Good day one and all Due to my interest in boxing, and my friend's amateur team's need for an out-fighter to counter some of the power-punchers of other gyms, i've joined a local boxing gym, in the Light Heavy weight class. Now, a few months into the new year, I'm going to be having a match with a fighter i'm rather worried about. I won't mention his name for his own privacy, but I've seen him fight before. He's a vicious contender, I have to say. In terms of style, i'd have to compare him to a fusion of Frazier and Louis. Like Frazier, he has good forward speed, bulldog-like tenacity, and fiercesome hooks, but he also has Louis' flat-footed stance, economy of movement and power in both hands. He's about 5'11, i'm 6'0, so no great difference there. No great difference in reach either, about 30" from armpit to knuckle for him, 32" for me. I do, however, have faster hands, upper body and feet. He fights orthodox, but i'm ambidextrous so I can fight orthodox or southpaw. So, I figure that the best thing for me to do against this guy is capitalize on my agility and his own flat-footed lack of it, get up on the balls of my feet and dance like Ali. Does anyone have information on Muhammad Ali's training regime in his 1960s peak? Or have tips on moving like Ali did? Anything like that would be greatly appreciated. It would also contribute to helping me avoid a clobbering.
This was a good question for me! he he! I have been involved in boxing for 26 years and boxing the "ali way" is my way of boxing. First of all to learn to dance like Ali in a few month´s is hard, if not impossible, but let me give you some tips. Since you even think about this I take it you have that type of boxing in you, your not a slugger I take it. Start to go up on your toes and time your jab when you move around your "target" stay on your toes always give your shoulder to your oponent show as little as possible of your body. Watch some Alifight´s and try to copy it, a good one is Ali- Frazier 2. he moves all the time and not as fast as in the 60´s. Take a round or two in your shadowboxing to just dance and move around without punches, you have to drop your jab a little to get the rythm going, you will be way to stiff to have both your hands high, moving this way. That is another thing you have to practice on, let your reflexes and footwork be your defense, you have to be very fast in this otherwise I wont recommend that you try to doing this the "Ali way". You have to practice this all the time. As I said, start the training by doing one or two rounds just dancing around the ring, no punches, when that feels fine, put in the jab and time it with your feet. When that comes you can start shadowbox toward someone and stay on those toes. When you do bagwork, pads, stay on your toes. Use the double end ball to train your reflexes try to slip it all the time. Then take it into sparring. and watch those films untill you know exactly how you should do this, with some luck your trainer know this but I know for a fact that some of the trainers don´t know how to do this ( I had that experience my self, my trainer couldn´t teach me this years ago so I had to take it to another level myself, today when boxers at the gym needs to improve their footwork the other trainers send them to me "go to him he knows how to, he can´t stand still:yep" If you gonna fight a guy in the style of Frazier make sure your jab is fast and aim a little lower than usually cause he will definetly bob and weave, cause if you miss that jab he will be on you and he will probably nail you, so the jab is so important, another thing, don´t move backwords, move around him in a circle, if you are lucky he will start chasing you, they usually do, just continue move in a circle on either way, don´t just move backwords cause you end up in the ropes. I really look forward to follow your development in this and look forward to see you dance all night long and win. The best of luck The predator
i fing when i do this i keep my right up at my chin and my left shoulder tucked in so if im attacked i can go into a mayweather guard if its an amatuer fight you need to more than flick jabs so every so often set your feet and land a straight right with full power. Also i fought a guy like that in my last fight and i find that style of fighters hardest as i kinda freeze up and then go to war with them. Because all the boxers in my gym ar3 boxers not sluggers all the best in the fight.
If you want good legs learn to dance, flamenco, Cha cha, River Dancing, break, electric boggaloo anything that requires rhythm, timing, speed and stamina.
I also have problems with this heavier more powerful type of fighter , im around 6 ft 1 but only weight around 66 kg so as a beam pole i dont really have much power to throw around , my gym tends to take a keener interest in the stronger shorter fighters , meaning alot of the time i have to train myself then later ask if im doing it right , any tips on what to train in free time?
Dude, no idea why they don't pay attention to a guy like you in your gym. 6'1" at 66kgs is some of the best physique you can ask for, you'll have the physical advantage virtually every time, even more so if you have good reach. Just learn how to fight tall, train your jab, stick and move, beware of body shots and overhand rights, and you are golden. Of course, you can work on whatever else you feel like adding to your ****nal, a good lead right would be an excellent weapon for you.
thanks for the help , i probably should of mentioned im a southpaw as well , so i cant caught by right hands alot , i tend to find that step in jabs work well as my reach catches them off guard
A couple tips for ya: 1) Pressure fighters don't like to feel pressure themselves. Make him fight going backward see how he mentally handles it 2) If he crouches down in punching posture. Don't stay standing tall! Crouch down with him he's trying to set up a power right hand. 3) Don't always throw your jab at full force, he's trying to slip inside to counter and get in your space for body shots. instead, (and this might **** some trainers off) but throw it as half speed as an arm punch, not from the shoulder. What this does is range find and touch him, but also give you good poise, control and balance to move and get off combinations before turning and. Vary your speed up dont throw everything full force at all times. Hard to explain over text Good luck
Imho, "dancing like ali" is a mistake in modern boxing. It was fine in the 60's 70's, but it's a HUGE, I mean HUUUUGGEEEE, waste of stamina. You can achieve the same goals without wasting such amount of stamina. I'd rather prefer the "moving and positioning like mayweather/ggg/rigo/ward/..." to "dancing like ali". Way more efficient and effective.
TBH, people can do bad impressions of Ali dancing in and out of the ring. But for the coordination he was gifted with he utilized the dancing to accomplish two things the most elite boxers master that is distance via inches and timing your opponent. THe fact that it happened to look more graceful when boxing or whatever then is irrelevant to the effectiveness of what he used it for, that most people don't have the genetics to.
