The other day I was thinking about what my priorities need to be when I get back into sparring, here's what I came up with: I tend to dominate guys who have the same amount of experience that I do. When I go in with guys that have more experience than me, they usually dominate me. There's not a lot of middle ground--I'm either beating someone up or being beaten up. My offense is pretty automatic--I don't really think much once I decide to move in with a combo. Sometimes I'll plan a combo ahead of time, but usually I'll just move in behind a jab and do what comes natural. Basically, when I maintain the initiative, I'm not too bad, even if the other guy is countering me at times. My problem is when the other guy has the initiative--I have a really hard time taking it away from him. If I'm getting pressured, I can't think of much to do besides cover up, try to move my head, and walk into the guy. I can't counterpunch correctly. I have to see the punch coming, avoid it, decide what to throw, and then throw it--but I have to think about it, which means I never do it quick enough. It doesn't just click automatically like my offense does, and it happens so slowly that counterpunching just gets me beaten up more. Usually I revert to smothering the opponent, which is when I run into more trouble with guys who are better conditioned. I think it's because I focused too much on offense when started. The first 4 months of my training all we did was mittwork and mirror drills. We threw in defensive moves, but usually it was just footwork and combinations (to the point where now a lot of it just comes naturally in the ring). Defense and counterpunching needs a lot of work. I feel like sparring is the only way to improve it, but....when you have bad defense and spar, you tend to take some damage. What's the right idea? More work on the double-end bag and sparring drills when possible? Or just say **** it, I'm a brawler and that's how I roll...and then get in awesome shape and just impose my offense (while working on an offensive style of defense--Duran, JCC, Calzaghe, etc.) I'll never be a defensive fighter, but working on my defense should open up a lot of punching opportunities and enable me to get in more quality sparring rounds with guys who are better than me. So should I allow my offense to bring my defense along, or dedicate a lot of extra time to working on defense (and if so, how)? What are some keys to improving your defense while sparring?
Seems like your doing the opposite of what I've been doing starting out but I guess that is how fighters are. Each one is gonna have a unique style of their own that suits there strengths and weaknesses. I'd say at least having the fundamentals of a good defense down will be worlds better than just having an amazing offense only. Your gonna get hit and the worse your guard is, the more often and harder your going to get hit. If you want more defense, then train for it. You said it yourself, you worked on offense a lot more than defense and now it has become automatic. Now you need to focus on drilling down the base movements for defense, then use them in sparring sessions till that too becomes natural. There are better vets than I to give you advice on the situation but for me, I have an endless supply of energy so I find an agile defense works better for me. Practice constantly on the double-end bag and slip bag till the shifting of weight becomes natural and effortless, without loss of your balance. Jumping Rope has helped me a lot in this area too. :good Good luck, keep me posted how it goes.
I had a similar situation to you, when I first started sparring I was all about offense mainly because I didnt really know how to defend except covering up and walking into them to smother them, recently Ive been working on countering and Ive found that its best to start off with easy counters, also Ive found they are really damn effective. 2 easy counters to work on are these 1. As soon as you see your opponant throw the jab move your head to the right and stick out a jab of your own almost simultaneously, 9 out of 10 times your jab will land and his will miss, even if you dont put alot of power into it the guy walks right into it. Plus this leaves your head in a position where he cant really hit you with anything. 2. This one is good but harder to pull off, keep your hands up high kind of like a peekaboo sort of style....as soon as you get into their range put your hands even higher like you are going to cover up, more often then not your opponant will throw at this point. As soon as you feel his jab touch your guard immediately throw a jab back out from the guard or if you are feeling adventourous throw a right hand, you need fairly fast hands to pull this one off but if you manage it, it can really put off your opponant..because your hands will be high your vision will be kinda restricted so you have to rely on 'feeling' the other guys jab instead of seeing it. Anyways these counters have worked well for me so far so give em a go and see how you like em
Nice post, mirrors my own experience. I'm still a total noob to sparring, but the first thing I realised when i actually started trying to hit a real target was that keeping your hans vaguely by your face doesn't make a guard. I was getting countered left right and centre becuase when I punched my non-puching hand also moved. I'm only just (after 5-6 weeks of doing sparring) starting to get out of this habit. One thing that helped my defence that I feel comfortable I'm reasonably good at is lateral movement both ways. Of course I've still got a lot to learn but keeping people off balance and trying to avoid letting them set to throw has greatly reduced the number of clean punches I take. Even from fairly experienced guys. The defensive thing I'm most trying to develop at the minute is not stoping moving my head when I'm about to throw. The first couple of sessions I was getting timed really easily, becuase I would move and bob and weave until I was just about to throw, then I would just plant and throw a punch, and get countered. I sparred with one of the coaches who mirrored my movement, stopped every time I stopped etc. to show me what I was doing wrong. When a constantly moving target stops for a split second it seems like an eternity.
I think one problem is that you are sparring to DOMINATE (win) not to learn. Sparring isn't there for you to "win" (unless it is you and the guys first session :hey). IMHO, you seem to be cruising on "emotion", like the rest of the Boxing crew, and "fighting in protective gear" not "sparring". Shadow Boxing is the university (academics). Sparring is the "lab". That is where you try things. As long as you keep trying to "win" your are ALWAYS going to resort back to what makes you comfortable... being offensively oriented. Why? Because that is your temperament. My suggestion is to get in there (especially with guys who don't kick your butt and get your emotions up :yep) and ONLY use your jab when you have initiative. Then focus on defending and countering, using every other punch (beyond the jab), out of the defensive posture. As you get comfortable? Things will flow better. This is if you feel you require changes... Then again you can accept who you are as a fighter and work to make your offense your best defense. :think
