Get a double end bag, also get a double end bag

Please Hammer, don't hurt him!

Hmm could well be worth a look! There might be one at the gym though. Yeah my punchy man isnt massively mobile. Still it does a job.

See that would've been my cue to just go into a deathstare at the mother 'til he hid behind the snacks aisle.

Skerret wrote:

Gonzo wrote:

This guy in the waitrose under JL Oxford circus who I think fancies me has told me I look like a famous brazillian cagefighter

We both know that's where any such comparison ends.

Not true, Ozno loves wrestling men to the floor and pinning them down wearing naught but some skin tight hot pants.

Combat is precisely that, lots of forearm work, I hate clinch and groundwork, mostly because I'm 5'9" and 11 stone. So I spend most of my time playing to my strengths, movement and using range. The double ended bag gets the reflexes working more than the power, but there's no point having the biggest punch of you can't land it

I used to do a bit of boxing. I wouldn't mind getting back into that at some point.

Bags make you good at hitting bags. Punching drills?! We on Mr Han's island?! My reflexes were much better as a 13-year-old, but I couldn't hit shit when I started boxing, because I wasn't used to kids rolling under my shots, or closing distance when I threw overhand rights.

Most of you haven't had the experience of taking all your theory into a club and going home with a beetroot face. You know what's scary? Landing a good shot and not hurting him. Get a heavy bag, and have someone teach you how to turn over your punches. Sort your technique, and build up some power with reps on the bag and plyometric press-ups.

It takes a lot of time to learn when to slip, block or catch shots, and longer still to learn when to close the distance (most people instinctively flinch and recoil). You have to reprogram that instinct, for instinct is simply your memory bank choosing an automated response based on the outcomes of previous experiences. Because recoiling lessened the power of x number of punches, it's easy for your brain to accept recoiling as the best course of action. But once you've gone against your instincts successfully a few times, you begin to overwrite them.

I can extend a hook and maintain most of its power, but if you force me to shorten it then I'll lose a lot of my coil. At range, you do typically move away and to one side when a big shot's thrown (knowing which side to move to comes with experience, but never move straight back as a 90%-true rule).

In boxing, you roll with your hips and your shoulders follow. Even when you're just moving your shoulders a bit, you lead with your legs. Boxing footwork isn't nearly as involved as ice-skating or ballet, but it's a dance in all but name. Sadly, most trainers are crushingly hopeless. I trained with some good kids and learnt by osmosis - and boxing demands kinaesthetic learning - but trainers routinely fail their club members with a lack of biomechanical insight.

I could type a lot more, but if we're talking about fighting without rules, most of my boxing skills are no good to me. You can join a Krav Maga class, but I'd caution against treating anything it teaches as gospel. All martial arts fall into the trap of a-b-c assumptions. Some [much] more than others, is all. I once saw an angry Chinese lad trying to attack an old boxing mate. All kung-fu fingers aimed at the eyes and throat. My mate kept his chin down and - because he was able to read telegraphed aggression - just dapped around with the footwork equivalent of a saunter.

Go for the eyes! Go for the throat! Go for the balls! One and all are bollocks. Krav Maga's better because it teaches you the targets and has you attack whatever's on the table, but without experience of deploying it for real, it remains bogged down by theory.

To be good at brawling requires [in order] experience, strength and size. Stamina isn't such a problem, so go mad on the weights, bulk as much as possible, and tackle at the earliest opportunity.

Bruce is a legend for this business, but he wouldn't have been good enough to be an elite pro boxer (ams would've suited him, though), and his legacy is bullshido.

Boxing isn't the greatest fighting art, because - yes, it's true - it only utilises arms. However, unlike MMA, you can't go to ground when you're tired in boxing. When you're caught and hurt and too far to clinch, you can't tackle, and you can't take a count without - in your own mind - losing face. Psychologically, it's by far the toughest form of combat, and that's the reason why it's bred so many genuine tough guys. It frequently challenges pride in a way that MMA's rarely able to. Boxers are also, naturally, often the best punchers (well, some of 'em!).

You just get sparked, choked or submitted in UK and American MMA (it's not a laugh a minute, o' course, but I don't see its appeal as a halfway house between a refined art - like boxing or Pride - and brawling). The larger boxing gloves are likely more dangerous due to their increased impact diffusion (that's the way science is going), and ring ropes are a hazard for whiplash injuries. The MMA cage is actually, to date, safer.

It's not accurate to say that a top boxer would've been a better fighter had he learned Krav Muay Thai, because he'd have lost more via the hardships of a determined focus than he'd have gained from an improved skillset.

Good post escape. Now I really want to get back in to boxing.

Yeah, but not at Army level. Heavyweight but doubt I could get down to that weight no.

Are you talking lbs? I fought at just under 84kgs but there is no way I could get below 90 now. Loved sparring sessions at the end of the training day.

I think I should have been fighting at cruiser weight but there was never enough competitors so I always got entered into heavyweight.

Old Nige once fought at heavy.

Mastering a fighting technique and being a hardened fighter are two different things it would seem.

Skerret wrote:

Mastering a fighting technique and being a hardened fighter are two different things it would seem.

Yeah, my methods are somewhat unorthodox but I can explode into fury at the drop of a tiny bowler hat.