Boxing vs. any martial arts?

Question

Whether boxing's considered a martial art or not, I was wondering if an experienced top notch boxer; obviously with enough speed/strength/tactic could be any match for a top notch martial artist or vise versa..whether it be TKD, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, Pentjak... you name it?

Answer 1

remumber you have legs you can kick with, sandman.

Answer 2

that's like asking if taekwondo is better than karate. it's impossible to say.

the better fighter (at least on that day) will win.

Answer 3

Yes IMO a top notch Boxer will be a match against any style mainly due to, speed, evasion ( bobbing and weaving,ducking etc ) Endurance, Timing, Full contact training all be it punching all it takes is one good strike.

Best wishes :)***

Answer 4

If the boxer has also practiced meditation for a long time, and has achieved "the zone" as its called in sports, turned on and off at will, the boxer could beat anybody.  Very few people can do it at will; in east asia people who can turn it on and off like a light switch are called "master."  It all comes down to focus; why does the ultra tough street punk, not talkers, but genuinely dangerous one, can take on a trained police officer, sometimes several at once?  How does a harmless looking former Navy SEAL take on a man nearly twice his size, even though in the SEALS you do like what, a year's worth of martial arts, and even then not a complete curriculum?

Think about it; pushed to the brink, their life threatened frequently, something inside them eventually clicks.  When a person enters into a state of total focus, regardless of size, build, or training, they can be very dangerous to their assailants.  You could have an MMA guy, trained in literally 100 moves, get taken down by a h***s angels biker, or someone even more dangerous.

How does a psychopath do superhuman feats of strength?  Again, its all in their ability to focus, an ability acquired, from having sunk into a mental derangement or unhealthy obsession (such as Bruce Lee for instance), or, being forced to survive.  So absolutely a boxer can potentially take on any kind of martial artist, if their focusing skill is beyond said martial artist's.

Now, there is such a thing as what style is superior to another.  I have thought for a while now, that the watch word for technique is ultimately efficiency.  What is refered to as "technique," is actually energy and body resources efficiency.  Body resources; strength, speed, stamina, etc.  No matter how well conditioned you are, sooner or later you get tired.  I don't care who you are.  That celebration of "raw power" in MMA, from a "technique" perspective is wrong.

I'm sorry but, attacked by a dangerous punk, I don't want to waste energy.  I don't want to be sweating bullets defending myself, I want it over in 2 seconds or less.  Therein lies one of the tragedies of martial arts; you put in 10 years, minimum of 3 hours of training a day, to protect yourself for 2 seconds.  Still though; some styles, technique wise, are indeed better than others in terms of their efficiency.

Looking for a style, look for efficiency, and from my list of top 10, I place boxing as the 6th most efficient fighting style.  Beneath it, are Muay Thai, Krav Maga, modern BJJ, and Sanda.  Above it are old school catch, BJJ or Judo, Karate, Shuia Jiao, Shaolin Kung Fu or any member of the Kung Fu family, and the king of the hill is Tai Chi Chuan.  I know it looks like snail dancing but masters of the art have defeated the legendary Shaolin, believe me, even against someone who isn't a master, against a high ranking expert Shaolin, its not easy.

The Shaolin are as fast as serpents, as agile as monkeys, and their fists are bludgeons.  Any graduate of the Shaolin temple of China, believe me, even with their physically smaller size is more than a match for any MMA fighter here in the U.S.

Still though; mechanical issues aside, a person's ability to focus has been said to be developed to such a high degree, anything regarding "form" or "technique" is rendered a moot point.  What good is a move, let me ask, if your opponent can never be distracted?  Worse, what if they have animal like awareness, but with the power and focus, of the human brain?

See, that is the reason why street punks will sometimes, no many times, will bring down trained fighters.  The Shaolin Monks of China knew of this problem centuries ago, that is the reason they meditate, the only way to make up the difference between someone who grew up in a world of crime, and someone who didn't, is that the luckier person has to meditate hard, long exhausting hours, until they reach that level of focusing ability.  If you have sat down to try to quiet your mind, you know that only 15 minutes of total focus is quite a feat.  Few people can do it for a solid hour.

What focus ultimately does, is give animal like awareness, but it is awareness, aided by the intelligence of your brain.  Consider how strong a lion is.  Consider, physically for a person running after one, how difficult mice are to catch.  Ever try catching a mouse with your hands?  How is a mouse, which does not run as fast as a person, able to get away so easily?  They have a higher level of awareness.

Now imagine such an awareness, combined with human intellect.  Now combine that intellect, with efficient martial arts techniques.

