Ivan
Black Belt
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2018
- Messages
- 672
- Reaction score
- 395
I was at my local kickboxing gym and I feel that I have made some improvement in terms of being more aggressive in sparring. However, one of the instructors that I spar with is considerably faster than me - given that my main tactics when it comes to sparring are to outbox and rely on punishing jabs and just counter-punching in general, I find it very troublesome when my opponent's jabs are too fast for me to react to and sometimes even perceive. Furthermore, he also has a reach advantage over me so I have to close the distance. Unfortunately, this is quite tricky when I can't rely on my classic bait and punish tactics.
One thing that I noticed during my last round with him was that he relied very heavily on his lead hand. I started to notice that he was throwing a very similar combo each time, and so I started to land some shots by predicting his techniques. The first few times I failed, but once I started to focus on looking for a specific punch (his really wide lead hook) I managed to roll under it and almost land a good shot.
Rolling under the lead hook was a small victory for me because I have a very nasty habit of swaying or leaning back to dodge shots. Although this usually works, it's not good when I have to close the distance because it causes me to reset to the original distance. I have been told many times that I need to focus on closing the distance.
One of the things that I have been focusing on is cross-step straight punches, which allow me to close the distance quickly, but this does not always work. I feel that I need to focus on drilling my rolls as I almost never use them but I think they would be very helpful. Am I correct in this analysis? What drills can I do to focus on rolling under my opponent's punches? Any advice would be helpful. Thank you.
Also @Kung Fu Wang I have been applying your advice to jam my opponent's rear hands with their leads by circling to their lead hand, using lateral movement and pivots. I think it may have helped! It works best with pivots from experience. I was sparring last week, and due to a change in my mindset and aggression (due to another sparring session which I will make a post about) I was circling around my opponents constantly which made it very hard for them to get on the offensive and throw shots. Thanks for the advice.
One thing that I noticed during my last round with him was that he relied very heavily on his lead hand. I started to notice that he was throwing a very similar combo each time, and so I started to land some shots by predicting his techniques. The first few times I failed, but once I started to focus on looking for a specific punch (his really wide lead hook) I managed to roll under it and almost land a good shot.
Rolling under the lead hook was a small victory for me because I have a very nasty habit of swaying or leaning back to dodge shots. Although this usually works, it's not good when I have to close the distance because it causes me to reset to the original distance. I have been told many times that I need to focus on closing the distance.
One of the things that I have been focusing on is cross-step straight punches, which allow me to close the distance quickly, but this does not always work. I feel that I need to focus on drilling my rolls as I almost never use them but I think they would be very helpful. Am I correct in this analysis? What drills can I do to focus on rolling under my opponent's punches? Any advice would be helpful. Thank you.
Also @Kung Fu Wang I have been applying your advice to jam my opponent's rear hands with their leads by circling to their lead hand, using lateral movement and pivots. I think it may have helped! It works best with pivots from experience. I was sparring last week, and due to a change in my mindset and aggression (due to another sparring session which I will make a post about) I was circling around my opponents constantly which made it very hard for them to get on the offensive and throw shots. Thanks for the advice.