Difficult opponent

[AaronJW]

There are a few guys I often spar with in the gym.
Usually even if I have a tough time with them I know my problem- poor defense and lack of stamina. But I hit them a fair amount and can get some clean shots.

However there's one guy who I always do very badly against.
He's the same height as me and has the same reach, but I always feel like I'm fighting a giant with him. He is heavier than me though by about 5-7kg.

I feel like I can never hit him with clean shots and find myself lunging/overreaching with the right cross. After the sparring he'd tell me I did good and hit him with some nice shots but I kinda think that he's just being polite, and that if he wasn't going easy on me he would destroy me.

I think it's two things- 1. he's not so aggressive and seems to always wait for me to attack, and then counters and 2. related to this, he always seems to keep a good distance away from me. Other guys would come at me a lot more which makes it easier for me to hit them.

I posted a video of me sparring against him (I think I've improved since then and I'm doing a better job), and one person advised me to concentrate more on my footwork. Like I need to be quicker, and when I go in for the 1-2 I should bring my rear foot up closer so that I'm in range and not overreaching on the right cross.

Another problem is that I'm a little wary of him and think that if I commit myself to going in too close, that's when he will start landing heavy shots on me.


Can you imagine what kind of fighter he is? Any advice?

[HedonisticFrog]

Since you say you feel afraid to pressure him because you think he will punish you for it he is probably a counter puncher. It's what getting countered makes you do, fearful of throwing punches. Just look at Maidana fighting Floyd the second time, he didn't have the heart to keep eating punches just to get to pressure Floyd.

One way of dealing with this is to stop coming forwards and make him come to you. If you make him initiate the action it takes him out of his element.

[Richard P]

2 ways to fight a counter puncher, the easiest his make him come to you, jab and step back, force him to come forward and give him a taste of his own medicine.

2nd, and the harder, you need to be incredibly fit, and you come at him with amazing output, he won't be able to counter everything and avoid everything, you land, it will rough him up, knock him out his stride, and you win, it won't be pretty but will be a win

[Richard P]

Watch someone calzaghe vs Hopkins or Lacey on YouTube.

Joe was not the text book boxer, both Lacey and BHop were more pleasing on the eye, had better KO power but neither could cope with the output

[yngwie]

Feint the hell out of him.
I'm a counter puncher myself and i tell you that the best way to beat a counterpuncher is feint a lot.
Watch Jones, Mayweather, Morales, Duran and Lomachenko.

[AddiX]

The hardest thing about boxing is you have to get in the ring with better boxers than you to get better. Which means getting your ass handed to you.

That's why so many good boxers quit. Eventually they realize they aren't as good as they thought they were, and can't handle it, and aren't willing to get over that hump.

Thats how I was, once I started getting in the ring with more national level amateurs and pros, and saw how easy they could feel exactly what I was doing I said to hell with this. My technique was better than most of them, didn't make one bit of difference.

Their ring experience was too far ahead of mine. But when I did get in the ring with them I always got better, it's just frustrating as fck.

[SalimShady1212]

Number 1: you need to lose the fear of getting hit..by getting hit (sorry its gonna happen)
Number 2: I know exactly what it's like being afraid to be counterpunched, keep your hands up and dont be afraid to just high guard and get up close (i do this against guys to smother their work and throw body shots)
Number 3: feints to make them flinch and counter over this, use your jab not always with the intention of landing it but maybe as a set up. Also lead with your backhand occasionally as you can catch them off guard
Number 4: punches in bunches means he'll have to defend and will find it harder to counter unless you throw sloppy shots
Number 5: fighting experienced fighters will teach you some do's, don'ts and also will make fighting guys of similar or less experience a lot easier

As a southpaw being naturally more awkward helps me a lot i must say but keep at it and kick some ass dude

[Suckmedry]

Feint. You need to make your attacks less predictable. This means you need to relax and feint before you attack. You can feint with hands, feet, shoulders, even eyes. Try and make feints realistic and vary the punches you throw after the feints. Example might be feint a jab to the head and then throw a cross to the body. Remember to keep your eyes up when you feint to the head.

Second thing to do is don't attack in straight lines. If you pivot off and then attack, or step around and then attack, you're going to be a lot harder to counter. Example might be: feint a jab, left hook and pivot (also known as check hook) and then throw a right hand.

Other general tips against a counter puncher are never miss a chance to follow up your attacks, and try and keep the pace high because they are usually a lot more comfortable with a slower pace. They tend to be fast, smart or both so you need to force a higher pace because you won't do well against a savvy counterpuncher if you let him dictate the pace.

Good luck and train hard.

[AaronJW]

Thanks for all the help everyone!

I have some good news! I sparred with him on Thursday and I did much better this time. I think I incorporated all the advice here about feinting, making him come to you etc.

2 things I'm happy about-
1. I noticed his big straight rights and right hooks were VERY easy to read and I was able to slip them numerous times. He had a pattern of throwing a few jabs and then trying to land a big shot with the right, so every time he started jabbing while coming forward I knew what was coming. However, I wasn't able to capitalize on this because I was slipping TOO MUCH- going too far and getting off balance, not being able to counter.

2. A few times I was able to apply a lot of pressure, cutting off the ring and had him up on the ropes and it seemed momentarily he couldn't cope with my aggression.

He mentioned after the sparring that I seemed to have improved a lot. I'm not completely happy though because as usual, I took a lot of clean hits to the head and chin, and I don't recall getting any cleans hits on him. Although I think he said I did.

The hardest thing about boxing is you have to get in the ring with better boxers than you to get better. Which means getting your ass handed to you.

That's why so many good boxers quit. Eventually they realize they aren't as good as they thought they were, and can't handle it, and aren't willing to get over that hump.

Thats how I was, once I started getting in the ring with more national level amateurs and pros, and saw how easy they could feel exactly what I was doing I said to hell with this. My technique was better than most of them, didn't make one bit of difference.

Their ring experience was too far ahead of mine. But when I did get in the ring with them I always got better, it's just frustrating as fck.

I know the feeling and I felt like that today, with a different guy. There's a short guy at my gym with a strong punch, and he works hard- does a lot of sparring and training, and he doesn't seem to hold back in sparring.
Maybe he is holding back and he's just strong anyway.
A few weeks back I suggested going easy on each other because I didn't want another headache. He agreed but then all of a sudden I'm getting clobbered in the face and side of the head.
I still can't guard myself very well and I feel that maybe I shouldn't spar with him yet. Or maybe I should for precisely that reason.
So I took a lot of heavy punches to the head and chin
I feel like he just wants to knock me out. Then after the sparring he's advising me to calm down and not try and hit him with all my power. I'm thinking F you and F that other trainer who's cheering you on even though I'm the underdog Next time he asks to spar I feel like telling him to go hit the heavy bag instead. And then the trainer knows I'm pissed off and asks if I want to work the pads with him- first time in over a month he's bothered to do that