Tall fighters and short fighters should have completely different game plans.
If you have ridiculously LONG arms, you can punch short people and small children without letting them get close enough to hit you back.
Why give them a chance?
Conversely, if you're the little guy, you need to get inside so your stubby T-Rex arms can do their job.
Taking this a step further...
When slipping punches, short guys should predominantly move IN, while the punch is whizzing by.
It's the perfect time to close distance...
Conversely, tall guys should predominantly be slipping while moving their base AWAY so they can continue to use their range.
As such, the REAR SLIP is a tall guy's best friend!
It will make every conceivable strike miss, while increasing the distance between you and your opponent.
No one plays this game better than Tyson Fury... he has arguably the best Rear Slip in the business.
Hey... whether you're tall or short, you should watch that video.
It's important to note how Tyson plays the 'tall guy' game, and how shorter opponents seek to diffuse it.
(Spoiler alert: they try to back him into the ropes... but many still can't even make contact... because Tyson Fury has fantastic Head Movement.)
There are only a few main drawbacks when heavily relying on the Rear Slip:
#1. If you're always backing up, you tend to run out of space. There may be walls, or traffic, or other obstacles behind you... and if you hit one, now you can't back up.
#2. You have less power while moving backwards. You have to reverse your momentum, in order to drop some bombs.
(There are exceptions to that statement... but generally speaking, slipping IN offers better power/counter strikes.)
Now, in this video, you will find PLENTY of times when Tyson Fury is stuck up on the ropes... and he uses a basic angle change to get out.
He slips his head to the left side, while stepping outside (to the left) of his opponent.... and then he rotates his body so he has fresh open space behind him.
Pure sweet science.
It's a wonderful sight to behold...
Footwork + Head Movement... it's the best combination of skills upon which to build your entire style!
And P.S... Tyson Fury is a formerly-obese guy.
Even now, he's not a vision of peak athleticism.
This is more evidence that ALL of us can build this skills set, with just a little hard work.
Again, click here to watch him in action...
(or to just let my email robots know that you're still out there.)
Have a fantastic weekend!
-Trav
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