For context, this guy is way more experienced, has 6 fights, 6 wins (5 KOs) and is bigger than me. I've never even had one fight and I don't have much in-ring experience, so I really struggle when getting backed up or fighting on the ropes. I get dropped pretty badly at the end and I took a lot of punishment. It's pretty demotivating and I just needed some advice on my biggest mistakes / flaws. Doesn't help that I was gassed by the third round which made me even sloppier than usual. I'm the one with no headguard This content is protected
Hi Mate, you got good shot selection quick hands naturaly good trunk movement got that tendency to shy away when the pressure is put on but that's very much an experience thing combined with getting tired. flat footed try bieng more on the balls of your feet especially on that back foot. Alot of wasted energy when moving in out try not to leap out of the way of shots. efficient movement is key. watch your sparring partner. you move quick and with good fluidity so if you tidy it up and get more control you will be a nightmare to pindown and get away from. dont drop your left hand after the jab. your hands are too high, me personaly gloves under you eyes. work of the back foot you lean over when throwing your shots, over commitment to shots always leave you in a bad position. footwork and stamina are your points to focus on i think. your shot selection is good you just need to work on getting yourself into the position to make the best of the punches bieng thrown. And dont be too hard on yourself trust me i had way worse sparring sessions than that and still managed to win national titles. for someone with no fights and little ring experiance you look quality in the making. sorry about the grammar and spelling late over here hope this helps mate keep at it, these are the tests of all fighters
Kudos to you, you do genuinely look decent. And kudos to your sparring partner too - he's a good'un for helping you learn, not going full whack and being patient. Echo exactly sentiments as initial comment, Joe Brown. Cardio/fatigue needs work just to give you more energy to run in the later rounds. Your body shots were pretty tasty, especially your lead hand body jab, your OP felt those. Your head movement (particularly your roll) is good. Though personally, I think slips and parrying is much more effective in reducing energy expenditure. Good parrying to start with too - should've kept it up going into the later rounds, where poss. Your backfoot is too flat, you need your back heel off the ground (and a little bit of your front heel off too) being on your the balls of your feet. Your guard isn't tight enough IMO, which, IMO, is a symptom of you standing too square on (it's also why your opponent was able to keep landing straight shots to the centre body - which looked like it hurt). Your lead shoulder has to be more forward/leading more. Your lead shoulder should be protecting your chin not necessarily your lead hand (though lead hand still functions to protect head, face, etc.). Chins tucks into your lead shoulder, essentially looking up from your brow. You can block body shots without moving your guard - by bending/twisting your upper body at the waist so that your elbows and forearms take the brunt of it. You need to work on your jab and it's position and find a good spot for it. You opp was able to win his jabs by just having it closer to you/further out from him. Also, if your gonna throw a jab, mean it, make it spiteful - by that I mean put some hip rotation in it + step in with it and aim up (at his head) and bend your lead knee a bit. And just throw the jab more. It's a tool to get you in AND out. I noticed you tend to focus your power on the backhand and you tend to lead with a backhand too (using a soft pawing leadhand) - quality work on the backhand and it looks like it carries good power. Just use your jab more to setup better. I feel you're giving away too much ground - it's nervous energy, been there done that. I personally think that too much energy is wasted on an [exaggerated] in-out game (style). Hold you ground, slip, parry and lean back, create distance in pigeon steps not in feet. This why your jab has to be popping in defensive manoeuvres, clock the guy coming in with a meaningful 1,2 while you lean back or pigeon step back/to side. Combination punching. You showed good signs in doing it. Just you wanna make punches a part of your defensive moves too - roll, come back with lead uppercut and backhook. Or parry, then backhand, left hook. Try to relax and shake out your arms, back and legs every now n again just to reset your stance, get in the relax, zen zone. Hate pawing jabs, very annoying when someone keeps sticking it in your face blocking your view. Smash their pawing hand as hard as possible aiming at their wrist (with the bottom of your clenched fist). Keep doing it until they learn their lesson. Noticed your opp doesn't look like he's super comfortable fighting on the inside. Learn to get inside good n proper, then learn to hold/grapple effectively (lean on, sweat on, bleed on) and from there learn to fight on the inside. Good luck.
