Fighting a counter fighter

When olympic sparring a counter fighter, one who allows you to make the first move and then counters, what tactics do you use?

keep attacking?
don't let him have a chance

To keep attacking a good counter fighter sounds like a good idea but there has to be more nuance to it than that. Effective agression scores points. However, counter fighting (usually when you're ahead in points) is designed to nuetaralize the effectiveness. Ineffective agression spends lots of energy and creates openings that a good counter fighter should exploit. This is pretty much the same in many fighting sports such as boxing, wrestling and judo; once the competitor has established a lead (s)he becomes defensive to save energy and to frustrate the opponent. Frustration and fatigue when coupled with agression create openings. This same combination when pressing a good counter fighter also runs the risk of walking right into something heavy.

Learn how to counterfight. Then, don't do what he wants you to do. Oversimplification, of course, but at the moment, I would suggest letting HIM throw the first attack. Wait him out.

Hi.

Essentially, I agree with all that has been said, but..

I have found that when I fight a "Counter-Fighter" in a Tournament situation, that it is not always best to wait for him to attack as whilst I am waiting, the clock is ticking.
I find it best to take the initiative and dictate the Tempo of the fight. Once I have pegged him as a counter-fighter, I would begin using fast combinations (using a mix of linear and circular attacks) to try and keep him on his back foot. Then start similar attacks, attempting to "draw" out his counterattacks, with a view to blocking his counter with a "Stop-Kick". The idea is to make him lose confidence in his fighting style, then the fun starts.

"Tao of JeetKuneDo" (Book) has some good sections of fighting a Counter-Fighter, as does "Advanced Kick Boxing" by Pat OKeefe.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by GriffyGriff:
Hi.

Essentially, I agree with all that has been said, but..

I have found that when I fight a "Counter-Fighter" in a Tournament situation, that it is not always best to wait for him to attack as whilst I am waiting, the clock is ticking.
I find it best to take the initiative and dictate the Tempo of the fight. Once I have pegged him as a counter-fighter, I would begin using fast combinations (using a mix of linear and circular attacks) to try and keep him on his back foot. Then start similar attacks, attempting to "draw" out his counterattacks, with a view to blocking his counter with a "Stop-Kick". The idea is to make him lose confidence in his fighting style, then the fun starts.

"Tao of JeetKuneDo" (Book) has some good sections of fighting a Counter-Fighter, as does "Advanced Kick Boxing" by Pat OKeefe.[/QUOTE]

Alright, I'll give you that. I would still recommend learning a bit about counterfighting though. It would make your job much easier.

I would suggest that you take the counter away by using skipping kicks that push the defender back too far to effectively counter. Then follow the skips with quick repetitions to score two or three points to their one counter. Point for point isn't going to win the match - you have to make sure that you are doubling up on points. Counter fighters aren't generally high scorers in my experience.

Patience is Key Point in ANY fight!
iam a counter fighter sparring player. and Patience is my key. A smart fighter would want to check, fake of any kind, or even detect the moves he/she will do. for example, he looks like he is going to do a spainning hook kick when you come in with your round house, i dont know about you, but expert fighters can detect another upcmoming moves. well in that case, you give him the chance and be aware, you can do alot of stuff. just dont BE FOOLISH AND WALK INTO A EXPLODING TRAP!