As far as street fighting goes... Is Boxing....?

Question

Is boxing a good style of fighting to learn?

Answer 1

yeah anything is better then nothing

Answer 2

absolutely- boxing will improve your hand skills tremendously.

however keep in mind that in street fights people will try to tackle you or grapple with you to avoid being hit after you nailed em a few times- you also should learn a few basic ways to avoid it- and find a coach that focuses more on learning punching power and defence rather than ring and competition skills which don't sound like what you want to do with it.

Answer 3

as ive said before...i know a taichi instructor who beat a bjj black belt at his own groundgame 3 times in a row. yes a tai chi instrucor. how did he do this?

easily...mmatists, and bjj guys are so used to the rules that they simply cant seem to fathom that i dont give a sh*t about their rules, and neither would their mugger in the street

boxing, mma, sambo, bjj, judo, muay thai, kickboxing, wrestling...these are all sports that happen to be vaguely similar to self defense arts. some mma guys like matt serra will tell you there is a big difference between the sport of mma and what you need to survive a street assault.

even then, now days you have more traditional martial artists entering mma competitions and doing rather well on a local level (for now) ...so how can mma be the ultimate streetfighting art if it isnt even the ultimate cage art anymore? i've seen people from ninjutsu, to shin do, uechi ryu karate, and wing chun in mma fights and be successful.

but they dont consider terrain, whether youre wrestling on rocks or glass or stuck between two cars..they dont consider the possibility (even likelyhood) of hidden weapons. or multiple assailants (ive rarely seen a bar fight that didnt include at least 3 people)...they dont take into consideration how someone "less skilled" than them just might get a groin shot or eye poke in on them....ut oh! no ref to stop the fight!! what now!! you get your A** beat..thats what. ...what happens when you pull guard on someone and his buddies start bashing you with sticks and knives or stomp your face in? ....they simply ignore these possibilities.

they all (almost) seem to be stuck on the ...1 on 1, agreed to, fight with rules that they both agree to, in a fixed setting, with a referee thing.

i remember reading somewhere about a famous bjj black belt getting beat down in a bar for these reasons. i've heard about a bjj instructor who accidentally got poked in the eye and had to cancel months of seminars because of it. and how many mma fights have you seen get stopped because of a thumb in the eye or accidental groin kick?....too many to ignore in my opinion.

i view mma, bjj, and the like as good fighting arts in their setting (and im not saying they couldnt win a fair street fight either...just that its rare to find a fair one...Hock Hockheim said if you find yourself in a fair fight...you didnt prepare well enough.)

but there is a difference between fighting and defending yourself. ...a fight is a contest...both parties agree...i smack you, you smack me, we put up our dukes and we're gonna see who wins this contest. this to me is bs...martial arts of today arent about fighting...the philosophy lacking in mma and similar arts dont teach that its best to simply avoid the confrontation...or that its wrong to "fight"

other arts however teach self defense...ways you might deal with some huge hairy biker who has a knife to your throat...you gonna pull guard on him? you gonna shoot a double leg? ...no you're going to die.

but if you humble yourself...you beg...and plead...and tell him about your kids and wife even if you don't have any...and he says "i dont give a flying..." WHAM...you poke him in the eyes while hes distracted, while simultaneously controlling the weapon hand...then bash him in the thoat, kick him in the groin...stomp the back of his knee...stomp on his head...and get the f*ck out of dodge!

you dont and shouldnt stand there and "fight" with this person. you need to protect your life and go home safe. and leave him laying there before his buddies arrive or he wakes up mad as a hornet.

on the other hand...some traditional arts take too long to learn if you need real results fast. and some of them do do some pretty stupid techniques. but some are simply misunderstood...you really can catch someones punch in sparring...ive done it numerous times. if you time it right.

what i submit is this...we're all brothers....and we all should be learning from each other. i think a traditional martial artist who would say go to a mma gym for even just a month, and finds out what its like to fight someone who is really fighting back....it would make them better at their traditional martial art...and they could incorporate training ideas into their systems.

mmatists could also learn alot from tradional martial arts...look at cung le throwing people around and landing spin kicks that "never work in a real fight"...

to me, i honestly believe the truth in combat, while different for everyone...lies somewhere in the gray area between traditional arts, modern sport arts, and military/police combative type arts.

