If you study old boxing pictures from periods prior to the use of boxing gloves, a wing chun man cannot help but notice how the bare knuckle boxers have their elbows tucked in front of their nipples - and have one fist out a little further than the back fist. It looks very much like a wing chun structure.
http://cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/go...old-george.htm
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3D2%26hl%3Den
If you study the pictures of boxers over time, you will notice that as boxing gloves get introduced and get bigger - the elbows of the boxers move away from the cennter and towards the shoulder line - and eventually past the shoulder line.
Obviously placement of elbows in front of the chest versus outside of the chest changes the physics of the punching and footwork strategies (compare the wing chun punch to a boxer's punch; and compare their footwork). (e.g., western boxers wearing gloves throw punches from their hips and shoulders, and they use footwork as a defensive measure. wing chun boxers throw punches from their hips up through their elbows and center and use elbow's as a platform to redirect attacks - rather than use footwork to avoid attacks. wing chun fighters use their footwork to manage range to optimize their elbow structures)
So who cares?
Could western bare knuckle boxers have independently developed the structures and footwork presently attributed to Chinese wing chun?
[If anyone is aware of any research on this issue, please send me a private message. thanks] For example:
http://redrebelmartialarts.blogspot....with-adam.html