Clinch.
Tie his hands up, hold tight, and control his arms just enough so he cannot punch with knockout power. Not only does this negate almost any chance of a huge knockout blow until broken up, but it can be used (if one so wishes) agressively, and tires the opponent out if he tries to power out of it.
I wanted to discuss the clinch because I keep on thinking about that "what if" situation. In sparring I can keep up with most punchers, use my footwork to get to where I need to be, and I enjoy the sweet science of timing and countering. The only problem is, every so often, there will be a guy that just says "f' it" and comes at you like a hobo on a sandwich. If your accuracy is not pin point perfect, it becomes difficult to counter. If your head movement is not extremely quick and controlled, it becomes difficult to go into a position where you can hit him efficiently, and if your footwork is not controlled and you step off balance, good luck getting any kind of shot off. Not only that, but you have to make sure all of this is done correctly, while the opponent (who doesn't care for his own safety with his style choice) is throwing punches at a rate anywhere from 2-5 punches a second.
*A disclaimer before I continue* = Yes, I know that in an ideal world, a half step back followed by a 1,2 is ideal. A quick slip and pivot away from the power hand is great, circling works as well. The big reason I wanted to ask the forum about this, is that life isn't always pancake breakfasts and rainbows. Stuff goes wrong. And it takes alot of time and practice to get yourself ready to react with fine tuned techniques under the stress of constant fire. This is for people who havn't mastered everything quite yet, this is for people who need help, right now, against people who bull rush them. I was one of the ones who got discouraged that I wasn't techniqually sound enough to handle it yet, saying "What the hell man? How am I supposed to stop that? I'm not quick enough."
Any way, on with my personal way of clinching.
There are three basic clinches. The double overhooks, the double underhooks, and the over under.
When you have the double over, use the space between your rib and elbow to pinch his arms at the bicep-elbow.
When Double under, get your shoulders well under his, and flare your arms, so his arms get raised in the air.
And with over under, its just a half and half of each.
Few key points
When entering the clinch, protect yourself. Throw a short hook to get your hand behind his head and pull him close to you, or double jab, weave, and overhook his arm or head, and remember angles are your friend.
Also...
1. Lock those arms up, he can still club you if he has a free hand.
2. Get your head under his chin (go short boxers! Woohoo!), this will control him, put him off balance if you move forward, and leave potential openings for strikes. If you cant get under his chin, get as low as you can, put the crown of your head or your forehead into his temple or cheek. It will be alot of neck wrestling for control.
3.Put your weight on him, make him carry you. Once you lock on, if he wants to be captain big balls, he will still try to break out and throw the big hands. Lock down and hold on, let him thrash around all he wants. He will waste a great deal of energy moving around trying to break free while you just chill and relax, catching a breather if needed.
4. If he is much bigger, and much stronger, and he forces you around when you clinch him, circle and spin. Never move straight back. Pivot and turn and move around in a way that makes him less able to control the pace of the clinch. Alot of the techniques of Muay Thai clinches work to a lesser extent when trying to control in the clinch. (except without the knees and elbows)
Now, onto my favorite part of clinching, the agressive clinch.
The master of this, is Bernard Hopkins. He is able to wear out, wear down, annoy, and out last fighters over a decade younger than him, in their prime. Because he locks them up, makes them wear themselves out, and hits them a good couple of times while doing it.
One of the reasons the clinch can turn the tide on an agressive opponent, is that if you lock down extremely tight, he will be so focused on escaping, that if you move him around, then all of a sudden let go, you are a split second faster to get back into a fire fight. The clinch, punch, clinch, release punch style is very effective against agressive guys.
Learn to quickly pivot and off balance your opponent and to let go before he regains his footing. Learn to set up a big hook, and right before you launch it, you let the opponent go so you dont do anything illeagal like holding AND hitting. Just holding, then hitting.
On a final note for right now, if you don't mind dirtying the pool a little, or if you have a sparring partner being a complete ******. If you have just one overhook, if you open your glove a little, and pop him in the ear with your palm, this is extremely painful, extremely discombobulating, and really makes someone think about being agressive. Nice and quick, doesnt even look that bad until someone does it to you, yeesh, hurts like a mo'.
Thats all I have right now, I will add more later as I think about it more.
Does anyone have more clinch advice, or anyone know of a way I can improve the way I am doing things?
