Hi guys, Looking at the footwork of fighters like Angel Espinosa, Alexey Tishenko, and Serik Sapiyev they all have that slight bouncing footwork ( I want to use the word bouncing very lightly here) where they are moving forward and backwards at a fast rate. Having the pleasure to train under the late Espinosa, he taught me that it's essentially a sliding motion and the theory behind it is always being a moving target, as well as always in momentum to throw a punch. My biggest problem is being an inside fighter I tend to slide my way in throw a barrage of punches to the midsection, and smother my punches. Being the shorter guy 97% is it better to hold once my punches are being smothered or slide out, and risk getting caught on the exit?
I prefer holding because I'm usually physically stronger and don't have problems clinching, I try to clinch in a way that I could force my way out of it and slide some extra punch in. The problem is though that in amateur boxing the refs are really annoying about excessive holding and clinching and my coach also doesn't like me doing it for that reason. I think the best way to not get smothered in such situations is to give leave some space between you and your opponent once you're throwing punches to the body from close range. If you're shorter you should drop down even more and sit on your punches. That way you're a small target and your opponent will have to punch down to get you. The point is to bait a punch from him and then slip or bob and weave your way around it and create a new angle or counter him viciously from the spot. For example you're fighting a taller guy (with longer arms) and he's throwing jabs. You're moving forward and eventually get in range to throw a punch to midsection. That's cool but once you're in that range stop moving forward (and don't move backwards either) and just stand in front of him and move your head and upper body to bait his punches and roll with them and unleash counters. Remember, you have the shorter arms and it's your preferred range, not his. His punches with his longer arms will be smothered more because he won't have the right leverage. The point is to bait him in the exchange and unleash counters or bob and weave while pivoting away to create a new angle and punch him from there. Mike Tyson is obviously a good example of that but there are other short fighters who do it. The best footwork for this style is to move forward and backwards while you're in his range (where the taller guy with his longer reach can hit you but you can't hit him) to either slide out of his range or smother his punches and move into your range. But once you are in your range stop moving forward and backwards but rather plant your feet and use upperbody movement and head movement and bait him in an exchange. If he doesn't want to engage but just sticks and moves make sure you're cutting him off and pick the right spots where you have him cornered enough. If he covers up in front of you in a high guard or does some philly shell guard in front of you and doesn't want to engage that's fine as well, then you should just treat him like a punching bag and punch EVERYTHING, including his arms, his gloves... Even if he's covered up it's still going to hurt like hell if you're really unloading your punches. And at your range you shouldn't really fear him considering you have shorter reach. I'm a short fighter myself (5 foot 10, fight at 200.6 lbs) so I'm really used to this style.
You named three interesting fighters, three great amateurs. Espinosa is one of the most talented of all time, Tischenko is a top 10 p4p amateur and Sapiyev was elite, olympic champion and Val Barker winner. I'm a mover myself, but it takes a lot out of your stamina, you need to be effortlessly switching between moving and attacking and you need to do lots of shadow boxing to get real natural rhythm. Also, it's necessary to learn when you should hold your feet and fight on the inside, being capable of fighting at every distance is what separates the elite from the A level boxers.
