Please help me NOT become a pressure fighter.

[Equilibrium]

Long story short lately in sparring i have been fighting as a pressure fighter and i don't like it one bit. I want to stop it before before it becomes an habit.

Tonight i sparred the slickest heavyweight i have ever seen. Not a very big guy, maybe 6'1 210-215. I consider myself fast for an heavyweight but that guy had sick handspeed. He was just slick, while we were sparring he really impressed me, i saw shades of Roy Jones in his style.

For myself i'd say i'm a jack of all trades, master of nothing, i got a good chin, good punch and a little speed, but i'm not great at counter punching and i don't have the best defense, my biggest strenght is my offense, i do really well when a guy tries to exchange with me.

But tonight this wasn't the case, the guy, was just dancing around, jumping in landing quick combinations and jumping right back out. I never had to deal with speed like that, even sparring light heavyweights.

I resorted to just pressuring and trying to bully him and pin him against the ropes but it pisses me off cause i know i can do much better than that, i'll never be a slick fighter but just relying on my chin and strenght is not me.


I had some good moments doing that, i know i hurt him but i'm still pretty sure he outlanded me by a large margin.


In a sense i'm happy cause a lot of the other heavyweights at my gym aren't of a very high level(like me) but sparring a guy like that made me realize that even if i do good sparring at my gym, there are tons of guys out there that are on a much higher level.


Anyway i'll spar the guy again in a couple of weeks, so any tips will be appreciated, cause the next time around i want to outbox the motherfcker.

Ps: Keyboard warriors need not apply.

[Suckmedry]

Well if this dude is smaller, and a slick boxer with considerable speed, it may be in your best interests to press the fight, not outbox him.

That said though you don't necessarily need to dirty brawl him, assert your jab and stay offensive, contantly feinting and attacking, cut the ring off, keep your hands in tight, and when you put him on the ropes, look to work the body. That is how I'd fight this guy. If you work that jab and keep faking it, and press onto the front foot, you will take away his ability to set up angles and move in and out as he pleases.

Also try to force him to trade, keep pressing up.

Especially remember to go downstairs if he is slick with his headmovement. Good body shots from a bigger guy will take away his legs and he won't be so slick and fast.

[Bastian Loc]

If you're able to get close enough to mug him, I would try that for the first few rounds.

Just rough him up on the inside, with punches and lean on him since you're bigger. Push him up against the ropes etc.

Kinda like Hopkins, as much as I hate to say it.


I sparred a guy where the roles were reversed. I would basically box his ass off, and then a few weeks later he started smothering the **** out of me and and it took me a few more weeks after that to figure out how to counter it.

[Spartacus Sully]

Anyway i'll spar the guy again in a couple of weeks, so any tips will be appreciated, cause the next time around i want to outbox the motherfcker.

the first 30 seconds of every other round hitting the bag concentrate on just perfect distance. you also might want to put a dot on the bag to aim for, for accuracy and work on that along with distance for the first 30 seconds of every other round.

youll probably want to do more for accuracy so maybe spend some more time on the double end bag.

for the first 30 seconds of the other rounds circle the bag left and right every once and a while jab to check distance or every once and a while step in a throw a hook to check distance. if you find your self having an easier time moving to the right then the left move to the left more when you circle the bag and vice versa if its easier for you to circle the bag to the left then the right.

when you shadow box try to spend 30 seconds to a min every other round going all out just working foot speed. throwing some jabs if you want working angles and punching while moving but mainly just foot speed. concentrate on balance with proper technique if your off balance your probly not using proper technique.

these things should help you use your reach better by getting ahold of distance in combination with accurecy and working angles you should be better at stopping him on his way in and working the foot speed will help you get away work angles and keep pace with him.

a thing i do for accuracy is i have a high ceiling in my garage so i have about 4 foot of string (nothing thick) tied to a little wooden bead about the size of a marbel the bead hangs at about chin height from the ceiling. due to the lenght of the string and the weight of the wooden bead when you hit it slack builds up in the rope then lets out randomly making the swing of the bead very random and due to its size very hard to hit squarely. I use the bead to pratice punching slipping glance offs and parrying. (this is just something i do that i feel helps me i dont have any scientific evidence that its more helpful then say a double end bag so you might be better off just using a double end bag but id prefer my string with a little wooden bead.)

really you dont have to do any of this stuff, just work distance, accurecy and foot speed /w proper technique and you shouldnt have to rely on pressure so much.

