Closing distance with a much taller oponent

I was at a camp in Thailand during the summer and our trainers and the Pro we got to spar with closed the distance between us and them effortlessly despite the sometimes huge height/reach difference e.g 6′ 5/199 cm Farang v 5′ 5/165cm Thai Pro

I sparred my friend recently who is about 6″/15cm taller and i’ve always struggled to close the distance without taking a few shots. To be clear i’ve trained for 25+ years and know of and train in the various methods such as footwork, timing, fients, counters to close the gap just wondering if there is anyone out there that has an approach i’ve not heard of before