How do you become a combination fighter

[roventu]

In sparring, I'm usually hitting with 1-3 strikes, then backing off from the counter. Then re-engage again with 1-3 strikes, then back off again. Usually I like potshots, safe jabs and teeps, and not getting touched.

How do you transition to the point where you start stringing together longer combos, is it something I need to train more in bagwork or just forcing myself to continue the combo no matter what the guy does.

Is it bad that I don't stay in the pocket. Am I just too afraid of the counter, or do I need to learn to eat/block the counter and continue a longer combo. I think it's more that I'm an outfighter, but is it easy to convert to a swarmer style?

I only find an opportunity for long combos if my opponent is literally just standing still with his guard up lol

 

[Pugilistic]

It could simply mean you aren’t used to throwing combinations. Practice putting together 5-6 punch combinations on the bag. 5-6 punch combinations could lead to 4 in sparring.

But very rarely, you’ll find yourself being able to throw long combinations in sparring unless your opponent is shelling up against the ropes like you said. This is also true for most boxing matches at high levels. The reason is positioning. Even a great combination puncher like Canelo Alvarez couldn’t get off his beautiful combinations against Mayweather, much less hit him with them. Mayweather wasn’t in the right angle or range for Canelo to even look for a combination. Same goes for Margarito. A guy known for throwing more than a thousand punches a fight saw his output shrivel against Mosley and Pacquiao, both fighters who did not give him a stationary target to unload on.

You can be an anomaly like Maidana, who has a great chin and doesn’t give a fuck at all if he gets caught by a counter and just keeps coming. But unless you’re like him, the answer is to look a superior position to throw from. If you’re worried about counters, it could be that you’re threatened by one because your opponent is in position to throw back. Look at a great combination puncher like Juan Manuel Marquez, when he on a combination streak, he constantly changed positions as he threw. Boom boom boom, step to the left, boom boom boom, step to the right, and so on. It also helps to mix different punches to the body and head to give more for your opponent to defend, which means he’s more preoccupied to think about countering.

One last idea: You’re trying to land everything, which makes your rhythm predictable. Mix in throwaway punches. Punches you don’t intend to really land but to hide the real punches. As I mentioned in my feinting thread, such punches can also break up the rhythm, which makes your timing less predictable and subsequently harder to counter.

 

[j123]

You just have to keep practicing and throwing them more to the point it becomes muscle memory and instinct.

I usually counter with a combination, when I first started I'd only interrupt with a single strike.

Once you get over that "fear" of getting countered/hit, you'll be able to do push more. This is striking, we're all going to get hit one way or the other, the important thing is that you don't get hit on the chin. You get hit on the forehead thats fine.
Don't be the guy that throws your combos with intent, then bail ASAP as soon as you get hit, follow through and compete it even though its interrupted.

With combinations (outside of them being on the fence/ropes), not every strike has to be a kill strike. I usually throw 4 hit combinations, and 2-3 of the strikes are pure BS.
eg. 1,2,3,kick -- the kick the real strike, everything leading up is fluff
eg. 1,kick, 3, spin elbow -- the elbow is obviously the real one here, everything else is BS, esp the hook before the elbow

mix it up as well, don't always have make your last strike the money strike, you can have your kill strike midway, and everything else BS. But if you're new (haven't had your fight yet, and leading to it), focus on the core basics, you can add more interesting tactics and methods later on

 

[panamaican]

Maybe you should rethink your definition of a combination.

Many people when they talk about combinations are thinking of entering range and then unloading a series of shots like: jab, jab, straight, hook to the body, shovel punch, or something like that.

What I mean is maybe you should think about combinations that include footwork and movement. So something more like: jab, jab, move to the right, straight, step out/back, jab to close the distance, slide left, hook to the body.

So, if you start thinking about your defensive and positional movement as part of your combinations then those combinations can become longer and more fluid. If your combinations are mostly about the punching/striking then self-preservation is always going to make you think about sliding out of range for defensive purposes.

 

[1 2 3]

Are you loose and balanced enough mid-combo to throw the right punch?

A lot of people throw rote memorized combos, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but maybe you could do a 1-1-2 like this:
You throw two real quick jabs that make contact but don't have that much on them, and then have yourself ready enough to throw the right to the head or to the body--wherever he's most out of position. You're guiding your aim mid-combo to make the most of the opening you're creating.

You really have to stay balanced and keep your feet under you to do this.

That's where most good combination punchers do better than other people, in my opinion: they keep their feet advancing as they come forward with punches, so they're not getting out of position with their punches, but they're forcing the other guy to compromise his readiness for the sake of defense.

 

[ARIZE]

Obviously you have to train your combinations so you can use them on fight day, but they're also other factors:

-Your style. Wont be easy if you are an outside fighter working on counters, as opposed to an inside swarmer. And its not something easy to change. It can be done but people tend to stay with the style they started with...

-But also your opponent. Nobody gonna stay in front of you, in the center of the ring, to let you use him as a punching bag. You got to close him in a corner, or you got to hurt him or you got to gas him...

(All of them for best results)

 

[roventu]

Thanks for the recommendatons, a lot of good advice. i'm going to try to think of them during sparring today