hi i'm 5"9 175 cm and currenlty 12 stone (168 pounds) but will hopefully be 160 in 5-6weeks (light middle) the problem is i'm sparring guys who are my weight but over 6 foot with a massive reach advantage which i find hard to get inside of. I don't want to turn into a charging bull fighter as i prefer to move and use my jab but i'm struggling against taller guys and think maybe the only way is for me to change my style into a pressure fighter as i cannot outbox them at range. Any advice from fellow munchkins welcome. Thanks guys
Instead of swearing by one style that will get exposed if you get matched with someone who it isn't suited to, you need to use this opportunity to become a more versatile fighter. It's great that you're sparring with guys who have a reach advantage, because it forces you to find ways to overcome it. At the same time you want to know how to box from the outside. To begin with you would practice with guys who dont have a reach advantage, but eventually you will be looking to do this EVEN against sparring partners who have a bigger reach. Watch how guys like Pacquiao step in, 1-2, step out. When you're practicing on the bag you can also work on stepping in, throwing the 1-2, stepping out, over and over again. Remember to keep your head moving as well, otherwise you'll eat jabs everytime you step in.
How good of shape are you in? How fast are you? How good of shape are they in? How skilled are they? How skilled are you? How skilled are you in comparison to them? Just wondering because that could be the difference. Length all by itself should not be a deal breaker. If you are decently fast, using feints, and head movement you theoretically should still be able to box. Now if you are in there with guys who are taller, faster, experienced, AND have the gas tank to keep the fight where they want? You might just need to work the new style and find you a few even sized sparring partners to keep your other style up to snuff.
As Brother Nazim put it in the Mosley/Margerito fight - Swim without getting wet and you have to knock the grease off your opponant. Move around without getting hit, hit him so as to take away his slick. Then feign disorder and crush him. I won't try out an explanation but that fight really say more than i ever could and should be textbook destruction of a little guy V a big guy.
If you want it to be than it will. I'm sure he had some hidden message in there that had nothing to do with race.
I don't think the comment was racist at all. However, Naazim Richardson is a black Muslim from Philly, i'm sure he has some racism in him. Put it this way, I bet we won't be seeing Richardson training any white fighters.
