The fighter who controls distance controls the fight. This is true both in long and short range fighting. The difficult part about fighting at short range is moving in and achieving the superior position. Distance should generally be closed when your opponent experiences a moment of weakness. Although long arms and legs are advantageous in kickboxing, your long reach is only as good as you are at using it. You can exploit the strength of your opponent's longer reach by developing superior short range fighting techniques. When you move from the out-fighting zone to the in-fighting zone, you are very close to your opponent and many long range techniques are no longer effective. Once you get past your opponent's long range techniques, you have taken from him many of his weapons. The purpose of working your way to short range is to throw powerful short range techniques, so once there, you must make an effort to stay there until something decisive happens; until you knock out your opponent or choose to move back to long range for some other reason. Kickboxing: From Initiation To Knockout comprises a series of short books with focus on learning specific techniques and strategies for the exciting sport of competition kickboxing. With plenty of pictures, each book breaks the material down into bite-size pieces that allow you to practice to perfection. The material in this book previously appeared in Complete Kickboxing, now out of print, and is great for straight boxing, too.
