How to counter opponents who have unique footwork and attacks on angles on you?

**hinsaru** · Posted On: 7/15/2012 4:31pm

Hey guys, I'm a Muay Thai practitioner who have been learning from an awesome instructor for the past two years. This gym is fairly new and has had no students compete yet in the ring. I have decided to step it up and be one of the first to compete.

I spar twice a week with other students. At first it was timed sparring until I went to the 22nd Annual Pacific Northwest Muay Thai camp. As soon as I came back, our instructor told us to step it up a bit so we are now going light & fast. Our instructor really wants us to be well-rounded so he teaches us to be both evasive & light (like Savate) as well as staying in the pocket to easily counter opponents (like the Thais).

When it comes to sparring though, everyone naturally sticks to something they are good at. I noticed in a lot of Western Thai-boxing matches, many fighters would attack on angles and use a lot of western-style boxing footwork rather than the Thais.

When it comes to me, I love countering at an angle (sometimes when I'm on the offensive I attack on an angle too), but usually I try to attack head on unless I'm leg kicking. In my opinion, this gives me more opportunities to clinch up (which I also believe is my strength) and go to town with knees.

So my question is, I have noticed with my sparring partners that they heavily rely on footwork where they do a lot of attacking & countering off of angles, throw a combo, and run away. Usually the solution would be to work on timing, but what would you do to counter these kinds of strategies? Any disruptive technique tips will help!!! My leg kicks land, but as you know since this is sparring usually it has no consequences.

Thanks!
P.S I'm a natural southpaw which makes it worse since my liver is so front and center.

***Omega Supreme*** · Posted On: 7/15/2012 6:06pm

Nothing I could fully cover here without seeing your footwork and mistakes. Usually when people need this they are chasing their partners instead of cutting them off. Most beginners forget they can also clinch and slow down their partners.

**lordbd** · Posted On: 7/15/2012 7:15pm

I'm a noob but I've found doing leg kicks a lot helps keep squirrly guys honest. Just learned something called a 'cut kick' where you kick the leg while ducking off to the side. Its hard for the dancers to get away from.

**gregaquaman** · Posted On: 7/15/2012 9:15pm

This is more for somone who has a flair/tricky style dont try to out flair them cover in crisper and tighter and do your basics better.

If they are doing basic angles well then they are just better than you and you need to train more

**Neo Sigma** · Posted On: 7/16/2012 7:06am

My leg kicks land, but as you know since this is sparring usually it has no consequences.

I don't know what your leg kicks are like, but you should be using them to break your partner's balance and stop their movement. You can do that in sparring without cranking the hell out of them, with proper technique. Try to get some video and make sure you're turning your hip all the way over, and not dragging your shoulder. Do it right when you catch a guy coming in and you can turn them halfway around.

**hinsaru** · Posted On: 7/16/2012 3:16pm

I thank every one of you for your time and wonderful advices you have posted. Let me share some details with you guys to give a better description of my situation.

Our gym is new (only 2 years old and I started around that time) so all of our students who want to compete have no ring experience at all which means at this stage everyone usually plays around with their style (even for myself).
For sparring our instructor wants us to go fast and light. We're not allowed to dump people and we can't get into the clinch (since I'm the only one who has headgear, our instructor doesn't want us to headbutt each other). When it comes to counter such as cut kicks from a round kick, he wants us to hit the hamstring inside of the ankle. Any loud pop noises will result either the training partner or my instructor to say to go lighter.

As stated before I fight with right lead (southpaw) since I'm naturally left-handed. 80% of the time I spar will be mixed leads. I tend to use my lead leg a lot without the switch step since usually I get countered if people see it coming. Usually majority of the guys I spar with can't stay in the pocket so I'll have to chase them down (probably all beginners' mistakes hahaha). I've noticed that using a leaping rear kick tends to land but recently I've been warned to stick with basics again.

I know I haven't been training as long as you guys and I really respect everyone's opinion but I'm really looking for advice here to improve my game against mixed leads. It's kinda hard being the odd one out there when everyone usually instructs left lead vs left lead even on videos, so would really appreciate it if anyone could give me specific details on great setups, feinting tips, disruptive techniques & combos.

armchairwarrior · Posted On: 7/21/2012 12:33am

#1) Circle to your right to avoid the cross and rear leg kicks
#2) Seriously develop your jab, doubling up the jab, broken rhythm, jabbing to the body instead of the head all the time. Throw the jab from different angles
#3) You are the southpaw, so your angles should be the ones that are unfamiliar to the other guy
#4) If the other guys style is so unpredictable, you need to press the action and keep him off balance. Don't let him "set" and he won't be able to throw those fancy techniques. See #2.