Boxing is a lot more than simply trading blows with an opponent. It’s a sweet science that often breaks down into a chess match where the fighter who’s better at imposing their will over the other often emerges victorious.
Boxers typically walk inside the ring with an idea of what style and tactics they intend to use as well as their opponent.
There are countless boxing styles out there, and there’s no one stopping you from developing your unique style if you wish. Some of the more popular styles used in boxing include the boxer-puncher, counterpuncher, out-fighter, brawler, and swarmer. This article will focus on the swarmer style to give you an understanding of how it works so you can figure out if it’s the right style for you.
Understanding The Swarmer Boxing Style
The swarmer is one of the most common boxing styles out there and it can help to get past physical limitations like speed and reach. The style involves making lots of contact with your opponent by throwing lots of punches. This makes it an extremely effective style for amateur boxing where most fights are decided by points and knockdowns and knockouts are rare.
Also referred to as the close-in fighter or pressure fighter, the swarmer style requires you to get close to your opponent and unload barrages of punches. These punches don’t particularly have to be hard, since throwing as many blows as possible in the shortest amount of time is the goal of the swarmer style.
Swarmer-style fighters also tend to mix their punches up pretty well to avoid being predictable so they have an easier time getting past their opponent’s defense.
Becoming great at the swarmer boxing style requires you to have good footwork so you can keep constant pressure on opponents. Having poor footwork makes it easier for your opponents to circle away from your punches. Good footwork makes it easier to cut off the ring in either direction and allows you to step back to avoid counters.
Good footwork and endurance are necessary to be effective with the swarmer style since it involves moving inside so you can unload a flurry of blows on your opponent, stepping back to avoid counters, and repeating the process over and over again.
Close-in fighters should also be comfortable fighting inside the clinch since that’s one of the tools opponents will use to try and slow down their flow. Savvy boxers often clinch to interrupt their opponent’s timing, slow down their pace, prevent combinations, and move them inside the ring.
Swarmer-style boxers should be effective at preventing opponents from clinching up with them, as well as knowing how to fight out of them so they can get back to unloading punches.
Reasons To Use The Swarmer Boxing Style
Some of the reasons some boxers opt to use the swarmer style include:
1) To Neutralize Height And Reach Advantages
Shorter boxers often use a swarming-style approach when dealing with longer fighters to negate their advantage and force them to fight inside. Taller boxers often prefer to keep opponents at outside range so they can pick them apart with their range weapons like the jab and cross.
A swarming approach prevents a taller boxer from being able to implement their game plan. Many boxers who spend most of their time fighting at the outside range aren’t as effective when forced to fight inside.
2) To Control The Pace Of A Fight
The swarmer approach is all about creating openings to land your best punches instead of waiting for them to open up as a counterpuncher would do.
The aggression that swarmer boxers bring into a fight often leads to their opponents being reactive because of the large volume of punches being thrown their way. The pressure from the swarmer often forces their opponent to stay on the defensive, which prevents them from carrying out their planned strategy while making it almost impossible for them to find their rhythm.
Close-in fighters also use the clinch to control the pace of their fights. It’s an effective tool for altering a fighter’s position and to break their rhythm when they find some success.
3) To Overwhelm Defensive And Outside Boxers
The swarmer style is an effective way to overwhelm boxers who like to counterpunch or fight outside range. Setting up counters can be quite the challenge when you’re constantly having to defend against flurries of punches being thrown at you. Likewise, a swarmer can close the distance against an outside fighter by bombarding them with strikes as they cut off the ring as explained in the same video above by Coach Daron at 2:58s.
Countering The Swarmer Style
Some of the ways you can counter fighters who use the swarmer boxing style include:
1) Use The Brawler Style
The most straightforward way to counter the swarmer style is to use a brawler-style against it. The brawler style is based on using your durability and power to defeat opponents. As is the case with a swarmer, a brawler prefers to fight on the inside.
This makes the brawler style ideal for dealing with swarmer-style boxers since the latter has to close the distance to implement their game plan. The brawler simply needs to allow their opponents to get close, weather the storm, and counter with power punches.
While brawling against a swarmer is a straightforward approach to defeating the style, you’ll need to be well-versed in using the brawler style to make it effective.
2) Slow Your Opponent Down With The Clinch
Clinching can help to break a swarmer boxer’s rhythm and prevent them from gaining favorable positions inside the ring. Remember to keep your center of gravity low when clinched up so you can resist your opponent’s attempts to push you into a corner.
You should also make your opponent carry your weight when you’re in the clinch. Remember what we said about needing lots of stamina to be effective at using the swarmer style earlier? Making your opponent carry your weight can help to wear opponents out when they’re using a high-tempo style.
3) Keep Them On The Outside With Your Footwork And Speed
An argument can be made that excellent footwork and fast counters are the optimal way to defeat the swarmer style. That’s pretty much what most of Floyd Mayweather’s opponents tried to do against him and none were successful.
Use your footwork to keep the swarmer at the range you want them in while landing fast, hard punches whenever they close the distance. Your defense has to be top-notch if you want to go this route.
Experiment With Different Styles While You Train
The best boxers in the world are comfortable fighting out of many styles and they often switch things up based on the challenges each opponent presents. Experiment with all the different styles and try to master at least two of them.
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