The running discussion - Is lateral movement and running the same thing?

[boliodogs]

Side to side movement is not running. going backward or side to side and backward is running. Peterson in the early rounds with Garcia is running. Lara in the whole fight with Canelo is running. They may stop running for a second and even throw and land an occasional punch bet then it's back to running away from their opponent.

[atom-ictortilla]

Utilizing movement to control distance and set up offense isn't running. If you aren't setting up offense then you are simply moving to not get hit. That would be running in my opinion. Example of this would be Lara vs Alvarez. There were times were Lara effectively created offense with his movement. And there were times where he simply avoided exchanges. (that I believe was because of Canelos body work) oh and for the record I scored that fight a draw.

[The Champions]

I'm asking because I see a lot of people labelling fighters that circle around the ring as runners. What exactly do you class as running and what do you actually class as lateral movement?

I also see a lot of people saying that moving should lead to point deductions and aggression should be awarded - I often question this, should aggression be awarded even if the fighter is landing about the same amount as their opponent/the amount that is landing is just about as effective as their opponent? Isn't the whole point of effective aggression is to impose your style on an opponent in a way that causes your opponent to fight your fight by landing cleaner, more effective shots as well as outworking your opponent?

What Oscar did in the last rounds against Tito is RUNNING.

[Ray Corso]

When laterial movement isn't used to set up offense it becomes defense but inactiveness with that type of movement is running.
Avoiding punches is defense but avoiding being competitive through running should get points taken. Every fighter must engage during a bout some obviously do more than others but avoidance should get you DQ'd.
Ray