Fighting On The Inside With Teddy Atlas

Most fighters when it comes to striking tend to excel in one range. While there are a ton of different ranges that a striker can work out of, most of the time fighters are classified into two types. These two classifications are inside and outside fighters.

While all inside fighters do not fight at the same range, just like outside fighters, these are generally the two different camps that strikers tend to fall into. While it is worthwhile to train both styles of fighting to make sure that you are ready for any situation that might arise, it is still recommended that you stick with a style and perfect it. This way you can have the best version of your style of fighting instead of trying to be a jack of all trades kind of fighter.

In this video, Teddy Atlas goes over some fundamentals for inside fighting. Teddy Atlas is a legendary boxing coach and commentator, who has worked with the likes of Timothy Bradley and Michael Moorer.

The video goes over some of the coaching tips that Atlas gives to his fighters that he believes will do their best work with an inside fighting style. This is usually fighters who are shorter with less reach but who are also usually more powerful and explosive. 

Like with any good tutorial on inside fighting, this video starts off with Teddy Atlas talking about getting in the right range for your style. For most inside fighters, they believe that the only way to get inside is by moving towards their opponent. 

This is a good approach for the most part, especially when fighters work their way in behind their jab. This way you are working yourself inside safely, while providing pressure on your opponent. The problem is that you can still get stung with a good counter punch on your way in if your opponent has the skill. 

Atlas says that he always talks about having the inside fighter let his opponent come to him. This might sound counterintuitive, as you would think that an outside fighter has no need to go to the inside. While this might be the case for less educated fighters, a smart inside fighter can force the fight into his range in both ways. 

This involves making the taller fighter fight as if they are a shorter fighter with less reach. The simplest way to do this is by making your opponent miss by slipping them. From there you can get into your range and start putting in some work. Make sure that you are alert while you're doing this. Even after jabbing in, stay ready for any counter shots. 

Once you are on the inside, you need to be very aware of both defense and offense. In terms of defense, this means keeping everything tight and keeping your head protected. When it comes to offense, this means having your shoulders and hips do all the movement to generate the power. That means no stepping with your punches, as getting any closer risks jamming them and taking away any power you could generate. 

Another key thing to note in terms of defense is something that Teddy makes a special note to point out. This is making sure that your head is never in the middle. This means that you need to bend with your hips and knees to one side. 

If you are attacking the left side of your opponent, and want to attack the right, instead of just moving your head over to the right, you need to weave in that direction and vice versa. This way you remain elusive and you keep your head out of the middle. 

Something you can do to help keep you elusive and help generate more power is to simply drop. Atlas calls this using the cubby hole or the fox hole. To do this simply bend at your knees and squat. This will help you generate power when you come back up, as well as help dodge any strikes coming at you at that moment. 

BUY NOW