Boxing: A Martial art or just a sport?

Well what do people think?
I mean i know it's mainly a sport, but of course you also need to know how to fight and have good tactics to better your opponent.
Also you can use it for self defence, but is it a Martial Art?

 

Please use the Search function. This has been covered numerous times already.

http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/search.php?searchid=1789906

 

Is cardiology a medical practice?

 

Yes, Boxing is a martial art. The art side of Boxing is reflected through the individuals fighting style and technique.

 

Why "just" a sport? What's wrong with sports? What makes an art any better?

Oh, and in answer to your question, yes it is a martial art.

 

It is a sport and a martial art, just like martial arts are sports. They are interchangeable.

 

Martial Arts are about disposing of an opponent quickly and efficiently.

Boxing does this very well.

 

Not in all cases.

Some systems don't have a sport side to them.

 

Define the parameters of martial art. Then it will go a long ways to helping you decide if it fits that definition. Just saying 'martial art' is like showing 5 blind guys and elephant and asking them to describe it by touch.

 

I don't think it's so black and white but more of a spectrum.
I'd think it was more martial art and less sport if they dropped the larger gloves in favour of MMA gloves. It would mean you can't get lazy with hooks and just swing without risking breaking your thumb. You wouldn't be able to defend using the gloves as protection.

 

I once read somewhere that it can only be termed a Martial Art if it has been pressure tested by an active military force, anyone else heard this ?

Although boxing is practised in the military so i suppose it can be called one.

 

A martial art by all but the most pedantic(which are usually very silly) definitions of what constitutes a martial art.

 

Most of which amount to 'just mine' when you get down to brass tacks.

 

its a combat sport there for its a martial art.

a bit like how you posted a dumb question that isn't worth answering in the first place but has been many times in like your 4th post on the site so there for you are a troll.

 

no, no one else has herd that cos its ridiculous and you made it up.

 

Methinks you're talking rubbish. My guess is you actually haven't spent much time boxing. Boxers don't get lazy with hooks. It's not a punch you can get lazy with because it requires a set up - after 5 rounds of heavy sparring yesterday. I can assure you... there is no such thing as a lazy hook. Boxers also don't tend to break their thumb. The way you make it out there are legions of boxers out there with broken thumbs. Modern boxing gloves (at least for the past 50 years) have had an attached thumb. Meaning the thumb leather is stitched to the rest of the glove - unlike earlier versions where the thumb was free. There was a bigger chance of breaking a thumb on older style gloves... but you won't find those in just about any gym anywhere.

 

I'm not defending his position, but I believe he was saying that a boxer develops a style of hook that would risk breaking the thumb in a self defense situation with no gloves on.

 

A bit off topic, but if you look at someone's gloves nowadays and see a detached thumb (usually because they snip it free), be wary of that guy as chances are he's a dirty thumber.

 

Hmm. Could do but then again lots of things can happen in a self defense situation. There's going to be any number of things out of control. For myself... excessive worry about breaking my thumb is low on the list. Very, very low. What's more is that you tend to fight how you train and if you are training boxing then hooks are part and parcel with boxing... you aren't going to train with no gloves on the majority of the time. Though I do spend a fair amount of time on the heavy bags with no gloves these days. Just wraps. It's telling that even with several rounds of bag work a day I don't end up with thumb problems... and that's after years and years of wearing gloves for hooks and now in the last several years throwing hooks with no gloves on and only wraps. I don't even so much as scrape the thumb knuckle. So I'm simply not convinced that hook punches without gloves one equals broken thumbs.

 

Dirty Thumbers sounds like a good name for a punk band.