Tie his hands up, hold tight, and control his arms just enough so he cannot punch with knockout power. Not only does this negate almost any chance of a huge knockout blow until broken up, but it can be used (if one so wishes) agressively, and tires the opponent out if he tries to power out of it.
I wanted to discuss the clinch because I keep on thinking about that "what if" situation. In sparring I can keep up with most punchers, use my footwork to get to where I need to be, and I enjoy the sweet science of timing and countering. The only problem is, every so often, there will be a guy that just says "f' it" and comes at you like a hobo on a sandwich. If your accuracy is not pin point perfect, it becomes difficult to counter. If your head movement is not extremely quick and controlled, it becomes difficult to go into a position where you can hit him efficiently, and if your footwork is not controlled and you step off balance, good luck getting any kind of shot off. Not only that, but you have to make sure all of this is done correctly, while the opponent (who doesn't care for his own safety with his style choice) is throwing punches at a rate anywhere from 2-5 punches a second.
*A disclaimer before I continue* = Yes, I know that in an ideal world, a half step back followed by a 1,2 is ideal. A quick slip and pivot away from the power hand is great, circling works as well. The big reason I wanted to ask the forum about this, is that life isn't always pancake breakfasts and rainbows. Stuff goes wrong. And it takes alot of time and practice to get yourself ready to react with fine tuned techniques under the stress of constant fire. This is for people who havn't mastered everything quite yet, this is for people who need help, right now, against people who bull rush them. I was one of the ones who got discouraged that I wasn't techniqually sound enough to handle it yet, saying "What the hell man? How am I supposed to stop that? I'm not quick enough."
Any way, on with my personal way of clinching.
There are three basic clinches. The double overhooks, the double underhooks, and the over under.
When you have the double over, use the space between your rib and elbow to pinch his arms at the bicep-elbow.
When Double under, get your shoulders well under his, and flare your arms, so his arms get raised in the air.
And with over under, its just a half and half of each.
Few key points
When entering the clinch, protect yourself. Throw a short hook to get your hand behind his head and pull him close to you, or double jab, weave, and overhook his arm or head, and remember angles are your friend.
Also...
1. Lock those arms up, he can still club you if he has a free hand.
2. Get your head under his chin (go short boxers! Woohoo!), this will control him, put him off balance if you move forward, and leave potential openings for strikes. If you cant get under his chin, get as low as you can, put the crown of your head or your forehead into his temple or cheek. It will be alot of neck wrestling for control.
3.Put your weight on him, make him carry you. Once you lock on, if he wants to be captain big balls, he will still try to break out and throw the big hands. Lock down and hold on, let him thrash around all he wants. He will waste a great deal of energy moving around trying to break free while you just chill and relax, catching a breather if needed.
4. If he is much bigger, and much stronger, and he forces you around when you clinch him, circle and spin. Never move straight back. Pivot and turn and move around in a way that makes him less able to control the pace of the clinch. Alot of the techniques of Muay Thai clinches work to a lesser extent when trying to control in the clinch. (except without the knees and elbows)
Now, onto my favorite part of clinching, the agressive clinch.
The master of this, is Bernard Hopkins. He is able to wear out, wear down, annoy, and out last fighters over a decade younger than him, in their prime. Because he locks them up, makes them wear themselves out, and hits them a good couple of times while doing it.
One of the reasons the clinch can turn the tide on an agressive opponent, is that if you lock down extremely tight, he will be so focused on escaping, that if you move him around, then all of a sudden let go, you are a split second faster to get back into a fire fight. The clinch, punch, clinch, release punch style is very effective against agressive guys.
Learn to quickly pivot and off balance your opponent and to let go before he regains his footing. Learn to set up a big hook, and right before you launch it, you let the opponent go so you dont do anything illeagal like holding AND hitting. Just holding, then hitting.
On a final note for right now, if you don't mind dirtying the pool a little, or if you have a sparring partner being a complete ******. If you have just one overhook, if you open your glove a little, and pop him in the ear with your palm, this is extremely painful, extremely discombobulating, and really makes someone think about being agressive. Nice and quick, doesnt even look that bad until someone does it to you, yeesh, hurts like a mo'.
Thats all I have right now, I will add more later as I think about it more.
Does anyone have more clinch advice, or anyone know of a way I can improve the way I am doing things?
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