The bottom line was,

he had
no idea of how to do a 'square go' (a match fight)
I often teach people, as a pre-cursory action trigger to preemptiveness,
to ask their assailants a question to engage their
brain. The question can be relative to what is happening or
abstract, 'Is your mum's name Elsie?' or 'How's your mother/
family/brother, these days?' Many of my students have found
this effective. An excellent by-product of this is, the potential
attacker doesn't realise that it is an engaging ploy and often
thinks his chosen victim has recognised him, and really does
know his mother/brother/sister. Again they often beat a hasty
retreat before attack.