getting around people with longer reach..?

[taitsechien]

i do muay thai at the muay thai institute of kunponli in slc utah, and we box on monday nights... i'm only five foot four and am usually paired up with people alot taller than me... mostly cause i'm the only guy there thats that short... everyone has a substantial reach advantage over me... so i was just wondering if any of you had some tips for getting around without getting hit... i'm pretty fast compared to most of the taller guys but it doesn't do me a whole lot of good just to move around them cause a lot of the time when i go in i take a pretty stiff jab... and my jaw is starting to take some serious damage... any words of advice would be greatly appreciated...
-thanks-

 

[kidswarrior]

I don't know MT, but I know boxing a little and street stuff a little more. My advice would be move off their center line at its longest point, either close inside where their reach doesn't have time to stretch out, or outside and work the body. Being quick should allow you to do this pretty well. But whatever you do, I think you gotta move and keep moving.

 

[Andrew Green]

Circle and come in at angles, under their punches. Learn to use your overhand right a little more

 

[Bodhisattva]

i do muay thai at the muay thai institute of kunponli in slc utah, and we box on monday nights... i'm only five foot four and am usually paired up with people alot taller than me... mostly cause i'm the only guy there thats that short... everyone has a substantial reach advantage over me... so i was just wondering if any of you had some tips for getting around without getting hit... i'm pretty fast compared to most of the taller guys but it doesn't do me a whole lot of good just to move around them cause a lot of the time when i go in i take a pretty stiff jab... and my jaw is starting to take some serious damage... any words of advice would be greatly appreciated...
-thanks-

Bob and weave as you move to the outside.

Fake to get him to respond and open up.

Be careful slipping to the inside because a taller man will rest his lead hand on your neck (holding you down) and uppercut your face.

MOVE AND MOVE AND move some more - not just your body with footwork, but also your head! Loads of head movement against longer reach...

 

[Bodhisattva]

Circle and come in at angles, under their punches. Learn to use your overhand right a little more

Great advice on the overhand.

A good combination against a taller fighter is to jab/jab/overhand like so:

Jab (face)

Jab (body - and lean over your rear leg some as you execute the jab)

Overhand (propel your torso back up and then continue to your left as you fling the overhand right)

It's a really common combo. Look around and you'l find it on the web.

That second Jab as performed as your head drops to the right.. this has you crouching over your rear leg..


--

The beauty of this combo is

a) head movement - longer reach opponent means you need to move your head and punch

b) Moving your head to the right on the second jab really loads up the overhand right with power..

 

[no_kata]

I'm assuming you're a right handed fighter. If you're not then take everything I'm about to say and reverse it.

If you can fight with both lead hands then switch stances, and angle into his jab. That will keep them from being able to fire the right hand and you'll be able to get some clean shots in on their exposed body or it will leave them open for a clean shot to the side of their jaw. It's also a great way to set them up for a loose knee straight into the gut. You might get peppered with that jab a few times but it's better than getting caught with a cross.

Also, you can fire off an offensive foot jab straight into their gut. Before they have time to regain their balance shoot inside and beat their ribs in with knees or uppercuts and hooks.

If you do switch to a southpaw then when they fire that jab you can catch it with your right hand, knock it down and to your left and they're opened up for a quick right hook.

 

[vankuen]

There's a vid on my myspace account fighting a guy way taller than me; just a small clip but shows moving in with some of the suggestions given...

www.myspace.com/vankuen

 

[Empty Hands]

I'm very tall, but some of the toughest fighters I have gone against are significantly shorter than me. I've learned to keep people at a distance using my longer reach and pummel them. When shorter people play my game, I always win. What does work exceptionally well on me is to change up the game.

Eat that ranging jab (leg or arm) and come inside. Jam up those longer limbs up close and do your damage tight and to the inside. Then get the hell back out of their range before they recover. Rinse and repeat.

Of course, I know this is my weakness, so I've been working on my clinch, knees, and grappling. Look out.

 

[vankuen]

Just watched a WEC fight today, where a guy that was like 5' 9" fought a guy that was 6' 6". Reach was roughly 70 vs 89.

The tall guy got KTFO when the shorter one did just what was said in the previous post...

He ate a couple of jabs, and came inside with overhands and hooks. Clinched up, threw more overhand hooks, eventually the giant tumbled.

Just don't move straight in...try using angles and counter punches.