Well, like the often quoted business strategy: 20 of your techniques should reap you 80 of the results you wanted (stunned, disabled, KOed). I remembered reading Mark Hatmaker's book, No Holds Barred Fighting, the most often used striking arsenal in NHB fights are hand strikes. That means it's only logical to devote most of our training time to learn how to strike with our hands.
But a Karateka is often overwhelmed by the vast arrays of hand strikes to learn and master: Kizami-zuki, Choku zuki, Gyaku zuki, Shuto and etc. My take on this is simple: just focus on your lead hand strikes, then slowly work your combinations. Find your personal bread and butter combo, and train hard to be good at it. Mike Tyson used to KO many fighters just by using his lead hook alone.
Try this nifty combo:
1. Make the opponent think you have a static striking pattern, eg. by punching lead-cross repeatedly.
2. Then level change to strike him with a low lead.
3. Feint a cross by staring at him and moving your shoulder.
4. But WHAM! strike him with your lead again.
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Fought with Leon, a 6ft. tall Dutch guy who has a background in Kickboxing and Jiujitsu. I knew he was good the moment I stepped into the class. Funny thing with martial arts, you can easily distinguished someone who has some skills from a newcomer if you have some experience in MA yourself.
Things to note when sparring with a taller opponent:
1. Level change when hitting them lower.
2. Duck the head in the arm when punching.
3. Work on overhand combos: lead jab up-down then overhand right is a good combo against a tall opponent.
4. Put bodyweight behind my punches by taking a step forward when throwing cross and overhand.
5. Counter-punching seems to work with proper defensive timing.
6. Stop sparring with them to prevent painful injuries and damage pride. ;)
I also need to decide whether a defensive game, attacking game or counter-punching is the most suitable style for me. Hopefully, I'll make a good decision after sparring with more people from diverse backgrounds.
Overall, it's a good experience for me. The more different people I spar with, the more exposure I get.
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Yesterday was another first for me. I was almost KOed by Vince when sparring with him. We went for three 2 mins round and on the third round, Vince caught me with a vicious right hook. For few secs, it was lights out for me, I dropped my limbs and went down on my knees.
Later Vince revealed that I threw too many telegraphic haymakers, esp. the right and I dropped my hands too much. But to me, my main problem fighting Vince is that he's a Southpaw, ie. someone who use his right hand/leg as lead boxing hand/stand. And worse, he's a right-hander who fights Southpaw. That means his lead punches are real fast and hard-hitting.
Vince then taught me to:
1. Counter his right lead hooks with my right cross immediately after I managed to block it crazy monkey style.
2. Throw more crosses and straights instead of wild haymakers.
3. Move away from the strong left hand when fighting a real Southpaw. At least make keep moving to make yourself a hard target.
Must make a mental note not to feel overly intimidated when fighting my instructor or any opponents perceived to be better than me. |
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It seems that the typical kumite stance works really well esp. when you put your hands up to cover your head and ribs. A bladed stance provide less targets for your opponent to hit and is much easier to defend against his strikes.
From this stance, you can counter-punch with fast jabs (oi tsuki) alternating between his head and ribs, or cross punch (gyaku tsuki) his head/chin when your opponent try to left hook you. Of course, you must provide a visible opening (in your right chest/head) to lure in his left hook. Once your opponent launch his left hook, quickly counter with your right cross. Boom! Counter-punched and KOed (hopefully).
Mix it up, mix it up! |
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Last Friday sparring and training was another eye-opener. Having incorporated some western boxing into our training with advance techniques as taught by Rodney King and Mark Hatmaker, we find them especially useful against a typical Shotokan sylist, esp. the hook punch. Called kagi tsuki in Karate, the hook punch is seldom taught in most Karate schools who prefer to focus on straight punches like oi tsuki, choku tsuki and gyaku tsuki.
This blends well with our Kissaki Kai approach of moving 45 degree into the opponent or quarter turn facing the opponent. It'll often open up a gap in the opponent's defense for you to throw in the hook. I need to polish up my hooks on the bags and ensure proper alignment of my elbows when I throw my hooks to generate enough power for a KO and to prevent injuring my elbows.
Next stop, combos and mixing it up! |
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