Hi there, I'm Mike Gales for fight your way fit. In this video, we're going to
take a look at some advanced sparring tactics. We're gonna learn how to
fight like a pressure fighter. What is a pressure fighter? If you google
pressure definition, you're gonna get that pressure is a continuous force
exerted against an object, or the use of persuasion influence or intimidation to
make someone do something. That's exactly what pressure
fighters like Joe Frazier, Julio Cesar Chavez or the definition of a pressure
fighter, Roberto Duran do. They apply continuous pressure, and they force or
influence a fighter, to fight in a way that they may not wish to fight.
Today I travel to Saint Clet Quebec, to "Club de box Lafreniere".
I will spar 10 rounds with former Canadian and NABO middleweight champion, Francis Lafrniere.
He is in a training camp for an upcoming fight. I'll leave a link
to his Facebook fan page below. Francis s known as
" the people's champ" because he'll fight anyone, anywhere and he is never ever in
a dull fight. He's a quintessential pressure fighter,
who takes it right to his opponents. Like many pressure fighters,
he's had a couple of controversial losses early in his career, with 4
round fights. But once you start going 10 and 12 rounds, this style of
pressure fighting can really break down even the most skilled of opponents.
Francis has been ranked in the top 15 by the IBF and in the top 10 by the WBO, so
he's a world-class pressure fighter. He's also a great guy to help me out
with this tutorial video. It's the end of a training camp for a fight and I've
asked him to save me a sparring day, so I can do this tutorial for you guys.
We're gonna go all-out for 10 rounds but with only 30 second rest in between
rounds. That's only a 30 second break, so that way come fight night, he's gonna
have no trouble catching his wind in between rounds with those longer rest
periods. I'm gonna take a deep breath and I will need it, because
doing 10 rounds with short breaks with a world-class pressure fighter, is gonna be
really tough. Here we go. As you can see, there's no feeling
out process. He starts off fast and furious to dictate the pace. He goes
right to work. Francis Lareniere is a pressure fighter and he has a game
plan. A big part of that game plan is to control the pace and the tempo of the
fight. He's making me fight the way that he wants me to.
That's at a pace that is much faster than I would normally like.
At my age of 42, I'm happy to throw 30 or maybe 40 punches per round. He's probably
throwing double and some rounds probably triple that number. His punch output
is very very high. It's not necessarily that he's gonna be hitting
me with that high volume of punches, the game plan is that I'm definitely gonna
have to react to each and every one of those punches. That is the key.
It's not only getting hit but it's consistently having to move and react
that's going to be really tough. One thing you must note is that pressure
fighters actually have a good jab. Yet they use it differently. It's not the
type of jab, like that of an Ali, that looks super crisp and snaps your head
back and scores a bunch of points. The jab of a pressure fighter is quick
and short. It's used to close the distance and to get inside.
Once inside, that's where they're gonna put in some work. It's an annoying type of jab
that is just always in your face. Yet it keeps you off-balance and continuously
gives you something to think about. Once he uses that jab to get into close range,
that's where pressure fighters really begin to work. He just keeps that pace so
high. He mixes up his punches both to the head and to the body. Again he has
set a consistently high work rate, which is gonna really start to take its toll
as the rounds go on.
A pressure fighter, more often than not, immediately takes control of the center
of the Ring. By doing that, he's ensuring that he's
using math in his favor. By staying in the center, like Francis is
doing, he's using one pivot to angle himself towards me. To adjust,
I need to use 3 or 4 steps to circle at a wider circumference, to stay
away from him. All of those extra steps add up over the rounds. Once he
has that center of the ring. he continuously cuts the ring off and
forces me to either against the ropes or into a corner. There I'm going to
have limited mobility and he begins once again to really go to work.
It's also psychological warfare, as for I feel he's imposing his will.
He won't give up the center of the Ring easily once he has it. You constantly
feel penned in and claustrophobic. Most fighters don't like being trapped
or pinned up against the ropes or into a corner. There's definitely a method to
this madness. That's gonna become more and more apparent as these rounds
wear on. It's not only a high volume of punches that Francis will use to apply
pressure, it's also a head and shoulder movement and his footwork.