Answer 4

yeah but i prefer karate

Answer 5

yes boxing can be very effective for self defense.

I agree with much of what kempo said, as far as the difference between a street fight and self defense. A street fight is a clash of two ego's that 99% of the time can be avoided if just one of the people is man enough to swallow his ego and back down. Self defense is the other 1% that cannot be avoided by any means. generally you will not have any warning in self defense. no posturing by your attacker it's just...BAM and it's there. Unfortunatly too many of the uneducated UFC fans on here do not know the difference.

That being said do not forget that MMA people can use dirty tactics too. Eye pokes and groin strikes and strikes to the throat are not necessarily fight enders, as many people beleive. For instance it is very hard in a fight to break someones knee. However self defense is not about finishing your opponent, it is about doing what you have to to get away and survive. If I can strike somebody in the throat and make them hesitate long enough to give me distance to get away, then it worked.

Street fighting is stupid, and will either lead to jail time, medical bills, a civil suit, or even death, or possibly a juicy combination of all of them. Please do not street fight. Is protecting your ego worth the possible losses? Not for me.

Answer 6

I understand that many times, in the "inner-city", you're going to face attacks from what almost seems like every front and boxing gyms are the only thing around to help counter such problems.  As far as Boxing goes I'd say h**l yes learning ever little detail you can from bobbing and weaving to fade and sway to proper slipping, to name a few things, on a round timer at a local boxing gym is definately the route to go starting out, but I will add that on top of boxing skills I would personally seek out some step by step "jujitsu" instructional DVD's to check out and practice at home and to couple with my new found boxing skills if I were just starting just for good measure if nothing else.  It never hurts to learn new tricks.  Street defense is sooooo under estimated by "suburbanites" man that it's pathedic dude.  Being assaulted by dudes in their 20's and 30's is no fun when you're a teenager and I've been there and done that in my life time.  There's nothing worse than trying to get home only to have some drug head alcoholic try to smash your face for no reason what so ever.  These are the reasons I sought out such things as karate and boxing in my mid teens through my early 20's ....."A Better Defense".  As I got a little older I discovered that Atemiwaza ( striking technique ) was the "foundation" to all combat and I'm d**n glad that I've studied such things as boxing in my life time.  Suburbanites will never know what it's like to be forced into seeking a better defense because they're protected from the nasty sh*t that goes on in the inner-city so many suburbanites will knock boxing right off the cuff, don't listen to them though man, stick to taking boxing trust me.  My heart breaks for inner city kids every time I pass my old neighborhoods knowing that they're just as forced into seeking out a better defense just like I was so many years ago.  "Boxing" is not only a good start, it's the foundation for any and all other styles, art forms and systems you might ever learn in your life.

Answer 7

Yes but I would also concentrate on developing elbow strikes,knee strikes and properly executed head butts for when the fighting gets close. Boxing is good as long as there is room to use your footwork and avoid being grabbed. You never want to go to the ground in a street fight. It leaves you vulernable to attacks from your adversaries friends etc..

Answer 8

it is a good way of learning how to strike and move your upper body.

however, if a guy kicks you, or tries to pull you down to the ground then boxing will be hardly any use.

the only true fighting system to manage in the real world is Mixed-Martial Arts (MMA)

but it is quite intensive training and hard work.

boxing is fine for beginners.

Answer 9

well from experience of experiencing street fights.

originally u never use boxing in a fight but more like kickboxing.

normally in a street fight u fight more than 1 person and itd be easier to kickbox than just box. i mean boxing ur opponent is going to know ur going to punch but kick boxing ull kick and punch so h**l be more hesistant.

btw if u want to learn something useful for street fighting try finding a kajukenbo school

kajukenbo is an american martial art that is

KA(rate)JU(jitsu)KEN(po)BO(chinese boxing)

so with all those mixes kajukenbo is a very good street fighting system

Answer 10

Yes.  Fitness, strength, great hand techniques, footwork, full contact mentality from the beginning, great training mentality.

Boxing is a great street fighting art, as with all martial arts, adaptation is the key.