Mediocre protection.
Yay for sure : )
I've sworn by boxing for many years and love it, both because it's a great workout and because it's one of the most realistic self defense "arts" you'll ever learn. Of course you'll have five year old black belts on this forum who tell you that boxing is not an "art" but a "sport" and therefore they will own your 180 pound *** with their "kata". But really, you should put them to the test in the ring, and when they tell you that their techniques are "too deadly" and that they will therefore not spar with you, you should just say No! and walk away from their pretensions.
Having said that, you'd do well to cover more of your bases. Boxing (or layman derivatives thereof) is probably 80% of what you'll ever see and use if you want to get into bar fights and stuff. But the rest would include clinch work, ground work, and maybe some low kicks. So I'd suggest you cross train. Muay Thai is good for kicks and clinch. BJJ is great for ground. Krav Maga will give you a bit of everything including a "no holds barred" mindset.
As for me, I cross train in judo, and would feel pretty confident if someone ever closed up to clinch with me or took things to the ground. Most people don't know so well what to do there. But I'd definitely rely on punches for offense if ever needed, and use my grappling skills mainly as a defensive backup to get out of tight spots. Likewise with the kicks and stuff I learned from kickboxing and karate when I was younger. It's good to establish range and work angles with the possibility of kicks in mind, but I'd not myself use kicks in a real altercation.
Boxing was my original art and I loved it. I'm not trying to be biased here but I think boxing is one of the best arts for self defense. I know it sounds stupid but hear me out. The reason I think it's so good is simplicity. I mean in one year, given that you are at a good gym, you could become a very accomplished fighter.
As far as defense against punches goes, for me at least, boxing is unrivaled. The head movement training in boxing is amazing and it's absolutely crucial to self defense. I mean if you end up in a situation on the street what's the guy most likely going to do? He's going to take a swing at you.
Yes a boxer will take a beating if he goes up against someone who knows wrestling or an MMA fighter. But for average idiots in a bar I think boxing will do the trick. Not saying that MMA and other arts won't do it. But you'll become a better boxer in a year then you will become a MMA fighter.
The way I see it, it's lacking in variation ie grappling, striking with elbows, kicking, etc.
On that same note, I don't know of many people that could go toe to toe with Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Muhammad Ali, Frank Bruno, Joe Frazier, Rocky Marciano...
Those guys had the skill to go against most, the power to kill, and the speed and footwork to get in and out so while boxing doesn't teach you how to handle yourself against someone with a knife, it gives you the tools for you to be able to at the very least figure it out.
Sometimes, all you have to know is how and when to punch. Let your training do the work for you.
EDIT: @Nat, like the other stats posted on this website, yours is utter bullsh!t.
I think it is wonderful for fitness, health, meeting people and self defense. People punch the most and Boxing will teach u how to defend against them.
It can cause long term damage only if your like a professional over many decades.
It is also a huge part of Krav Maga, Marine Corp Martial Arts Program, MMA and Defendu plus the self defense taught to soldiers
Boxing is great. It's the most practical tactic in self defense as its low risk techniques and very damaging at the same time. Whether you want to set up a kick, clinch, or takedown you have to set it up with punches first. Like you said it needs to be supplemented with grappling and kicking arts.
I think is great in many aspects, for fitness as well. For defense is great for normal people that know what they are doing, since good striking abilities can be of a great aid...
The issue is that you see many professionals with health type of issues, brain damages especially and this is something not to take lightly.
It basically means that you can train only until a point, for boxing to be great in general for you, especially for your health....
People tend to start something and try to take it in a high level with time...Boxing is not one of these arts that you can train fully with lots of partners, 4 hours per day for 30 years for example..learn a little bit though, it can be great.
In my opinion boxing is one the best for street self defence.I trained in karate for 10 years.If boxers ever turned up to train most of us were in trouble.Boxing works well at close range.Punches from the waist rather than the hip.
Hooks and uppercuts are often not taught in the tradition martial arts.Kick boxing is also very effective.
If you learn Boxing with the thought that your art is flawed you can learn what ever you need to compensate you may even naturally pick up the skills you need to not be disadvantaged through sparring. The reason why boxers don't always beat other arts even with better conditioning and training is arrogance in their style over confidence can destroy any fighter from any school of any style
The baguazhang system is a good arsenal to add to your boxing. Most of the strikes consists of palm, elbow, etc but they also have their own repertoire of takedowns and joint manipulations. Another thing is baguazhang is a whole system on it's own but to the "experienced" martial artist they only use baguazhang to improve on the styles they already know. So basically it's an add on. If you know martial philosophy then applying some key principle from baguazhang is a good choice especially with boxing.
I think it is a very integral part of MMA. I box as well as wrestle and do BJJ and might start Judo too soon, and I like it. I think it is fun. I do not think without some form of striking, i.e., boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing, you would fair as well in an MMA fight. Because my legs are not well enough to do Muay Thai or kickboxing, I am a little biased, but I think boxing is a more important factor than muay thai
I think it's a great sport and self defense. They do teach you how to enhance your physical abilities, skills, and reflexes.
But it's pretty limited to punching only which you should take another art like Grappling or Kicking.
What do you guys think? Yay or Nay?
Well
I wanted to learn some self defence techniques to protect me and my family. I followed the course of this site http://www.goobypls.com/r/rd.asp?gid=563... It helped: I feel much safer now.
Bye
