Note: I'm not trying to diss boxing or anything. I love doing boxing and in my opinion it's a great,quick and easy way to learn some self defense and get/stay in shape. Just looking for some opinions from boxers on this. I was talking to my Muay Thai teacher today after class and I asked him about what techniques would be most effective in case I ever got into a streetfight. He told me that low thai kicks, knees and elbows would be my ideal weapons. This made me raise the question about using punches in a streetfight and he said... "You could do that, but I would advise against it. most people don't have big, tough hands and they'll most likely really damage or even break your hand. Many boxers are reluctant to use their hands in a streetfight because they're worth money, so they can't risk breaking them.That was one of the main reasons boxing gloves were invented, so leave the punching in the ring." I then brought up an interview I had read with Bas Rutten commenting on open hand strikes being preferable to punches in (I think) Pancrase matches. My teacher agreed, and then proceeded to teach me such strikes. Anyway, what I'm wondering what you guys (boxers, or anyone else who may have used punches in a fight.) think about this. Would you guys/girls feel comfortable using pucnhes in a streetfight? have you ever damaged your hand pretty bad because of it? Just looking to see what boxers think about this.
in an altercation outside of your training i say use everything you can...elbows, headbutts, open palm, fist...your pain tolerance is gonna jump so high you probably wont even feel a carpal bone break.
Punches, kicks, knees to the groin, elbows to the face, eye-gouging, fishhooking, ball-grabbing, hair pulling, headbutts, strangles, teeth... the list is endless. In streetfighting there are no rules. Use any weapon availible to you, whether part of your body or external (such as a brick lying about), that's the only way to win. I find that grabbing someone's nose with your teeth is the easiest, most damaging and hard to evade streetfighting move out there.
you say boxers are reluctant to use their hands in a street fight in case they damage 'em - why can't they condition them like other martial artists do?
western boxing just dont have all the same kinds of methods as other martial arts, thats why. plus it's mostly based on "scientific fact" and not on stuff that obviously works but for unknown reasons. apologies for any mistakes and a bad tone i cant quite erradicate from the point im trying to make
LOL. Boxers have no issues with streetfighting. Broken hands are the exception, not the rule. Boxers have a cultivated killer instinct, and hit HARD. If every boxer that got in a fight broke his hands, we wouldn't have many boxers about. Regular martial artists can break their hand as easily as any boxer. Your training methodologys don't save you from physics and your own bone structure. You can throw the cleanest, most technically perfect punch in the world, that won't save you if you hit the wrong part of your opponent's head.
I use lots of boxing techniques in fights and kicks only if I can get a sure shot. Basic thing is- Use anyway you can to win....
I am with Trent most of the time punches are all you will need to down your opponent Boxers are a bunch of tough nuts even with my groin kicks I'd be seeing the stars when Tyson who obviously has superior footwork and more power in his punch than I'd ever have. |Cain|
Get real. If your life is at risk, you are not thinking about hurting your hands. You can augment your fists easily with a roll of coins or a "short stick" -yawara- as well. Do you think it is too dangerous to use a back fist as well? Geez! Usually a hand is hurt if it is not conditioned on a bag so that the wrist won't hold the form. Even simple tight leather gloves will help. Now am I saying not to kick, or not to use various elements of your body on the attack? NO. I am just saying that boxing (or really here) striking with your fist can be your first line of defense. Imagine places where it would be hard to be a whirling dervish and deliver roundhouse kicks to the head. How about a train, subway, tram, airplane, crowd or in the snow or ice? or a stair or hall way. Sure elbows are well and good as is a forearm or knee, or even the head. But the fist can be delivered from futher away, quicker, at greater angles and shouldn't be avoided. Likewise sometimes it is better not to use MARTIAL ARTS. You might have a small brawl and if you "sock" the guy, it will go better with the local authorities than if you looked like a manical Bruce Lee with a killer mentality and broke the guys jaw with a kick. Break it with a fist and it is the luck of the fight. Break it with the kick and it is perhaps a "deadly assault." littlebird
Boxing in the street One thing that comes to mind for me is that if your boxing in the street that means your going head to head with your opponent. Going head to head means it will come down to skill and personally i don't think that is a safeway to handle a confrontation. Boxing is the one fighting system that is best used when both fighters are equal in height and weight and in the street it is unlikely that you will be of similar ht and wt.
Skill Skill in the ring is one thing but skill on the street is another. For the most part most of the styles of martial arts don't train you so that you go in the street and match your skill with an enemy. You are trained to defend yourself even when there is a disadvantage of ht and wt.
Boxing is not just standing and going toe-to-toe. Footwork and timing definitely come into play on the street, and you would be hard pressed to beat boxing in this department.
As a boxer I can explain a bit. Most boxer dont ever practice bare knunkle boxing, or drill bare knunkle in bags to get the condition they need. The first thing they do in gym, they put on there boxing gloves. Is F@3king halerious when I see boxer at my gym break there hands punching someone with a boxing glove on...... A lot of time people just ask me why I punch bare knunkle, I told them and they just laugh, and shoke there head. LoL I'm not the one that break my hand punching someone.
-Boxing is a very simple, yet effective system if YOU work it well. If you can control the set-point and use timing and distancing, you could use it to control most fights against most opponents. Obviously as a sport, it is not a complete system, but all fighting arts or sports DO work, if YOU work them well enough. It's really when you face someone who takes you out of your element that you find where the weaknesses are. Most of the time, a trained fighter is not going to let an untrained attacker/opponent do that to them. -As far as punching to the head, when the little bones in the hand meet the big bones of the skull, the smaller bones usually get the worst of it. Unless you have really trained yourself well on striking (under adrenalyzed conditions) properly. Even then it can go wrong for you. I recommend for beginners to punch to the body and use open hand strikes and elbows to the head. As they advance proceed w/ face punches at your own risk.