I liked your straight rights to his body, (get low and go in hard) gotta follow with those hooks doe. I like that you are not wearing headgear in sparring, the headgears actually compound the blows. And when he's pawing his jab in your face get under it, slipping to your left, and shoot that straight right in to his rib cage.
You shouldn't be sparring with someone with such experience. And they're a ****wit for knocking you down. Don't be hard on yourself. Work on your conditioning and spar guys with your level of experience..
I disagree with this. Spar the best guys that you can find. The only guys that I wasn't allowed to spar with were Bones Addams in the ams and Joseph Kwinaku (spelling is wrong) in the pros. How do you grow as a fighter only working with guys on your same level?
How do you grow as a fighter when you sparring guys who have fought and you haven't and you're getting your ass kicked and knocked the **** down? That's a one way ticket to CTE. And he'll never grow as a fighter getting beat downs. Clearly he's inexperienced so he has to start at his own level then gradually move up. That goes for anyone. Yes you're right spar better opponents but in time.
I only viewed a bit of that sparring. He took it easy on you. He could have unloaded on you while he was on the ropes as well as other times.
I had not considered his inexperience. But when I turned pro I was sparring the guys currently fighting at the venue that I wanted to fight at. They kicked my ars for like 3 months straight. Show up to do it again the next day, rinse and repeat.... etc. But then one day it just kicked in, what we had been working on. To the thread starter: Never give up; this sport is about many things, persistence is definitely one of them.
Can't just stop everytime you get hit too. Have to shake it off like it's nothing. Do neck work to strengthen it so your head won't snap back. Parry punches block duck roll and slip too as well as pull amd catch. Must learn all of these things for defence.
Footwork. Need a lot of work on that. Sometimes you need small steps. Sometimes you need long steps. Sometimes you need to explode. Sometimes you need to slowly stalk. It's a combination of everything and sometimes you need all that combined in the dame sequence. **** I wish I could train you. Keep at it.
You have some ability, honestly, the main thing you need is just experience. You have decent fundamentals so just keep drilling them and getting the reps in. Your biggest problems that I see are things like ducking and turning away when he fires at you, being scared to throw with someone when they engage, not firing off of defense etc... and its good to hear these things and be reminded of them, but they really mostly come with experience. IMO you worked a bit more than what was productive for you here by the way. There's not much use in sparring past the point of exhaustion at your experience level. You just feel like your drowning and trying to not get whooped til you hear the bell. (your posting this is kind of evidence of this)
Not bad. Im no trainer but ill chuck in my pennies worth lol. Try having your lead foot at more of an angle as your pointing it to much towards your opponent imo, which I find, opens up the body so your square on. Can change and play around with this and it can change during a fight. Work on your defence like another post says, turn him now and again rather than just taking back steps. Keep your elbows tucked in. Again like another post says, if you get flustered, take a couple of steps back, take a few breaths and try and relax, get back into your correct stance and work behind your jab, keep a high guard, not so square on, round the shoulders a little, elbows tucked in, knees bent, chin down. Always remember the basics. Also I watched it muted so couldn't tell if it was rounds or one long spar? But either way you looked like you was tiring in there. If you havent got much experience and sparring someone at a higher level then, you dont want to go on for too long, as you just get picked off and demoralised. Theres no point to it imo. Also there should be someone watching the spar properly and giving you advice between rounds. I know it aint always possible etc but it helps a lot. Another one is try doing drills with a partner that get you used to being punched, you defend while he attacks. Standing in range and not being allowed to move your feet, just use block, slips, ducks etc, slow and light, so you can build them motor skills. Sorry if im telling you stuff you already know mate, but keep it up and good luck!