question for the kick boxers and boxers...

[moneygqj]

i'm a wrestler, and was good in HS, and now i'm taking MMA classes.

Yesterday was my second lesson and I was surprised when the instructor had my spar already, especially when I'm new to punching, kicking and guard defense.

Anyways, what I really struggled with during this exercise was defending both kicks and punches. The instructor said don't look at my eyes, but what do I then look at? I'm having a hard enough time just straight up boxing let alone defending kicks as well.

Any advice?

For my boxing question. What do you do when you have to box someone who is over 5 inches taller than you?

Also, what is the best defense to someone coming at you?

thanks

[elbows_and_knees]

look at the uppoer torso. You will be able to see his arms and legs via your peripheral vision. When you look only at the eyes, it's easy to lose track of the legs. In time, you will learn to read their shoulder and hip movement in order to determine what is coming.

When boxing against a taller guy, remember mike tyson in his prime... He was a master at making angles. He would slip inside of the other guy and eat their lunch with his body shots and uppercuts. slip and make angles. Fast head movement and footwork.

There really is no best defense - everyone has their own preference. There is a worst defense though - NEVER move continually backward.

[y2_sub]

look at the uppoer torso.

Good advice

[Muaythaiboxer]

yea, i personally look at the sholders but i here some look at the chest

[CagedWarrior]

Shoulder/chest area usually. It's weird to get used to, but where the shoulders go the hands follow- and where the hips go the feet follow, so....

[Ottman]

Definitely look at the chest. While looking at the core of the body, where all movement should originate, you can pick up on telegraphs by seeing, as others have mentioned, the shoulders and hips moving. For taller guys, I'd say stay inside on them, within your own range, and attack. If they back off, chase them down and stay in, don't let them use their longer reach against you, instead make them have to pull back in order to attack you, and when you see them pull back, move in and attack first.

For defending against someone who is coming at you, it's all about timing. If you can read their movement and time it correctly, you should be able to move in past their attack, and hit them before they can hit you. Pretty much everything comes down to timing IMHO.

[glockmeister]

I agree, look at upper torso. 2nd class and he has ya sparring already? I think that's a little soon to be sparring.

[n-box]

hmm..dunno..i've used to lok in partner's eyes..it's east to see what he's going to do.. 4 example if he looks at your leg, you know that there may be a low-kick

[elbows_and_knees]

nah, a classic boxing tactic was to fool people that way. For example, look left, but punch right. Or, using your example, I look at your legs and while you prepare for a leg kick, I throw a right cross to your jaw.

[Jerry]

I also look at the chest area. But do beware when you spar a woman, it's not nice then to be focussed on the chest, be nice and watch her face, it also gives movement away.

As for fighting a bigger/taller guy. We have a guy training with us who is also about 6" taller than me and he weighs about 50kgs(x2.21 for lbs) more. He's a tad chubby, but he's a bouncer so do know that his arms have no fat. Anyway ... I normally stay out of his reach and when I see the gap I move in and land quick three punches and move out. I also catch him when I fake a dip and then jump and punch him in the face. That's what I do, fake going in and he punches, from where I go in and give him some.

As for his kicks, believe it or not, I go into them. Seeing that his legs are long (and huge), I find that he has very little power in his legs upon initiation of the kick and therefore I move in, take the kick and then I'm close enough to land another punch or kick myself. My timimg was off once and he almost wiped the floor with me flying accross it ... was fun though