I once heard, and used to believe, that an aggressive style of sparring, where you are consistently on the offense and going forward is the most effective way to spar and that these types of fighters are the most dangerous. But as I have learned to adjust to many different types of fighters over the years, I no longer think that way, at least for me. In my experience, the most dangerous type of stand-up fighters is the one who is an effective counter-striker. This type of fighter typically has excellent timing and waits for his opponent to make an offensive mistake (often via telegraphing) before counter-striking.
Counter fighters don’t waste a lot of energy chasing their opponents around the ring, but to think that they don’t at least occasionally go on an offensive blitz, perhaps leading to a knockout is untrue. If fighting full contact, a good counter striker that hits his opponent with a hard counterstrike will often go “all-out” to finish the fight if he senses that his opponent is in trouble.
So how should one deal with a good counter-fighter? First, we have to remember to change things up. If we are consistently throwing the same combination together that typically works for us against lesser skilled opponents, the counter fighter is going to read that and be all over us. Note, however, that that doesn’t mean we need to try movements that we don’t typically use. Muhammad Ali basically only used his left jab and right cross when he fought but his opponents rarely knew when he was going to throw them. Second, I recommend the use of feints. A feint is a false lead used to deceive an opponent into thinking a particular attack is coming, when in reality, you are planning something different. The goal of a fake is to get your opponent to commit himself (which is a good thing when fighting a counter fighter) so that his timing is off. If you can make his counterstrike ineffective, you should be able to land some big blows as you go on the offense.
Good luck, and again, let me know how it works!
