I'm stuck!

[WTG]

I am stuck! And since I have been getting such great answers here I thought I'd ask about a problem I have been having.

I have a student Damir from Croatia, he is 6'6" and 260lbs and hits like a shotgun!

When we box, he gives me fits. I am 5'11" and I simply can not connect with any head shots on this guy that have any power at all!

One thing is for as strong and big as he is, he doesn't like to get hit (who does right But he moves out to kicking range as soon as I move in at him, he will run.

The only time I can hit him is going into peakaboo gaurd get low slip right and left and work the body. At which point he will tie up or run again.

Kicking I am fine as well as clinch and ground, but boxing I just suck with this guy...
Is it just that I will not be able to hit him solid upstairs because of our height difference? Or am I making some basic mistakes?

I have tried all I know and maybe I am just not good enough yet, but I am stuck here. So ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, he doesn't land on me other than a jab every now and then because he won't stay in range, he moves so far away he is too far to hit me too LOL!

Thanks guys for any help. (again)

-Rick

[Jim McRae]

Greetings, Rick:

Here is my two cents worth. I am 6'3", so I don't often get the opportunity to fight an opponent taller than me. However, Jason Korol, my first JKD instructor (who was also a boxer for some time), used to always say that when you are fighting a taller opponent, it is imperative that you do not lead off on the guy unless you have his rhythm. Here's what this means...

Since the shorter fighter must close more distance to hit his opponent after breaking the fighting measure, he will have to cross through a range where he is vulnerable to his taller opponent's shots, but cannot yet hit his opponent. Because of this, a taller fighter can effectively counterpunch against a shorter fighter since he has a few inches of "safe space" where he can pop the shorter fighter as he is moving in. The moral of this story is that the shorter fighter shouldn't let the taller fighter play his game. Use his own strategy against him. Make the taller fighter initiate the attack against you. When he does, immediately evade the shot (this includes slips, the bob and weave, parries, salutes, etc), step in and at an angle and immediately nail him with a quick combination. The only time that you ever want to lead off against a taller fighter is if you have his rhythm and can anticipate his counter shots. My wife, who is 5'4", was doing this very effectively in sparring today against two different opponents almost a foot taller than her.

Another thing to try is this: as Damir attacks, evade/block/parry his shots and, since he likes to immediately retreat out of range, explode forward with Burton's straight-blast (the boxing, not the Wing Chun, version). This works really well on guys who like to back up because, in backing up, they give you an opportunity to generate forward momentum, and no one can back up faster than you can run forward.
Hope this was helpful. Give it a shot and let me know how it works for you.

Take care and train hard,
Jim

[WTG]

Good Info!

Howdy Jim!

Man thanks for the advice.
I never noticed it before, but I tend to be a forward and backward fighter. My side to side needs work.

In addition, I also noticed that I do lead off on just about everyone. Being as I am strong (350lbs Bench-470lbs squat-415 straight leg deadlift) my habit has been to just try to pressure from the get go.

So now, since your advice I have been working counter time and side steps And although I need work, it's paying off, so again thanks! (although Damir is not so happy about it! LOL!)

Last the blast! I never knew about the Boxing Blast until last months tape! Then I thought, wait, didn't I see this done in a UFC? Didn't someone do it to tank?

When boxing with 16ox bloves, I never do the regular blast because I feel like I have pillows on my hands, but man, the Burton Blast WORKS! And I feel the potential for FAR more power is there than in the regular blast. And you were right, as soon as he would jab, I would time it and BAM! I was off! He had a hard time clinching as he does when I would close with hooks and I ran him into the wall every time I did it.

Well, again, Thanks! It really helped

-Rick