I am a firm believer that out of all the MA / combat sports boxers have the most powerful destructive punch. However I understand that when going bare knuckle it is better to jab with a vertical fist, hook with the vertical first and cross with the vertical fist in order to protect the hand / wrist from breakage. How many of you boxers believe that the vertical fist does in fact protect the hand and still gives a good powerful punch. I asking from a bare knuckle with no handwrap point of view.
No it has more to do with a tight hand and proper contact point no mater how you have your hand. Also a vertical fist when throwing a hook turns into a slapping punch a lot of the time.
Vertical Fist The best way i can describe it is if you were to hold both hands out the palms would be facing each other as opposed to facing the ground. For the hook vertical fist the palm is facing you.
Well that is apparently THE way to do the hook. After my problems with my left hook i had after a few little things altered etc and now its probably my most devastating punch.
for me, the further out my fist is the more vertical it is. for long looping hooks my fist is completely vertical.
When hooking to the body I tend to hold the hook with the palm of my hand facing into my body. Yet when I hook to the head I always throw the hook with the palm facing downwards. I find holding the hand facing into the body when hooking to the opponents body adds to the stability of my wrists. How do others hook to different body hights????
ive always hooked with my palm facing my face, never tried it teh other way, will try it next time and see what i prefer, tho i can tell you now that i will stick with the palm facign me for hoos to the body.
Good question. I'm currently reading up on Irish bareknuckle boxing - which of course has to do with all the travellers, pikee's, gypo's etc. So that includes the Irish, the Enlgish, The Romany, The Welsh etc. It got a good history section on pre-Marques of Queensberry boxing. For those of you living in the Ireland, Wales and the UK - you'll probably know some of the areas talked about. One has to take the tales of travellers with a grain of salt - but I haven't ever really seen much of this particular subject in print so when a mate of mine from Doublin brought it back I borrowed it right off. There are several DVD's available in the UK of pikee's goin' toe to toe. It's fairly rough stuff - down some country lane by the headlights of a car.. "Get' 'em Jimmy, get him!!" lol. I'm only the second chapter in so if has anything on punching without gloves and the technique I'll post it. For anyone interested in the book check it out: Title: King of the Gypsies - Memoirs of the Undefeated Bareknuckle Champion of Great Britain and Ireland Author: Bartley Gorman with Peter Walsh ISBN#: 1-9038-54164 Publisher: MILO
As for me hooks... I hook with the palm facing me, my body or my face. So I guess that'd be the vertical type. As others have posted it seems that trying to do 'shovel hooks' to the body like the kidneys or the floating rib would be less than ideal if you had your hand in a horizontal position. Seems to me many many boxers/fighters I've seen throw them with vertical fists (if that means the palm is facing the thrower as he fires one) - if you watch some bouts you can see that throw hooks and are overextended and end up catching the opponent with th einside or palm of the glove - almost like a slap. This would only happen if they were thrown as verticals. But I have seen even that knock someone down.
A hook to the body looks more like an uppercut to the left of the centre. Unless your wrist is completely bent then it would be pretty hard to do a horizontal hook to the body.
are your other ninty five posts this short? good effort, next time use a word with less letters but two syllablys is quite impressive
This is type of body hook/uppercut is very effect and I teach it. Go for the liver or floating rib. You can however throw a body hook with the fist down in a classic manner. When slipping a right hand (from a right handed fighter) you bend your knees as you move in. this will set you at a level that will allow a classic palm down powerful hook. This works well for a shorter fighter getting inside on a tall fighter. As with any body punch you must bend your knees and not reach down (which would opening you to a counter).
To punch effectively, one must orient the wrist to deliver the force properly and at the same time prevent injury to the fingers. If you are shorter than your opponent and the target is higher than shoulder height (like the face), I prefer using the vertical fist. If however it is lower than shoulder height, the use of the vertical fist is up to the puncher. Numerous karate and TKD instructors have taken the orthodox method of fist orientation (horizontal and with the index and middle knuckles hitting the target) for granted without considering proper body mechanics.
That all makes quite a bit of sense, like you do an uppercut sort of angled punch to the body, vertical to a shorter opponnt and horizontal to a taller opponent. But what happens when your range isnt right and you catch the taller opponent. You catch him with your 2 little knuckles, that are either gonna hurt you or not hurt him, or both. Where as a vertical fist will catch him with the big 2 regardless. Sorry im just a firm believer in the vertical fist Cant see any point in the horizontal, its just awkward.
What I was saying was using the vertical fist on a target much higher than the puncher's shoulder is better for the wrist. Range matter's not so much as the elevation of the target relative to the puncher's shoulder (of course range matters when hitting, it's just that we are assuming that proper range has been established). For a person very concerned with his fingers and wrist, the horizontal fist can be used on targets like the sides of the face (especially if the other guy is leaning forward), and any target below the puncher's shoulder. As a side note, whenever I punch the heavy bag bareknuckled, I always hurt my wrist when I deliver a straight punch to the centerline and face height using the horizontal fist. I can only hit this target (without hurting my wrist) using a straight punch with vertical fist. Tight hooks (with horizontal fist) to this target height do not hurt my wrist.
