Best overall strategies for a short guy (5'7")

[dkm]

Say that a short guy is always facing taller opponents (or most of the time). Would you say that the best strategy is "hit and run". This applies for both boxing and thai boxing. I know for sure that you don't want to stay too far b/c I have caught lots of kicks to the head by staying too out of reach for me but not for the opponet.

[medic06]

Use angles to get inside , pound him with some short range stuff to the body. I'm tall, and that's what typically works on me

Just try not to get caught with anything when you come in. . . .

[Kyoshu]

Mate you call yourself short, I'm only 5'5"

You may find this thread handy:

http://www.defend.net/deluxeforums/showthread.php?t=12665

[silapathai]

wow!

I'm surprised no one here touched on this but you actually have an advantage when it comes to punching. It's much easier for a short guy to punch a taller opponent. When standing up it's hard to punch at downward angles with power. It's easier to throw overhands that can pack a lot of power. There is a type of overhand punch that comes to mind but it's kinda hard to explain how to execute on a forum. You work it into a combo usually but the punch alone is almost the person slipping down and forward while the punch comes looping over into the opponents face/chin/throat/etc. I've seen guys get knocked out by this exact punch. Some camps call this a scorpion punch(trained at one such camp), looping overhand, etc.
It is harder for a short guy to have the advantage in clinching if your opponent is a good clincher/kneer. I have seen some awesome short guys school some well known tall world champions at kneeing. This is an exception though; for the most part try to stay out of the clinch/knee range if your opponent is an allright clincher and has a obvious height advantage.
One other thing for short guys to do is work on your angle game a lot. Make your opponent chase you down so he/she gets tired but cutting angles continuously. This is more of a "kickboxing" strategy than a muay thai one and I'm more of a muay thai guy but have been learning more kickboxing strategy over the last few years. Throw a simple 1, 2 punch than low kick combo than cut the angle to the left or right than throw a head kick or whatever..than keep cutting the corner immediately after you throw any combo. If you get good at this your opponent has to eventually chase you down to close the gap...
Don't do a lot of bobbing and weaving if you're sparring/fighting a taller opponent. You'll probably end up getting tagged with a body kick or a knee right to the head if you do this a lot. I wouldn't suggest too many people do a lot of bobbing/weaving when kickboxing/muay thai but some people are able to make it work but not many. A little over a month ago here in Seattle I witnessed a friend of mine who was defending his amature north american title for the 4th or 5th time in muay thai and he tried to bob and slip forward low when his opponent was throwing a body kick and ended up taking it right on the chin. Was one of the worst ko's I've seen...He recently just fought on a master toddy promo for his pro debut and won by tko...

[Shaolinkfman]

Yea I don't do any type of kickboxing but I am 6'5" and do a lot of full contact sparring and here is my two cents. Tall people like me tend to over commit some of the kicks they do and will try to use there range too much by getting back even farther then they can kick and then shooting in with a big front kick or roundhouse followed by some sort of combonation punches. One trick is to wait for that big kick and sidestep it and give some good jabs or if he's open enough a good strong uppercut to the face. Another startegy which tall people like to use but you could use also is to keep kicking them in the thighs and try to outlast them. I have seen tall dutch fighters use this strategy on people who are bigger than them and it seems to work pretty good because if a tall person isnt very mobile the short guy can get in and punch him to death. And watch which leg is his powerhouse because tall people usually will favor one leg to another. It will make it easier in later rounds if you do this strategy but you could get really beat in the early ones so watch out and don't get knocked out.