Inside fighting...is it a dying art?

[Mike D]

Another guy who engages in a phone booth fight every time he steps into the ring these days is Robert Guerrero. That's his one & only game plan -- get as fast as he can into that phone booth and start trading away until him and his opponent's respective faces are rearranged.

But to answer your question, maybe inside fighting is dwindling a tad, but I still think there's plenty of guys out there who like the ole phone booth.

Kirkland/Tapia was also a brutal phone booth affair.

[puga]

One of the best ive seen that includes skills, excitemnt and finnesse is sweetpea vs buddy mcgirt 1....great displayof counterpunching as well...

[Mike D]

I'm just saying Rios is a terrible in-fighter.

I don't think Rios is a terrible inside fighter per se, although I do agree that he is a complete fail defensively on the inside. But offensively he's a pretty good inside fighter. And not just because that's the only thing he can do (which it is, lol), but because he is actually pretty good at it. Everybody calls him a walking punching bag -- but that punching bag scored 23 stoppages with that one dimensional inside game.

32-2 I believe, with losses to only Pacquiao & Alvarado. He did get a gift or two amongst those wins but for a supposed inept walking punching bag he has done pretty well for himself.

[puga]

How about meldrick taylor's inside game in the first chavez fight?...chavez did not look like he belonged,tbh.....my goodness , if only durabilty in boxing was standard.....

[Killer_of_Sheep]

Chocolatito Gonzales has an amazing inside game.

Prospect Ievgen Kytrov seems to be pretty good too.

[sargo]

It is dying because of the holding.

[sargo]

Even the refs appear to be conditioned to be ready to break fighters when they get close together. Expecting the hold to happen.

[Mike D]

It is dying because of the holding.

[LouIE G]

How about meldrick taylor's inside game in the first chavez fight?...chavez did not look like he belonged,tbh.....my goodness , if only durabilty in boxing was standard.....

GREAT ANALOGY! i remember watching that fight and whoaaaaaaaa! taylor was bad ass... he dominated the fight and would of won had richard steel not dropped the ball! great performance by a fighter who retired too late.... same with terry norris....very sad indeed

[soul_survivor]

where have yall been, there are countless "phone booth fights", with guys just smashing each other up on the inside, their heads going in, elbows and forearms down by their abdomen. It seems to happen all the time on the small shows, maybe watch them more often?

I will admit that truly skilled inside fighting has been on the decline due to amateru boxing over the last 15 years or so, where body punches were of no importance and it became more like fencing, however that is changing again. I'm finding it difficult to think of too many top level fighters with a good inside game.