In The Spotlight
fighting a bigger opponent
Tue, 2008-03-04 10:07
Hi All,
I just found this site and registered right away. Nice to know there is still healthy interest and support for the greatest sport ever. After just a few minutes of reading, I found a lot of useful tips and info.
Anyway, I'm sure this topic has been covered before, but my regular sparring partner is significantly bigger than me and I was wondering if anyone had any tips to make me more effective against him in the ring. I have a very hard time getting past his jab, so getting close is a challenge.
The most obvious answer is 'get a new sparring partner', but he is the only guy I know who will actually get in the ring. I know a ton of people who talk a good game about wanting to fight but when it actually comes to lacing them up, they always have something else to do. I'm sure you all know what i mean...
Thanks and much respect to you all.
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Join a boxing club mate, this will ensure you have a variety of sparring partners.
But in relation to fighting a taller opponent, i suggest looking for the pendulum step from this site. That helped me a lot to get inside the taller guy. Also practise your head movement, get yourself a maze bag (a sock filled with rice hung from a ceiling which swings back and forth requiring you to move your head out of the way of it). Try shadow boxing with that directly where your head should be, will quicken your reflexes and improve head movement.
Practise your shovel hooks to the liver, short rights to the sternum and heart and uppercuts as this will be your domain in that situation.
Hope this helps you mate.
yes mate, that's great advice, thanks. i'll definitely look up the pendulum step information.
i'm a londoner living in washington dc and there are very few real boxing clubs in the city (most are gyms that offer boxing 'classes', and are by definition useless for someone who really wants to train) and decent sparring partners are hard to come by, unfortunately.
thanks for the advice again, all the best!
Hey dan -
Another thing that you can work on, or at least what i concentrate on when fighting a bigger opponent, is ring generalship and movement.
When in the ring with larger opponents, i think more than any other time, it's important to understand range. Know how far you can reach and know how far your opponent can reach. Stay just out of his range, move a lot side-to-side, and make him reach for you. Concentrate on being evasive. Change direction a lot, and keep him guessing. And NEVER let him catch you on the ropes.
So that takes care of defense. You're being slick and you're moving a lot. Now for offense (the ring generalship part of the equation)...
You want to stay mobile the whole time, keep him turning and not set to punch. Use feints to lure a punch out of him and then counter. This is how smaller fighters can out jab longer, taller opponents. It all comes down to range. By throwing the feint, you are maintaining your balance and range; if you manage to draw a punch from him, you are making him come into your range while you are still set and prepared to counter.
Usually works for me. Hope it helps.
Good luck!!
"Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up."
Muhammad Ali
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