Fighters who were bad at infighting

Blasphemy!

 

Kovalev, Ali,Fury, Wilder,Wlad.

 

I presume he is being facetious.

 

I get it but I think there’s a big difference between being bad at infighting versus simply not trying to waste much effort fighting on the inside because it’s not your preferred fighting range.

 

And would that be because quite simply ,you aint any good at it?

 

Arguello and Calzaghe never threw much on the inside and usually got easily negated there.

 

Bowe was a good inside fighter, same with Holyfield, Povetkin, etc. among the heavyweights. Tyson could punch hard inside, but his squared up stance probably worked against him sometimes. It made it easier to push him back. The good inside fighters usually fight with their strong side back like they do from outside, and keep their chin behind their lead shoulder, that turns them side ways and makes them harder to push backward plus it creates distance for the strong hand. Good inside fighters create distance by turning their body to the left or right, or taking a half step back, or pivoting and getting an angle. The ones who work at it are usually good with their elbows and heads too and it they miss with a short hook or uppercut, the elbow is next and sometimes the head is. There is a lot to inside fighting and when there are two fighters fighting who like to fight inside, IMO, it is fun to watch. There will be a lot of skill on display offensively and defensively. Some referees won't allow it anyway and break the fight whenever the fighter who doesn't want to fight inside grabs the other fighter.

 

Great post. This is the reason I love watching Duran and Armstrong.

 

No George

 

For all the talk of Bowe's offensive inside game, he took a shellacking there, too. His defense in close wasn't too great.

 

Hagler was actually quite good on the inside. Even taking into account he was the much bigger man the way he beat Duran on the inside was pretty impressive. Duran couldn't make any headway there at all.