Just destroyed in sparring

[Makunouchi]

My opponent was about an inch and a half taller than me so about six foot tall but had the freakish wingspan of around 83 inch reach. Later he told me he weighed about 160. Which is twenty pounds lighter than me at 180. I know I'm overweight but I've come down slowly from two forty since I've started training I'm hoping to end up at middleweight or lighter. I know all of this is irrelevant but I'm just setting up the background.
This is the first time I've ever felt like I was getting beaten in sparring and it was bad. He was faster, more athletic, and I was couldn't get near him. He'd regularly step back as I stepped in making my jab miss and then popping me with his longer straight. His head movement was amazing and I couldn't seem to catch a pattern. The only thing that was there for me was ducking under his jab and then hitting him with a shovel hook to the ribs. After I landed that three times he began to fake the jab and clock me with a right hook when I dipped in. He destroyed me.
I'm simultaneously discouraged by my newly destroyed ego and encouraged by the need to beat him as convincingly as he beat me.
Any advice for beating longer taller fighters?

[theGr8test]

I'm a tall guy with a killer jab and it seems most people affect me by working my body. It's hard though for them to get inside if im pumping my jab, though.


And don't get discouraged, EVERYONE gets beaten up time to time. It's part of the sports. Pro, beginners, whoever, will take a beaten once awhile. Don't lose confidence and put your head down. One of my sparring partners is a young KO artist and gets the best of me all the time.

[F l i c k e r]

Take your time.

Too many people don't want to take their time and pick their shots. You just want to hit a person so bad to the point that you can't hit him. Take your time and pick your shots. Even if you can only hit once. Take that chance, then wait again.

Well... Unless you suck at defense. Which I am going to assume you don't, which you entirely possibly could very well suck at. I'm incredibly hard to hit so I don't have that problem with patience.

[ShoulderRoll]

A tall guy who knows how to use his reach and fight from the outside is the hardest opponent for me to beat. If they can fight a little on the inside too then forget it. It's a nightmare.

What you did with the shovel hooks was good. Always try to get inside to nullify his advantages somewhat. Make sure you are constantly bobbing AND weaving. They are two separate motions, the bobbing should make his hooks miss and the weaving should make his straights miss.

Use small sidesteps and pivots on the inside to move at an angle to him then fire away with hooks and uppercuts of your own. To the head and body. I hope you are a hard hitter.

If you get inside try to remain there. Don't go back out otherwise you will be in his preferred range again and will have to start all over.

Just some ideas for you. I know from experience that all of this is easier said than done.

[them_apples]

My opponent was about an inch and a half taller than me so about six foot tall but had the freakish wingspan of around 83 inch reach. Later he told me he weighed about 160. Which is twenty pounds lighter than me at 180. I know I'm overweight but I've come down slowly from two forty since I've started training I'm hoping to end up at middleweight or lighter. I know all of this is irrelevant but I'm just setting up the background.
This is the first time I've ever felt like I was getting beaten in sparring and it was bad. He was faster, more athletic, and I was couldn't get near him. He'd regularly step back as I stepped in making my jab miss and then popping me with his longer straight. His head movement was amazing and I couldn't seem to catch a pattern. The only thing that was there for me was ducking under his jab and then hitting him with a shovel hook to the ribs. After I landed that three times he began to fake the jab and clock me with a right hook when I dipped in. He destroyed me.
I'm simultaneously discouraged by my newly destroyed ego and encouraged by the need to beat him as convincingly as he beat me.
Any advice for beating longer taller fighters?

Just because hes 160 doesn't mean he wasn't in a higher weight class than you. You said you were 180 but over weight. In boxing you need to be at an ideal weight class, very low body fat (fat slows you down, tires you and makes you heavier) and a good proportion of functional muscle. To much muscle can be bad sometimes as muscle drains a lot of energy and can put you into a higher weight class bracket. It is import to get comfortable in your weight class - the punching power received, the speed etc.

For example sparring featherweights might make you more mobile and quicker to pull the trigger, shorten punches etc, but it also might make you lazier to avoid big shots since you don't feel they can hurt you. Sparring people bigger and heavier than you might force you to load up a bit more to hold them off, as well as move a lot more to stay defensively sound.

When you are picking a weight class, stick to it and get used to the size and strength of those in it - make sure it is a competitive weight class for you.

A lot of professionals that jumped weight classes often were sparring bigger men for quite some time in the gym before hand. You can notice the adjustments made by guys like Duran and Pacquiao, who overwhelmed opponents with physical superiority in the lower weights and used speed as they moved up to take down bigger, easier to hit opponents.

A lot of people also underestimate how light they should be. You for example could be 180 or more for most of your life, but if you are 5'10 - 5'11 keep in mind there have been lightweights and welterweights that were around this height as well. I've known people that came in to a gym at 205, thought they needed to lose 10 lbs, and realized the abs didn't show up until around 155-160. This is especially a problem for the heavyweight division, very VERY few people are over 200 lbs cut to the bone without lifting weights to put on size or well over 6'3 and lanky. A good example is Wladmir who is considered chinny - he was so tall he has to fight at heavyweight, but before he hit the weights he was a very lanky slim structured fighter - sort of like Thomas Hearns. Unfortunately when he get's hit, he goes down.

On the opposite end of the spectrum you have small heavyweights like Rocky Marciano who only really survived at HW because they were so stock the weight was condensed. You have Rocky at 186 lbs at a time when weights in boxing didn't even exist. As soon as this man retired he was walking around at over 250+ lbs.

Hope this helps.