You see where I'm going with this?  In the end, even with mechanical issues, through mental training they can be overcome so absolutely a boxer is capable of such a feat.  Myself personally I hold the opinion that if a boxer meditates long enough, they can box so well, they never ever get hit, they dodge all oncomming blows cleanly, and can end a fight with  

Answer 5

Martial means military.  Martial arts were taught in the military, giving it the name.  That being said, boxing is also taught in the military, so technically, boxing could be considered a martial art.  Whoever would win inf a fight would depend more on how good that individual fighter is and less on the style.  One boxer might kick the smacks out of a tkd fighter, but might lose to another tkd.

Answer 6

It depends on the practitioner, not the art. With that being said, look what happened when Muhammad Ali fought Antonio Inoki. Ali was too afraid to take him in a full-contact fight, so made the fight striking only. Inoki just lay on the floor and kicked Ali repeatedly in the legs, Ali basically did nothing. Ali's legs would be cut, become infected and would never be the same again. That's how limiting an art like boxing is.  

Answer 7

i personally have degree in kenpo, kunfu, jujitsu, karate, tkd, n brazilian grappling-mainly due to some of my uncles who r like experts in different fields, but i definitely would say a boxer would lose...i fought against a boxing coach coz my uncle wanted to test me, its rlly easy to take them out....i mean i figured they don't use their legs n guess what? give some hard low kicks to knees n thighs along with a hook kick to head then grabbed head for a head takedown-while keeping my head guarded, BAM he was down-mainly from all the leg shots i did...if u do enough martial arts ur reaction is faster n plus if u know more than one-u can improvise n i gotta tell ya its prtty sweet!!

Answer 8

As long as he recognized the differences in his own style as opposed to his opponent's and does not fall prey to them.  If he acts quickly and lands a good blow on his opponent, he can win with his years of dedicated training and power.

Answer 9

Francois Botha who fought for The world Heavyweight boxing title(s) about 5 times and he always made a good showing, was beating Tyson till he got caught and knocked loopy. So he may not be the best of the best but would have to be considered as top notch. He has fought in K1 which doesn't allow wrestling and submissions only striking, and his record isn't great but he did improve with training on his kicking.

I would say the greater diversity of attacks that a boxer isn't used to puts him at a disadvantage especialy if you ad in the ground game. but if trained to defend against these attacks and trains to use only his boxing against these attacks then he would be able to hold his own.

Answer 10

The boxer would loose nine out of ten times- it is too restricting in it's rules. The boxer may win with a lucky punch, but as the Gracie's have shown grappling and mixed MA is dominant!

Answer 11

yes they can match up no problem

Answer 12

These kinds of questions are always very hard to answer, just too many variables. Would it be possible, yes absolutely it would. As to how likely it would be, in my opinion not very. Not a dig against boxing, just my view. If we are talking about fighters of equal skill level then I just think the boxer has less tools to work with. The boxer is pretty likely to have more hard sparring experience than most martial artists are likely to have, but he is also going to have to adapt his style to tactics and attacks he is not accustomed to. The boxers bobbing to evade punches could very well set him up for knees or kicks to the head, and to a lesser extent weaving out to the side or leaning back could as well.

Having trained in several different martial arts and competitively fought for many years, I would say that someone with my kind of a martial arts background would do quite well and be as conditioned to taking and giving punishment as a boxer. On the other side of that coin if we are talking about a martial artist who does not do LOTS of sparring to adapt to taking punishment and immediately giving it back out, the boxer would win most ot the time just do to the practical nature of their training. I have known black belts who were really tough and conditioned to fighting and have known others that just flat out weren't. That isn't a dig against martial arts, it is just the fact of how some people train. As with most of these types of questions it comes down to the individual and their training. Either could land the first really good shot and take and keep control from there. You never know with a fight, that's why they have to be fought out.

Answer 13

You basically have to fit boxing tactics in your overall game to be effective.  Anderson Silva and Fedor's boxing skills are top notch and they are considered two of the best in the business.  Each is also dominant in the submission game.

If you only have boxing, you gotta be able to defend the takedown.  

Answer 14

MMA an Boxing are the Only Combat Training Ill take seriosly.

Answer 15

Think it this way: can you win only using your punch againt someone who can throw punches and kicks equally good as you?

Answer 16

It depends on the rules. People who can't hang in boxing will go to MMA. (The paycheck in boxing is easily 30 times more than in the UFC). Therefore a boxer will definitely win in a boxing match. But in a NHB or MMA fight the boxer will obviously lose.

Answer 17

the boxer would probably lose because they are not trained or anything but punching and taking punches but the martial aritst is expecting th boxer to punch because that is all he can do well. as long as the martial arist doesnt get to close they should easily win but if the boxer gets the first punch the martial artisit is screwed.