“When I went on the door, I was highly graded after twenty years of studying martial arts, and I realized straight away that what I had was not working: it was not only not working, it was laughable. And I discovered that in the real world where violence is the norm, most martial artists were ridiculed, they were not thought of as being credible in a real fight.”
“People often ask me what art I would select for a physical confrontation if I could only take up one discipline, and I tell them it would be boxing…”
Geoff Thompson: 6th Dan Karate, 1st Dan Kung Fu, 1st Dan Judo.
Now we get down to brass tacks and bare knuckles. Boxing WORKS! In the ring and on the streets, Boxing sets the standard. You can break all the boards and bricks and river-stones you want, but it doesn’t mean squat if you can’t land those strikes on target, under pressure.
A lot of martial artists like to disparage Boxing. They say it’s ‘just a sport.’ While I happen to agree that the modern rules are too restrictive, I find these criticisms fairly childish. The average Boxer will knock-out the average Karate player despite the fact that he’s been trained within the rules. Besides, what makes these people think a Boxer doesn’t know how to bite, thumb, elbow, head-butt and stomp?
Clint.
The link below leads to a short article by Ned Beaumont, the author of my all-time favorite boxing manual Championship Streetfighting.
http://www.loompanics.com/Articles/SportingLife.html
This next link leads to a page that is more focused on the traditional French Kickboxing style La Savate, but it also has a few nice essays on bare-knuckle Boxing and self defence.
http://www.savateaustralia.com
