I was reading a boxing article and it used the word pronate. I didn't know what it meant so I looked it up. pronate turn the forearm or the hand so that the palm is directed downwards After I looked up the word I started wondering why we pronate our punches. I've been boxing for a while and I've seen Wing Chun guy's do a straight punch. I'm not really questioning the power of a boxing punch compared to a Wing Chun punch. I just want to know the reason for the pronation. Thanks.
It's a long discution and mosly a glove thing. Early bare handed boxers didn't pronate their punches. It was safer this way for the knuckles. Then the gloves came into boxing and things changed. Check out this thread by louie about traditional boxing.
Would it be more beneficial to use a straight fist in a street fight then? Thanks for the link to an excellent article!
I thought the pronation(?) was a way of getting the gloves to grind on a person's face and open up cuts and wotnot. Sort of like a two-fisted rugburn.
I don't think its really important. Let me tell you what i did when i read about verical fists. I went to the hardest heavy bag at the gym and started punching jabs and crosses barehanded ( i do that a lot but i usually dont try new stuff). I felt that with a vertical fist my hads hurt a bid less than with a horisontal , but the horisontal one was a bit sronger (but that may be because thats the way i was taught originally). Also with the vertical fist its guaranteed that your first two knuckles (index and middle finger) will make cotact witch is a good thing. Some pro boxers (like tyson) even hook with vertical fist. Thats cool with a glove (cause you cant hurt your thumb) but i didn't like it at when i tried it barehanded (felt the hand was out of place). On the other hand it took me some time to get used to punching hooks bare handed.. My 2 cents are that the important thing in a "street fight" is not to hit the forehead or the hairy part of the skull. Other than that whatever works for you is ok.
As for pronation and bareknucklers and the vertical fist. Definitely still possibe but slightly modified. Many old styles (including Dempseys...so not that old really) have you hold your hands so the back is facing your opponent. WIth Dempsey this is done just with the lead hand btw. So when you throw a vertical fist from this position you do actually get the same amount of twist which adds tot he ripping effect of the blow ont he skin plus brings parts of the shoulder and back into the equation more than a vertical fist with no rotation.
I remember speaking to an older boxer some years ago about this. His view was that the vertical fist is fractionally faster but a little less powerful. He thought it was a good idea to jab with a vertical fist so that you have more speed. I have tried it and the vertical fist does seem a little faster especially with repeated jabs as the rotation seems to slow things a little. I hope this helps.
i think it has something to do with structural stability (you don't "break" you wrists), and having a greater area of impact.
