Quote Originally Posted by Fran@myboxingcoach View Post
...When considering movement, especially how far we should move, we need to really consider the implications of being in-range or out of range (at it's most simple). I like to think about boxers as operating 'on the edge of range'. It strikes me that all of the top guys hold an inate understanding of where they are in relation to their opponent....to the millimetre! Herb is exactly right to establish the understanding of not moving too far. The reason that I say this is that the difference of being in range and being out of range is inches, maybe the width of a fist is a useful gauge.
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Since reading the above I have been thinking about it quite a bit.

I would love to see your expand on this topic, Fran.

If there is anything you can do for a video it would make a great addition to your MyBoxingCoach.com videos since I don't believe there is much -- certainly NOT ENOUGH -- discussion of this elsewhere.

Practically no book nor any video that I have seen goes into this topic.

I am also a student of AMOK! which is primarily centered on knife defense and knife fighting, and this is perhaps THE CRITICAL distinction when facing a knife -- even in AMOK! there could be more discussion and practice for moving so as to move in an out of range.

Tom Sotis (the developer of AMOK!) makes the following assertions:

  1. You cannot be invincible
  2. You can achieve TEMPORARY INVINCIBILITY
The idea -- as I understand it -- is to achieve a combination of body positions, mutual positions, distance, based on the skills of the combatants so that you are temporarily safe.

There is no way to STAY safe like this except by constantly moving and changing these relationships so as to find NEW positions of safety.

IF a fighter can move into range, get hits, and get out of range (or into a positions from which the other fighter cannot strike back) then victory is certainly achievable and may even be highly predictable.

In knife work you literally live or die by such concerns of distance.

My main style of knife fighting it to arrange it so that my opponent LITERALLY cannot touch/hit/cut me in one beat, but where as soon as he moves I can cut him.

There is a lot of overlap between the knife (held in the front hand) and the jab in boxing -- this was a big part of my decision to take up boxing since we don't have an AMOK! group here locally.

In knife defense you MUST NOT "trade blows" you must instead endeavor to hit your opponent without getting hit yourself.

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HerbM