last week i got drawn against a tall speedy fighter and got hammered, in all fairness he was a national champ and wasn't expected to win, but i just want to know how to try and negate an opponent like that, especially for someone like me who is not an aggressive come foward fighter, or do you just have to try and work your way in?
Well, without having a lot of info here...Generally speaking you're gonna need to work your way inside somehow. If you're not comfortable doing that and you'd rather box him then you're gonna need to use use feints, utilize better footwork and create angles to land on taller guys.
As above, either get close or look for counters and try and draw him in. In a short am fight i'd say its safer to go for the pressure option.
The problem with tall fighters is not their height, since once you get in range, their is no problem connecting to a taller fighter's chin. It's the reach advantage they usually employ, and once you get passed that, then there's the foot stride advantage of being able to cover more ground in one step with their longer legs when they step back. So, if you do get past their reach, they can still step back out of your reach quite easily anyway while you have to take a step and a half in to cover the same distance. To nullify this, you can work a fighter to the ropes before opening up. So, just press forward with non-committal punches just to drive him back, then once they're near the ropes, throw real punches. Just one of the ways to negate a "height" advantage.
No other option than working your way in. I'm almost always shorter, with shorter arms, than the people I get in the ring with. I have had to learn to go forward, put pressure, cut the ring, and learn how to do everything I can to trap people into corners or against the ropes. You need to have enough fitness to always come forward while punching. When you get anywhere near the ropes, cut corners so your opponents can't escape. When you get close, throw combinations and manage to lean in for your body to become a bit of a roadblock. When you work the bag, focus on improving your short-range punches. Those are the hook, uppercut and short-range cross. When close enough, you can throw them both at the head and body. Learning to vary your combinations to start with the body and finish with the head also is an asset. You have to move your head while coming forward and throwing a punch. Otherwise, you will walk into shots, which is an effective way to get hurt. It could take time to get comfortable doing all of this, but that's what sparring is for. Find taller guys at your gym, or in nearby gyms to work on this. You will inevitably take some punches when getting in. But you'll also find out that a whole lot of people are not comfortable having someone only an inch away and throwing short punches at them.
Very important. Your pressure won't be effective if you can only do it for 1 round. One drill you can work on is put a rope up about shoulder hight (you can use two ropes and go from corner to corner to make an X in the ring) and practice moving forward while moving your head underneath the rope and punching off the headmovement.
Just like Margarito is doing at 3:30 into this video. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF45brMDAAU[/ame]
