I just sparred a friend of mine...

[BoZz]

He does that tae kwan do stuff

Ive been boxing for 8 years now and he suggested that we should go all out so that we could see who will have the upper hand (foot)
I had no chance to come even close his legs were just too damaging and the reach advantage was crazy.

Is there any way i could improve in closing the gap so that i could start hitting him with some nice hard shots to the head?

[Yael The Great]

He does that tae kwan do stuff

Ive been boxing for 8 years now and he suggested that we should go all out so that we could see who will have the upper hand (foot)
I had no chance to come even close his legs were just too damaging and the reach advantage was crazy.

Is there any way i could improve in closing the gap so that i could start hitting him with some nice hard shots to the head?

Kick him in the leg with your lead foot and plant it after you land so you could be close to him.

[dr.x]

He does that tae kwan do stuff

Ive been boxing for 8 years now and he suggested that we should go all out so that we could see who will have the upper hand (foot)
I had no chance to come even close his legs were just too damaging and the reach advantage was crazy.

Is there any way i could improve in closing the gap so that i could start hitting him with some nice hard shots to the head?

I once sparred with my friend who does karate , it seemed very difficult to out box him , as I usualy do with the amateurs in boxing .
the easiest way to beat him is to be fast and get inside while you're protecting yourself , and being ready to be hit with a kick while getting in . once you're inside,his legs are useless and his hand technique are poor , you can hit him easily .

[shogunn]

if your friend is smart, he wouldnt let your fists get anywhere near him and keep attacking with his legs for the longer reach.

Your only hope is to make him miss when he kicks and step inside. Thats when youll have the upperbody advantage, unless he's really good at that too.

[Sugarj]

Ha ha, it was actually boxing that got me out of martial arts!

In Kung Fu sparring I found it comfortable to fight at a distance, use my kicks etc. But the first time I came across someone who could close the distance and use his hands/punches well it completely changed my way of thinking. Its much more intimidating to have someone that close firing off fast punches. Its easy to block/dodge a kick from a few feet away. Punches close in to many martial artists are very uncomfortable to prepare for.

Watch out for leg sweeps and knees when working your way in, use good footwork and keep distance to a minimum if you can. When you are inside, you can really take advantage of the often open martial arts guards and fire in all manner of hooks and uppercuts without the fear of shipping a roundhouse kick in return.

It can be easier said than done with a decent martial arts exponent. But the better your boxing becomes, the better you'll be able to deal with a martial artist.

[BoZz]

Ha ha, it was actually boxing that got me out of martial arts!

In Kung Fu sparring I found it comfortable to fight at a distance, use my kicks etc. But the first time I came across someone who could close the distance and use his hands/punches well it completely changed my way of thinking. Its much more intimidating to have someone that close firing off fast punches. Its easy to block/dodge a kick from a few feet away. Punches close in to many martial artists are very uncomfortable to prepare for.

Watch out for leg sweeps and knees when working your way in, use good footwork and keep distance to a minimum if you can. When you are inside, you can really take advantage of the often open martial arts guards and fire in all manner of hooks and uppercuts without the fear of shipping a roundhouse kick in return.

It can be easier said than done with a decent martial arts exponent. But the better your boxing becomes, the better you'll be able to deal with a martial artist.

I understand where you're coming from but I'm not allowed to use my legs and he's not allowed to use his hands..

You mentioned the thing about closing the distance,yes that's the only way I could actually land a punch on him but the thing is that it only works for the ring,on the street closing the distance means grabbing,that's where judo becomes very useful.

[BoZz]

Thanks to everyone for the advice.

I'm gonna give him a good beating sooner or later

[Sugarj]

Hi again Mercedes,

I knew Tae Kwon Do is a kicks based martial art, but is that right......are no punches taught at all? I thought the basic punches were taught. I came from a Kung Fu background, where all manner of strikes, holds and throws are used.

Is grappling used much in Tae Kwon Do too? I'm suprised that you mentioned a concern over grabbing in close by a Tae Kwon Do student.

In sparring against an orthodox stance martial arts student, I tended to find that adopting a southpaw stance served me very well. Honestly, 99% of the time the first move my opponent would make was the left lead roundhouse to either my leg, chest or head. Its so tempting for them, possibly out of habit, possibly because my lead leg was closer to their lead foot and seemed open to a roundhouse to the back of my leg.

It was so easy to counter! Most left lead kicks in my experience were not particularly powerful and so much slower than a jab that I had no problem in blocking/avoiding them and immediately stepping in with a double jab cross combination.

Avoiding their right kicks wasn't too much trouble too as I feel natural as a southpaw in moving to my right. You'd know if a right kick was coming because the opponent would twist their body near 180 degrees in some cases! Ha ha

[BoZz]

Hi again Mercedes,

I knew Tae Kwon Do is a kicks based martial art, but is that right......are no punches taught at all? I thought the basic punches were taught. I came from a Kung Fu background, where all manner of strikes, holds and throws are used.

Is grappling used much in Tae Kwon Do too? I'm suprised that you mentioned a concern over grabbing in close by a Tae Kwon Do student.

In sparring against an orthodox stance martial arts student, I tended to find that adopting a southpaw stance served me very well. Honestly, 99% of the time the first move my opponent would make was the left lead roundhouse to either my leg, chest or head. Its so tempting for them, possibly out of habit, possibly because my lead leg was closer to their lead foot and seemed open to a roundhouse to the back of my leg.

It was so easy to counter! Most left lead kicks in my experience were not particularly powerful and so much slower than a jab that I had no problem in blocking/avoiding them and immediately stepping in with a double jab cross combination.

Avoiding their right kicks wasn't too much trouble too as I feel natural as a southpaw in moving to my right. You'd know if a right kick was coming because the opponent would twist their body near 180 degrees in some cases! Ha ha

Well in teakwondo they use the basic one two punch from what he told me it's 95% legs.

There is also a big difference between olympic (wtf) and traditional (itf) takwondo,in wtf tkd they tend to concentrate on the sport part while the itf is more traditional ( self defense)

Na we actually don't grapple ,once i get in and he grabs me we separate, the reason I said judo I was speaking about the same situation but on the street.

Well I can't comment about kung fu all I know is that there are many diff kung fu styles none of them uses the same principals.

[DiLLiNGER]

He does that tae kwan do stuff

Ive been boxing for 8 years now and he suggested that we should go all out so that we could see who will have the upper hand (foot)
I had no chance to come even close his legs were just too damaging and the reach advantage was crazy.

Is there any way i could improve in closing the gap so that i could start hitting him with some nice hard shots to the head?

A good kicker will always beat a good puncher due to reach like you said and also the leg generates more power.