[Klemman]

Nothing wrong with being a pressing fighter, especially if it fits your personality and your body type.

I happen to be short and stocky. Quick hands, decent chin, good endurance, and I get bored easily. I tend to press a lot (and it does come back to bite me at times, but it's what I enjoy when sparring).

Now pressing still requires certain skills to avoid betting danced around and jabbed to death.

Cutting the ring, keep your head moving, and learn to counter punch.

[Monte Fisto]

For myself i'd say i'm a jack of all trades, master of nothing, i got a good chin, good punch and a little speed, but i'm not great at counter punching and i don't have the best defense, my biggest strenght is my offense, i do really well when a guy tries to exchange with me.

But tonight this wasn't the case, the guy, was just dancing around, jumping in landing quick combinations and jumping right back out.

Ps: Keyboard warriors need not apply.

Sounds like there ain't much you can do. And who says pressure fighters can't be good counter-punchers. Come to think of it. The great pressure fighters happen to be great counter-punchers.

Listen man, based on what you've stated re: your strength and weaknesses. You trying to fight him some other way, well, it would just be ******ed. Like the old sayin' goes, you can't outbox a boxer !!

[oniham]

My general take on it from my sparring experiences is that you have to have a different strategy for everyone you fight, if the guy is too slick for you then you HAVE to pressure him. There is no point trying to counter punch a counter puncher thats better at it than you, ask JMM lol

[Equilibrium]

Thanks everybody.

Spartacus, even though i didn't mention it you touched a subject that i have problems with, which is distance. I have a 78 inches wing spawn but i don't really use my range, i worked on it tonight.

Also what i forgot to mention is that yes the guy i sparred yesterdat was fast, but i learned tonight that he was wearing 14 oz gloves while i had the 18 oz i always spar with. So he definitely had an advantage. Next time i'll wear my 16 oz.


I sparred with a light heavy tonight and i worked on some of the things i wasn't happy with last night, used my range, focused on speed and i did really good even though i had to put on the pressure most of the time.

[Suckmedry]

Thanks everybody.

Spartacus, even though i didn't mention it you touched a subject that i have problems with, which is distance. I have a 78 inches wing spawn but i don't really use my range, i worked on it tonight.

Also what i forgot to mention is that yes the guy i sparred yesterdat was fast, but i learned tonight that he was wearing 14 oz gloves while i had the 18 oz i always spar with. So he definitely had an advantage. Next time i'll wear my 16 oz.


I sparred with a light heavy tonight and i worked on some of the things i wasn't happy with last night, used my range, focused on speed and i did really good even though i had to put on the pressure most of the time.

Range is an area i was looking at recently also. I had a big jump in growth this year, went from fighting at 110 and standing at 5''4, to standing around 5''7 and fighting at 132. My reach went from about 65" to around 69" or so.

And I was still fighting like I was 110 and 5''4, my punches too short and closing myself in too much. Once I got my full range going, it made a decent difference.

[Bastian Loc]

Range is an area i was looking at recently also. I had a big jump in growth this year, went from fighting at 110 and standing at 5''4, to standing around 5''7 and fighting at 132. My reach went from about 65" to around 69" or so.

And I was still fighting like I was 110 and 5''4, my punches too short and closing myself in too much. Once I got my full range going, it made a decent difference.

What is the biggest guy you've sparred with?