Wing Chun and Boxing

[Wu Wei Wu]

About two years ago a group of us agreed that we would re-examine the way we trained Wing Chun. We started exchanging ideas on, inter alia, conditioning drills and formats for pressure testing.

Recently, one of our members entered an amateur boxing fight. He is the one wearing BLUE:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KRtSB103mG8

Suki Gosal

[AdrianK]

So your Wing Chun guy learned how to box and decently won an amateur bout?
Don't get me wrong, I love boxing.. but he only used boxing. Jab, cross, hook, uppercut, etc. and slip, weave, boxing stance, boxing footwork.. If you guys honestly spent a ton of time re-evaluating your training methods.. it'd have been far better to just go down to the local boxing gym

Your guy is a decent enough boxer... theres no wing chun in that video... I mean, he doesn't need to pak sao punch or tan sao or bong sao or whatever - But theres also no evidence of any refined abilities such as bridging, body structure, controlling the opponents center, or protecting your own...

All I saw was a boxer, boxing.

[Wu Wei Wu]

Am I to believe that mobility and effective punching methods are the exclusive domain of western boxing? And I suppose one would have you believe the forms couldn't possibly contain a blueprint for punches that have hooking and uppercut motions?

And to suggest that one couldn't 'see' body structure therefore it could not possibly exist is hardly a compelling suggestion that it wasn't being used. And of course, the cliches continue with "controlling the opponents center".

Suki

[clam61]

wing chun has jab, cross, and uppercut. no hook though--too slow thats for hung gar guys

[TenTigers]

aren't there hook punches in the Biu Jee form?

[Sihing73]

aren't there hook punches in the Biu Jee form?

Hello,

Yes there are and they are more akin to a true hook not the loping kind you see in movies. Close to the body not coming from outer space.

[Ali. R]

I don’t understand the opening of this thread considering wing chun and boxing, but Ten Tiger you are very much correct when it comes to ‘bil jee’, in fact the “hook punch” is introduce in the 8 basic punches of the system (SLT) and the lifting punch as well…


Ali Rahim.

[Phil Redmond]

wing chun has jab, cross, and uppercut. no hook though--too slow thats for hung gar guys

There is a hook punch in Wing Chun.

[TenTigers]

yep-thought so.
Oh, and btw-clam...I agree that a large, swinging punch is slower in comparrison to short strikes, which is why a well-trained fighter sets up his strikes, and uses proper angles and range.
In case you didn't realize, Hung-Ga was originally a short bridging system , and added the larger swinging strikes (from Wong Yun-Lum's Hop-Ga) later on in its development.
You need to understand a technique, in order to use it.
Case in point-many beginner Wing Chun students(or casual observers) try to throw chain punches from outside the proper range, fail, and then conclude that they are inneffective.
In the words of Duncan Leung-"Once I'm in your horse, you can't stop me."

[edseas2]

It might be better to say that SOME branches have a hook punch and some do not...

Ed Seas

[TenTigers]

it might be better still to say that some teachers, or practitioners have a hook punch, and some do not.

Years ago, while giving a seminar at a forme Sifu's school, Sifu Robert Chu was asked,"Why aren't there claws in Wing Chun?"
Sifu Chu then demonstrated the huen sao and closing of the hand section of Siu Lim Tau, but emphasized the closing, showing a distinct claw and grabbing motion, and said,"Who says there are no claws?"

I have since seen others do this, and also others who do not.

Your Gung-Fu depends on what you have been given, and where you take it.

[Vajramusti]

It might be better to say that SOME branches have a hook punch and some do not...

Ed Seas
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True dat. Another example of why generalizations about wing chun often miss the target.
The differences often seem to outweigh the similarities.

joy chaudhuri

[edseas2]

Hook Punch -

Our teeny tiny little branch doesn't have a hook punch in its arsenal. We practice myriad defenses/offenses against said technique but our particular interpretation dictates that we don't use such a technique in practice for various reasons but we respect those who do.

FWIW, we hardly ever use pak sao and, by choice, would choose other techniques over pak dar if possible/available.

Ed Seas

[couch]

It might be better to say that SOME branches have a hook punch and some do not...

Ed Seas
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
True dat. Another example of why generalizations about wing chun often miss the target.
The differences often seem to outweigh the similarities.

joy chaudhuri

In this case, yup!

I don't have a hook punch, but in the BJ I have a Ginger Fist implored to fit into a 'thin' space and hit the kidney while returning to the centre.

Best,
K

[Vajramusti]

In this case, yup!

I don't have a hook punch, but in the BJ I have a Ginger Fist implored to fit into a 'thin' space and hit the kidney while returning to the centre.

Best,
K

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Hi K- the issues of boxing and wc have spilled over to a different thread which is zig zagging
around.

Boxing and wing chun have quite different platforms for launching things that may superficially look similar. Wing chun IMHO requires far greater control of one's mass than boxing- but when one develops the wing chun motions you can throw a hook or uppercut or a straight left or a straight right from a wing chun platform and the logic is there in the forms.
A straight wing chun punch when properly trained can beat a hook.The problem is that a lot of wing chunners I have seen have not really developed their basic wing chun punch.
Best,
J