slipping, parrying, bobbing, weaving, ducking are all skills more suited to western boxing imo, when the likes of pretty boy floyd pull it off it is a thing of buety, i personally have pretty good hands from boxing in the past & prefer to work in this kind of style, but i have found out that there's a reason for the high guard & longer armed thai guard - to protect from kicks & knees. I sometimes slip & bob under hooks but have found that with knees & shin kicks it is too risky & better to keep more of a stand-up peek-a-boo guard without rolling or bending over too much (so as to not eat knees), in boxing you can bend low, in MT it's a mistake. Head movement is a good idea but slipping on the inside, especially low, opens you up to nasty counters & clinches.
Colesey,i agree it is risky,it can be done and to have a good pair of hands in muay thai can be a bonus(especially ko power in them aka ramon decker)for me i slip but only with a turn of the shoulders not a lean from the waist,for the reasons you stated knee and shin to the head,also on rolls you cant see a elbow coming downwards
i want to add that slipping the cross can be playing with fire. i would be real good at it before i break it out in the ring. time it wrong with a jab youeat ma little leather...time it wrong with a cross youeat a little canvas. but its real good to learn. i went back to boxing for the last year or so. and you know what...ya really got tolearn to move your head around. i find that boxers hands are somuch better and the sport is somuch more "head" focused ...if you dont make your head hard to hit. you will end many days in with a head ache. by the way you spelled response wrong
i know from you posts that you are a veryknowlegable fighter. so dont take this the wrong way. 1. you many not have slipped tight enough.....meaning the slip should ideally have the punch just miss you head by an inch or even have the glove leather graze you. that way you can get your counter off quicker.....thats for slipping to the outside of jab. 2. as far as slipping to the inside....getting hit with a big right..elbow or cross. is a big danger 3. it is very likle that the fella was throwing the combo anyway....you were just unlucky enough to go into it. 4. the final reason......when a guy is way better "what ya gonna go?"
I want to get a good spinning backfist going so I practice that a bit (its rubbish at the moment!) Apart from that I stick the basics when I'm doing thai.
MaiTai,thanks for the compliment,,to adress your points, 1) i try to slip tight so the punch just grazes my head but sometime mess it up!, 2) When i slip inside i try to place the palm of myhand on partners right hand so i cant get hit so easy. 3) on the particular occasions i mentioned when i got countered the opponent was very very good and was able to respond quickly because of his experience. 4)Agree totally with this one!,my partner for sparring on number 3 above was Hippy Sigmani,one of the best boxers to come out of Thailand and a firm favourite with the fight fans in Thailand,even the legendary Apidej Sit Hiran said Hippy was the best modern day fighter he had seen. Thanks for the feedback to my post MaiTai
Lately I've been drilling a lot on my clinch work. I find its rarely used much (in my limited expierence) in the western game, and as a tall guy a lot of people try and close me down quick. By working on my clinch I'm hoping I'll be better in close quarters. Its good to work with a partner who has a focus pad, clinch up, then practice manaouvering them about the ring whilst firing off knees into the pad (Probably need a diagram to adequately explain). Your partner responds by resisisting you as much as possible and getting in as close as possible to make the knees awkward. @Slipthejab - I find that "slipping the jab" really opens you up for the knee to the head. Some fighters will even feint a jab if they see you slipping their jab repeatedly in an effort to get away a knee to the head.
my definition of slipping is to slip past the jab to the left or right. even it was to drop your head few inches (2 inches) i dont think that means your more prone to knees.even throwing a body shot drops you more for knees than a that.