He also feints. Even though he's not punching, he looks like he's about to punch or he's
invading my personal space, so I feel uncomfortable. That's forcing me to
move, which I don't really want to do. That's the beauty of what he's doing.
He's mentally forcing me to make all of these extra movements that I shouldn't
be making. That's all going to add up as we head down the road. That's why
pressure fighters may lose some fights early on in their career. The 4 to 6 round
fights. It's not apparent as to what is transpiring.
Perhaps an opponent can keep running or pumping out the jab and win some of the
early rounds. Yet you can't run forever. Extrapolate all of that extra
movement over 10 to 12 rounds, and many of the fighters that have won
a decision over a pressure fight in a 4 round fight, would probably get
knocked out if it was a 12-round fight. As they would begin to feel the
accumulating effects of this pressure fighting style. Once he's in range, he
often throws his punches and as soon as he finishes throwing, he falls in forward
to smother my return shots. You're gonna see this over and over again. Like
right here, he's putting his head right up against my lead shoulder. No,
he's not resting. Trust me he's not resting at all. He's trapping my lead arm
and keeping me squared up, so that I can't fight back with any real authority.
Right there, he's gonna continue to pound away. If I were a southpaw, then
he would pin me to the other side. This style of boxing is not pretty, as there's
a lot happening in close here. Yet it's oh so effective! You're gonna see
this time and time again. He gets within range and he throws the
shots that he wants to throw. Then again, strategically yes strategically, he
falls into trap my lead arm and stop my shots.
He's used to fighting in close range like this and he's comfortable
here with all these little short range shots. It always comes back down to the
fact that he's making me fight his fight. He loves to fight in close like this.
He's so experienced at controlling his opponents on the inside. I can't get
a chance to breathe, let alone get my balance or throw any meaningful shots.
He's just always so close, that I can't really throw anything. He's just always
right there in my face. He's also leaning on me, keeping me
squared up and on my heels. That's also sapping my energy. It also makes
it very difficult to throw rear uppercut, which in this situation, is the shot I'd
like to throw. Yet because he's leaning on me, I just can't get the right
leverage. He again keeps his head in close, over my lean shoulder.
He's basically using my only shoulder for defense against my own punches. He's
also simultaneously walked me back to the ropes or to the corner. He's even
using his head and shoulder to swing me or steer me where he wants me to go. It's
pretty clever. You'll notice that once he uses his jab to get within range, he lets
his hands go with combinations. he's throwing 2, 3, 4, 5 and
sometimes even 6 punches in succession. He's also not loading up with a
100% power with every shot. He varies the intensity. Some are a little
bit harder and others are not all that powerful. Yet I have to react to all of
them. Why? Because I can't tell from this close range, which ones are going to be
light and which ones are gonna knock my head off. It's forcing me again to
continuously have to react to all of these punches, which I'm telling you, is
draining. Talking about draining, he's also really putting in some work to the
body. All great pressure fighters have a good body attack. It's part of their
overall strategy. They're in it for the long haul as these guys fight at a high
pace. Yet they're also simultaneously doing everything that they can so that
you can't keep that pace up. Maybe not after 1 or 2
but after dozens of body shots, you're not gonna feel all that energetic in the
later rounds. Going to the body early, is like putting money into the
bank. It's all going to add up very soon, with interest. It's very difficult
to box a guy like Francis because he's so skilled at keeping the fight where he
wants it. He's able to control the range with his feints, his jab and his footwork.
He can stay within range because he has really good defense. He's great at
blocking punches and he's skilled at slipping punches in that close range.
He's masterful at pinning his head up against my shoulders, so I can't
really hit him back in return. It's very difficult to get him out of
there. Once again, these pressure fighters have a skill set that makes you
fight their type of boxing match. You may not be accustomed to fighting like
that, Yet I promise you that they are! Another attribute of a pro pressure
fighter, like Francis Lafreniere is that they have great chins. They know
that they can take a punch. They're not afraid of stepping into
range and potentially getting hit. They really do have grace under fire. Even
when I hit him with solid shots, he doesn't react. He doesn't get mad or
instantly try to retaliate. He stays composed. When I hit him, it's no big
deal. He just goes right back to work.
