Quote:
Originally posted by HappyNoodleBoy
...
However, its basic artificiality, its limited range of responses, its almost total lack of anything that could be called a system, the fact that it relies for its successful operation upon skills that cannot really be taught to anybody who does not posses them naturally, and above all the fact that it can be used effectively only by the most athletic, all come close to disqualifying it as a fighting art at all.
...
I respectfully disagree with the statement that boxing could be used by "only the most athletic", and "skills cannot be taught to anybody who does not possess them naturally". I know boxers that weren't "athletic" UNTIL they started boxing. Then, after training a while, they were faster, stronger, and had alot of energy. And definitely knew how to throw hands, and were comfortable throwing them. Boxing is very simple to learn. There aren't many techniques to become familiar with. It is the CONDITIONING (different types of Bag-work, Calistenics(?), and sparring) that make the boxer an effective fighter.
Quote:
Its weaknesses arise from the fact of its being above all else a sport. Punching is spectacular. Blocking is not. More seriously still boxing, being a sport, is performed according to certain rules and subject to certain limitations. Boxing is thus based on the assumption that in any fight one will be wearing padded gloves: will be naked to the waist, and will not be allowed to deliver, and therefore not have to gaurd against, blows delivered below the waist, or delivered to any part of the body except with clenched fists.
Don't think that a boxer in a real fight can't hit below the waist, or strike with anything but a clenched fist. They can slap, pull hair, punch to the back of the neck, the groin, the throat, throw elbows, head-butts, gouge an eye, and pull hair. Shucks, you don't need formal fighting training to know how to pull hair.
Quote:
The effect of the glove is all-important here. The boxer is not in reality hitting with his knuckles at all. He is hitting with a blunt instrument. The effect of his blows will therefore depend not on focusing for penetration, but on the speed and weight he can put behind the wide surface of the glove which will be coming into contact with his opponents body. Hence, the boxer, unlike any other self-defence exponent, delivers his most effective blows with a rolling motion, punching with a horizontal fist across his body, following through like a tennis player or golfer. One might say his punches would be less effective without the gloves.
Maybe Mike Tyson's punches aren't as effective without a glove as with a glove. Still, when he hit Mitch "Blood" Green in front of "Dapper Dan's" in Harlem, he shattered bones in that man's face. He did hurt his wrist though. But on TV when Mr. Green pulled of his shades, his face looked permanently deformed. Tyson only hit him once...
Tyson hit another guy this year in front of a Hotel, and that guy said he felt like he was hit with "a piece of steel". He couldn't feel the left-side of his face for more than 2 days, and had a constant headache. Tyson didn't hurt his wrist in this incident. He must've learned how to hit without his gloves on. I'm sure the transition from gloves "on" to gloves "off" wasn't difficult.
Quote:
What these fatcs do illustrate is that boxing has many very serious limitations as a form of self-defence. It is for example unique among self defence techniques in having no formal system of defence. The boxer relies for protection on his ability to duck or slip punches; to cushion them on his arms, the palms of his hands or relatively insesnitive parts of his body and above all to hit his opponent first.
Ducking and slipping punches is an excellent way to avoid getting hit. When you duck and slip well, you can deal with VERY heavy strikes from fighters larger and stronger than you, because your arms/legs never come in contact with that of your opponent. Also, boxers don't ALWAYS cushion strikes on the palms of their hands. The boxers that I've sparred with often slap-block my strikes down, or to the side. Kind of like the Wing-Chun Pak-Sau (not exactly, though).
I will agree that Boxing has limitations in Self-Defense because they don't kick, sweep, grapple, or do Chin-Na. Still, I wouldn't call Boxing ineffective because it didn't include these techniques.
There are other systems that punch, kick, sweep, grapple, do Chin-Na and STILL have limitations. I wouldn't call these fighting art/systems ineffective, either.
In short, I wouldn't call a fighting art/system ineffective because it had limitations.
I may be giving a biased opinion here, but only because I've seen soo many fighters trained in boxing, kick butt. Most of them weren't even Professional boxers. But that is just me and my experiences.
Respectfully
MantisBen