He uses footwork like he's on a tilted table. As he starts a combo, every time he twists his body or moves his feet, he's shifting himself off to one side-- so he ends up kind of strafing around his opponent. I've tried that, myself, with some good success. I just try to imagine I'm on a surface that's tilted to the left, or something... so I keep my ankles up at an angle to one side so that with every punch in my combo, I end up taking a little side step around him to the left.

Before I really knew how to move in a boxing match, I used to do this trick on a really tall guy at my gym: I would take a big step in with a throw away jab to a spot under his lead elbow, and then just wing hooks all over him like I was flurrying on the heavy bag. I still don't think he's figured out an answer for it.
 
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