Is inside fighting becoming a lost art?

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that many refs now break/part fighters up so soon.

Also a lot of refs allow fighters to get away with tactics like pushing and leaning down opponents when they come inside, both of which are illegal and prevent any inside work. On the whole I'd say refs tend to favour fighters who fight on the outside. Wlad does a lot of leaning and pushing, so does Vitali too, both get away with it time and time again, they shouldn't be allowed to.

It's not a great lot of use to have great inside work if someone can just illegally push you away or jump on your back when you come inside, unless you're a total beast like Tyson or something.

 

A few things are vanishing besides inside fighting: body punching and upper body movement to name a couple.

 

I said straight after I watched it: worst thing to do would be to write him off. I had it a draw; those not naturally inclined to fighting in close who make a concerted effort to do so to exploit Khan's weaknesses there (like Peterson did) might not make it that close. In some fights the attributed Amir does have, natural speed, ability to catch his opponents unawares, and instinctive desire and will to win, will see him through. It may well be enough to see him through against Peterson next time (this one could've gone either way even without the deductions IMO) and it will be enough to beat most mid-range operators as he has such an abundance of handspeed.

Although his main problem is on the inside, I still see errors at mid-range, mainly because the more punches he throws the more he gets off balance, he starts throwing shots more wildly and his hands come back lower and lower. Gold timing/precision will negate this. For am easy example, Floyd is one of the worst matchups I can ever think of for the kid.

The run he's been on hasn't been a fluke or clever marketing. But after the Maidana fight I was shot down for suggesting his style doesn't lend itself to much longevity or consistent success.

Nothing wrong with that unless you've pinned your hopes on him becoming a 'P4Per' (yawn) and I'm gonna' enjoy the ride

Amir will be at or around the top for a while to come yet IMO. And more often than not, we're gonna' see some exciting fights!

 

Agreed Flea, he's not done and dusted he won't quit which i give him props for.

 

What about head movement rather than the Tyson side to side?

 

Khan has never been in a borefest really, I give him that!

His vulnerable side makes him so watchable.

 

great post ,cheers for the reply:good, just when i think i'm a pretty good analyst of the game , the old guard make me feel green in that respect!
i respect amir for taking the fights he has since prescott, i'm sure he can
still bring excitement to the division, not so sure about the proposed move up though...

 

Borefesting.... Hopkins excites me.

 

Tyson wasn't so much an inside fighter anyway. He'd languish on the inside and have to tie his man up until he could push them back. The Klitschkos would get some respite here, but they wouldn't be able to keep him there :yep

Also, to those saying 'inside fights dot happen because the ref' breaks up the holding'. Holding isn't inside fighting. A clean battle can be fought on the inside without spoiling.

The reason (easy modern example) Castillo-Corrales I didn't need to be broken up all that much is because both men were actually throwing punches in close. Kessler-Froch had some gold inside battles, even though Kessler isn't known as an inside fighter and Frochy can't fight there for shut

If it's not on youtube already I might have to upload Charley Scott Vs Gasper Ortega. One of the best inside battles I've ever seen.

 

Yes coz to do it you need 2 willing participants and it seems a lot of fighters today don't have the faith in their own ability to either take shots/slip shots or get their own shots off at close range so it often becomes a hugging match for safety. However this is how a lot of head clashes occur . Tooney who had complete faith in his boxing ability was brilliant at it throughout his career.

 

I agree that Tyson wasn't an out and out inside fighter, but he did come 'inside' a fair bit and a lot of it was medium range too. He did trade a fair bit inside though. Sure, not a phone box type inside fighter, certainly not, but he'd come 'inside' a fair bit, it depends on ones definition.

As to your comment about clinching, I think you misunderstood my point, I didn't make it clear at all though to be fair. My point was that refs sometimes seem to break fighters up before they even clinch or get within an inside fighting range. As a side point, fighting in and out of a clinch is also part of boxing and obviously has an inside boxing element to it.

As far as Tyson and Wlad goes, yes he takes him out, agreed.:yep

 

Toney/Jirov also

 

Kirov was too sloppy there. Competitive, of course, but more of an inside clinic from Toney IMO (f'n great fight though!)

Ortega-Scott is just ridiculous :good

 

If I remember right Antonio Diaz v Micky Ward was good. Don't think they were out of hooking range all fight.