The “Fire In The Hole” Method With Teddy Atlas
Inside fighting is one of the most exciting areas in boxing, it is also called the pocket where both fighters can hit each other without managing the distance, and sometimes it looks like a brawl, but there is a science behind it.
Most people categorize inside fighting as a method for short people only, but that is not true as it is all about positioning. Although we do not manage the distance, we manage our position and orientation according to our opponent.
The problem many athletes have on the inside is that they feel like they are gambling, and for every punch they land, they get hit with one by return, which is why many people call this position the 50-50 position.
But let’s look at some examples from the best boxers who ever lived - Mike Tyson was an inside fighter, did his record show that he had only a 50% chance of winning? What about Roberto Duran? Did he lose half of his matches?
As we can see, inside fighting is a system that could work consistently if the fighter knows what he is doing; a lot of fighters are entering the pocket without knowing how to work there, and this gives the method a bad reputation.
So when we are fighting on the inside, let’s work smart, keep our eyes open, changing positions, keeping our guard tight, and catching our opponent where he is open; in addition to that, we always want to move our head off-center so he cannot catch me in between my hands. Working with those guidelines we will easily reduce the risks that make this area dangerous, and brawls will turn into technical battles.
In this video, Teddy Atlas will show us one of his inside fighting methods he calls “fire in the hole.”
Who Is Teddy Atlas
Teddy Atlas is one of the best coaches in boxing and has coached legendary boxers like Mike Tyson and other great champions. Teddy has a close relationship with boxing for the past 40 years, as this is all he has been doing . Today Teddy is still a trainer but is also known as a commentator and public figure in boxing.
Applying The “Fire In The Hole”
The video starts with Teddy introducing us to one of his methods of inside fighting called “Fire in the hole”,the method begins with a simple rule that goes like this “keep your defense tight and shorten up your punches”.
But more than that, another essential skill we need to develop inside close quarters is to stay calm and composed, this allows us to see everything and not panic In the pocket.
The problem with panicking in close-quarter is that when we are inside the “eye of the storm” panicking can make us go into danger instead of out and away, so we should make the pocket a calm place.
So what is the “Fire In The Hole” concept? When we are in the pocket relaxed and composed with our defense tight, we watch our opponent and we can notice that when he throw his punches sometimes he will open his hand to punch in a wide arc, in doing that he creates an opening where we can land a short punch before he can even get me.
Those openings are there quite a lot when we are inside, fighters will throw wide strikes at you, and if you are relaxed and able to see, you can catch them right at the opening with the method we learned - “Fire In The Hole”.
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