I put down speed and timing, but could have also had accuracy in place of speed. I would have liked to have seen mobility or maybe agility there too considering. A lot of people tend to think out fighting is some giant leverage advantage where you just stick out our jab routinely and keep a distance, then fire the odd straight and maybe hook when the time is right. IMO, there is way more skill involved in maintaining range control, and especially when you're faced with fighters who practice all day long cutting off the ring, getting inside that range, with nothing but bad intentions for you when they arrive there. Agility as well a key factor to effective out fighting....being able to move laterally, left n right, avoiding those ring cutters, being able to fight moving backwards, that being throwing and pivoting, then slipping and countering. I'm likely biased as I do fight on the outside, but feel there is more skill involved in effective outside fighting. In comparison to a forward fighting brawler. Whom I love btw...just love me a brawler.
I picked reach and accuracy. Reach and a good accurate jab can be such a huge advantage for fighting on the outside. Having good reach is a blessing and not an acquired skill, so its one of the many variables correlated with good outboxing. Speed improves naturally, and timing I somewhat associate with accuracy but I guess one could be switched out for another. Height is useful, but the least of the choices.
Accuracy and Timing. If you land a pin point jab it shuts the whole fight down. A guy doesn't even want to move his hands from his face because he KNOWS you will always time him and punish him.
Proper infighting takes plenty of skill. But then again i'm assuming you're referring to a slugger with that one.
ya I was only referring to a slugger, brawler. There is great skill involved in cutting off the ring, working angles to get inside and then knowing what to do when in there. Different size fighters often possess diff. skill sets which makes for interesting/fun match ups. Again being biased, i just feel that outside fighters tend to be more boxers then punchers...and bring more skills,defensive movements and countering, to the table in an all things equal type scenario. We kinda have to or get our blocks knocked off by low to the ground guys ripping hard shots at us coming forward.
In all fairness there's a lot of defensive skill and subtlety in upper level infighting. Parries, feints, proper head movement, and countering are really what differentiates a swarmer from a slugger and without 'em all, you can't really call yourself complete. Granted, it's not the same level of ridiculous defensive wizard magic you'd see from someone like Willie Pep, but take a look at early career tyson. The man rarely takes a clean hit because of his ridiculous bob-n-weave.
speed and reach, it's hard to outfight if you can't even get to the man, but if you're too slow to the punch then you'll get countered too
