Fight analysis: WKF National Championships '12 Lukas P., Full Contact, Fight #2

After defeating Jakob in the semi-finals of this years WKF national chmapionships in full contact kickboxing, I went on to face Andreas K. from the Fight Club Graz for a 3 round bout.You can find Andreas on his club's website.

Overview

Point-wise, I dominated that fight from the beginning. Andreas is a good boxer, but I just had an advantage whein it comes to kicking. Scored a lot with high kicks and follow-up strikes. Didn't look too bad when it came to boxing, either. But then this guy was tough as coffin nails. No matter what I did, Andreas just wouldn't go down. More than that, I never was under the impression that any of my blows had any effect on him. Well, maybe that's not entirely true - in the third round, I hammered him with a roundhouse to the body that had him fight for balance for a moment. Still, it did nothing to actually stop him. Made me think of a zombie. Anyhow, in the third round, Andy's tenacity won the day. When I was throwing a right overhead, he slipped it and countered me with a right hook. Instantly sent me to the canvas. I really believe that was a lucky punch. Doesn't matter - lucky or not, that's how you throw a punch. The whole thing was my fault as i just didn't stick to the gameplan. More on that issue later.

Some details

Let's take a brief look at what worked well and what didn't. First off, I have to say I'm pretty satisfied with my kick-to-hit ratio. With that I mean that a lot of my kicks actually hit home. What I'm not satisfied with - obviously - was my kicking power. A kick to the head should have an effect. If it doesn't, something went wrong. Apparently, a lot went wrong for me in that fight.

Looking at my kicks in another context, I have to say that I'm not totally satisfied with my gameplan (or more precisely - my implementation of an otherwise sound gameplan). I did a good job mixing things up and alternating strikes with kicks. The combination I'm particularly proud of was something like lead uppercut - cross - lead roundhouse to the head - turning kick to the head. Now if you've paid some attention, you might have realized the flaw in that combination. Although the mix of strikes and kicks was good, all attacks were aimed at the head. I'll have to put some work into switiching between attack heights more. For example, it would probably have been better to throw that lead uppercut, cross combination, then follow up with kicks to the body. Get the guard to head level, then attack the body. That's pretty much combination 101. Still, I failed to do it right. Then again, that's how you learn and improve:

1. Fail
2. Analyze
3. Make adaptations based on your analysis
4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 until success is reached

Next time, I'll do a better job. Another thing that I failed in was sticking to the gameplan. Thomas, my coach, told me after the second round that I'm the clear favorite. I scored so many points in the first two rounds, there was no way Andreas could turn the tables in that final round. Turned out he could. Anyhow, given my clear advantage when it came to points, Thomas told me to out-step Andreas and let him chase me for about a round before I go to work for the grand finale. However, I chose to go for the knockout - and ultimately paid the price for my cockiness. Again, following coaching instructions is an area of my game I need to improve

Up until now, I've mostly concentrated on analyzing my kicks. That's because it was those very kicks that worked best for me in that fight. However, I do believe I boxed pretty well, too. Threw some sharp combinations and made good use of the double guard most of the time. Again, things got worse when I got over-confident. When I had Andreas cornered and started hammering him with body shots, I sometimes lowered my guard. Definately something I need to fix before stepping into the ring again. Considering how much I've improved my boxing game, that's the least of my issues, though.

Closing thougts

All in all, I'm obviously not 100% happy with the fight, especially the outcome. Still, I gave everything, so I didn't have anything left to lose anyway. I faced a skilled, experienced opponent and clearly dominated for two rounds. That's a good thing. Also, this was probably my best full-contact fight so far. A long way lies before me, but then it seems as if I had covered quite some distance already. Feel free to watch the film and judge for yourself.



As always, comments are welcome.

So long,

take care