He doesn't get rattled. He just sticks to the gameplan of wearing you down. As the
rounds wear on, it's apparent that he's a great pressure fighter. This sparring
session is going exactly how he wanted to go.Here's a great example. When I
feel like I'm ready to trade and really throw some hard shots, he senses it.
He disengages. It's like killing a changeup in baseball. Now I'm chasing
him. I'm chasing him! Okay, good. Then all of a sudden, he stops
and he traps me, as I walked right into a combination. That's because he
switches up the cadence. He's usually but not always coming
forward. Your brain gets used to that. Then all of a sudden, he mixes it up.
He also mixes up the speed of his punches. That makes it very difficult to
deal with. I'm telling you, most sparring sessions
have a certain rhythm. You hit me and I hit you. You hit me and I hit you. Yet with
Francis, it throws you for a loop. The timing is different. It's like I want
to hit you and then you hit me. Then you hit me and then you hit me again.
When I want to go hit you back, you're either smothering my shots up
close or you're gone.
Top professional fighters have a game plan. The best fighters have the
ability to alter that plan if necessary. They also have the discipline to stay
the course, if the plan is working. No matter what I do, this guy just
doesn't relent. He sticks to the plan. He keeps applying the pressure. In fact,
over the past few rounds, he's picking up the pace and trying to get me to run out
of gas and die out. The thing with a pressure fighter, is that they're right
there in your face. So guess what? You have to react, because if you're not
punching him, which is draining your energy and getting you very tired, well
then he's punching you! Either way, you're getting into deep
trouble in these later rounds. Finally here we are round 10. That was with
only 30 second breaks. His game plan is really starting to pan out.
My shoulders are extremely tired and my legs are getting exhausted and they
don't easily want to move. My energy level is sapped. If this was a video
game, you would see my health meter getting completely drained. My punches
are now in slow motion. I'm missing many of them. My hands no longer want to
stay up nice and high. I'm breathing in nothing but hot air,
There's only one big problem. That is that he's used to this! He's
not tired! Now he's picking up the pace and trying to close the show. In this
10th round he still keeps such a high pace. he's still able to keep throwing punch after
punch. That's because of all the small things that he's done. He's used his jab.
He's worked the body. He's used feints. Basically for all the rounds, he's kept
up a high pace and continue to apply the pressure.
Now all that finally adds up and it breaks down the opponent. You may
be watching this and asking, if he is a good pressure fighter, then why am i at
42, not getting knocked out or knocked down? The main reason is that I'm so
much heavier. I'm 200 pounds and he's a middle weight.
Trust me, if I was lighter, I'd be in big trouble. At this
point, I am still tired and I can definitely tell you that boxing a pressure
fighter of this caliber is never fun. No matter what, you're not going to look
good. Even if you do win by decision, well it's gonna be very tough on you and
on your body. You're definitely gonna pay a price. You will
definitely feel it tomorrow. Once again, I just want to thank Francis Lafreniere,
for helping out with this little tutorial. Not many Pro fighters
allow people to record their sparring sessions and then post them on YouTube.
Aside from being "the People's Champ" and a great pressure fighter, he's also a great
guy. After these 10 rounds what makes him a good pressure fighter? First
and foremost he's in phenomenal shape. He can even go 12 rounds at such a
high pace. He has a very high punch output and a lot of those punches are
thrown from him close. He also has a really good jab and he uses that jab to
close the distance. He has both a good chin and good defense. He's also good at
cutting off the ring and forcing his opponent into the ropes. He punches in
combinations and puts in a lot of work to the body. Most importantly,
pressure fighters are mentally tough and they win a battle of attrition.
They know that they have the heart and the stamina to go to the distance.
They're just relentless. If you're in there with a pressure fighter, you're
definitely gonna get those things tested! If you guys like these videos, I'll try
and do more of them, as different fighters ,with different fighting styles
will enter training camps. I'll see if I could bug them for some sparring.
til then this has been Mike Gales for fight your way fit. If you like these
videos then please click the like button or subscribe, as I'm constantly posting
up great tips and new ideas and they're all meant to get you into the absolute
greatest shape possible.