[jas]

I would have made him feel uncomfortable , I know it's sparring but I would have bum rushed him and hit his chest then try to lean on him and push him back

[New England]

for starters, sparring is about learning. every great fighter got his butt kicked in sparring at some point. fighting guys who are better than you are is the best way to improve. as long as you aren't getting punchy in the gym, it's experience.


don't get discouraged if you have to take a step back or to the side in a manner that won't cut off the ring.


shorter guys benefit from a longer fight. if you go several rounds with this guy you should try and implement a gameplan that will take that into account. you might not "win" round one, two, etc, but you're going to be setting yourself up to get the better of him later on.


you need to learn how to make the ring smaller without eating counterpunches and jabs on your way in. when you've got him on the ropes, in a corner, you work from the same angles that you used to pressure him, focusing on the body. don't walk straight to him, and don't work from directly in front of him when you have him on the ropes. small step to the left, small step to the right to land your left hook.

i can't teach you how to do that here. you're going to have to learn on your own and from your coaches.

on the bright side, your tall and athletic friend sounds like a very good sparring partner if you want to learn how to get inside of a tall fighter.



now, all of that said, if you're truly physically overmatched, you may be SOL.

[New England]

Just because hes 160 doesn't mean he wasn't in a higher weight class than you. You said you were 180 but over weight. In boxing you need to be at an ideal weight class, very low body fat (fat slows you down, tires you and makes you heavier) and a good proportion of functional muscle. To much muscle can be bad sometimes as muscle drains a lot of energy and can put you into a higher weight class bracket. It is import to get comfortable in your weight class - the punching power received, the speed etc.

For example sparring featherweights might make you more mobile and quicker to pull the trigger, shorten punches etc, but it also might make you lazier to avoid big shots since you don't feel they can hurt you. Sparring people bigger and heavier than you might force you to load up a bit more to hold them off, as well as move a lot more to stay defensively sound.

When you are picking a weight class, stick to it and get used to the size and strength of those in it - make sure it is a competitive weight class for you.

A lot of professionals that jumped weight classes often were sparring bigger men for quite some time in the gym before hand. You can notice the adjustments made by guys like Duran and Pacquiao, who overwhelmed opponents with physical superiority in the lower weights and used speed as they moved up to take down bigger, easier to hit opponents.

A lot of people also underestimate how light they should be. You for example could be 180 or more for most of your life, but if you are 5'10 - 5'11 keep in mind there have been lightweights and welterweights that were around this height as well. I've known people that came in to a gym at 205, thought they needed to lose 10 lbs, and realized the abs didn't show up until around 155-160. This is especially a problem for the heavyweight division, very VERY few people are over 200 lbs cut to the bone without lifting weights to put on size or well over 6'3 and lanky. A good example is Wladmir who is considered chinny - he was so tall he has to fight at heavyweight, but before he hit the weights he was a very lanky slim structured fighter - sort of like Thomas Hearns. Unfortunately when he get's hit, he goes down.

On the opposite end of the spectrum you have small heavyweights like Rocky Marciano who only really survived at HW because they were so stock the weight was condensed. You have Rocky at 186 lbs at a time when weights in boxing didn't even exist. As soon as this man retired he was walking around at over 250+ lbs.

Hope this helps.

good post. i agree with most of it. rocky putting on weight was an italian thing, bro. mama mia makes some freaking robust trays of lasagna.


also, wladimir is far from lanky. dude is extremely robust. his bones are huge. he boils down to 250 lbs, and doesn't lift a ton of weight, the way most 250 lb athletes would. he's a massive, massive man. he might have been naturally lean / all bones in his youth, but by his current age he'd be freaking enormous if he weren't a pro athlete.

[UrGonnaLooos]

Two ways to fight a taller man.

1. Get inside and work the hooks with head movement.

2. Stay outside of his range and make him come to you. Just because you have a shorter reach does not mean you have to get in the inside. Be patient!

Boxing is all about Timing & Range add some faints & head movement and your good to go.

[Wuckoo]

for starters, sparring is about learning. every great fighter got his butt kicked in sparring at some point. fighting guys who are better than you are is the best way to improve. as long as you aren't getting punchy in the gym, it's experience.


don't get discouraged if you have to take a step back or to the side in a manner that won't cut off the ring.


shorter guys benefit from a longer fight. if you go several rounds with this guy you should try and implement a gameplan that will take that into account. you might not "win" round one, two, etc, but you're going to be setting yourself up to get the better of him later on.


you need to learn how to make the ring smaller without eating counterpunches and jabs on your way in. when you've got him on the ropes, in a corner, you work from the same angles that you used to pressure him, focusing on the body. don't walk straight to him, and don't work from directly in front of him when you have him on the ropes. small step to the left, small step to the right to land your left hook.

i can't teach you how to do that here. you're going to have to learn on your own and from your coaches.

on the bright side, your tall and athletic friend sounds like a very good sparring partner if you want to learn how to get inside of a tall fighter.



now, all of that said, if you're truly physically overmatched, you may be SOL.

Good post man. Read this op. I agree with this advice. At my old gym I mostly had to spar taller guys. The lightest was 30lbs heavier (and I'm only 122). It wasn't good. But like the poster above said this guy seems like a good partner provided that he doesn't have a big weight advantage. I'd continue sparring this guy while losing weight. Once you are closer to your fighting weight you can judge whether or not he outweighs you by too much. But until then just follow the advice of the others on this thread. Work on those skills and work on his body. It's good you are motivated to try and overcome his height advantage so keep working at it. Just make sure he doesn't outweigh you too much. A taller guy with 30 or in some cases like me 40lbs more than you can be pretty rough.