Avoiding a slug fest..

**Hackworth** · Posted On: 9/12/2012 9:21am

Aggression used to be an issue for me but now the issue is using aggression intelligently...Most of what little technique I can implement just degenerates into a slug fest when things start to pick up the pace. I know that this probably isn't always avoidable but what is the better way?

**RynoGreene** · Posted On: 9/12/2012 11:31am

Stick and move. Launch volleys until he responds, then bail.

**Permalost** · Posted On: 9/12/2012 11:41am

Are you talking about getting into streetfights? Boxing matches? Etc?

**RurikGreenwulf** · Posted On: 9/12/2012 12:32pm

Talk to your instructor tell him you want to improve your technique
Ask for lighter sparrings and focus more on technique and footwork

**DKJr** · Posted On: 9/12/2012 12:36pm

Footwork, head movement, the clinch.

**Hackworth** · Posted On: 9/12/2012 1:49pm

For sparring.

**gregaquaman** · Posted On: 9/12/2012 6:31pm

Get your shots in first

Angle off at the end of your combination.

Finish with straight punches.

**RynoGreene** · Posted On: 9/14/2012 10:46am

Originally Posted by gregaquaman

Get your shots in first

Angle off at the end of your combination.

Finish with straight punches.

This is optimal. Some head movement on entry will keep you from walking into something quite so much as well.

**Vieux Normand** · Posted On: 9/17/2012 1:54pm

You'll fight like you train. You'll fall back on what you drill most often when things get so heated that there's no time to think (pretty much any fighting situation faster than tai chi).

So...train and drill the way you want to fight. Defenses: letting a sparring partner tee off on you while you work on angular and circular footwork, slips, and so on. For a while each session, just parry-and-evade while looking for openings. Then do the same but add a single counter--probably a jab or cross...anything that requires precision rather than any kind of swinging. Reset, start again. Then respond with a combo of two. Then three. Then, switch from drilling to sparring, and end your spar the moment you're getting into "slugfest" mode, take a break, and reset.

If you just try to change things during the sparring itself, the slugfests will continue to occur whether you want it or not. Drills aren't sparring, but--done properly--they can serve to change your sparring in the direction you want it to go.