Boxing is the most popular combat sport worldwide, which in turn has made it the most refined martial art. With billions of dollars in revenue being generated whenever boxing’s biggest stars like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez step inside the cage, boxing has been studied in greater detail than any other combat sport. The sport never remains stagnant as trainers and promoters look for ways to give their fighters an edge over their opponents.
Learning how to defend yourself is one of the many reasons people look to learn martial arts, and boxing is as good as any other. Many lifelong boxers even swear it’s the best martial art for self-defense despite being one of the most restrictive martial arts. Practitioners are only allowed to punch their opponents during boxing matches. Anything else is deemed illegal.
While you might think only learning how to use your hands isn’t enough for self-defense purposes, boxing is a lot more than that. Boxing teaches an assortment of offensive and defensive techniques, distance management, and effective footwork.
The average untrained person has virtually no chance against a trained boxer in a self-defense situation. It’s no different that how the average person wouldn’t stand a chance on the ground against someone who’s trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for a year.
You don’t have to become the next Manny Pacquiao to be able to defend yourself and your loved ones in self-defense situations. You only need to learn and understand how some fundamental boxing concepts work like:
- Using your footwork as a defensive or offensive tool without getting unbalanced.
- Using your jab to set up combinations and manage distance.
- Knowing how to slip, parry or block punches with appropriate timing.
Master these three boxing fundamentals and you’ll be a handful for any untrained person to deal with.
Reasons Why Boxing Is Great For Self-Defense
This article will take a detailed look at some of the things that make boxing an excellent combat style for self-defense and some of its limitations. Some of the biggest advantages boxers have in self-defense situations include:
1) Teaches You How To Finish A Fight With One Punch
Boxers are well-known for their knockout power even when wearing eight or ten-ounce gloves. Their knockout power increases exponentially when you take off the boxing gloves and all the padding inside them. A bare-knuckle punch thrown by a trained boxer is a powerful weapon that will put anyone to sleep if it connects flush.
Boxers learn how to pivot their feet and torque their torso into their punches, significantly increasing the power they make impact with. Being able to end a fight in the blink of an eye is a useful skill to have in self-defense situations. The quicker you can end the fight, the less likely you are to get hurt.
2) Boxers Throw Faster, More Accurate Punches
Punching power isn’t the only thing you get to work on when you start training in boxing. You also learn how to throw fast, accurate punches. The faster your punches are, the more power they land with. The more accurate your punches are, the less likely you are to leave openings your opponent can exploit.
The hand speed of boxers goes a long way in self-defense situations since they typically involve two people spamming punches at each other. Having the speed advantage allows you to overwhelm opponents with volume and being accurate means most of your punches connect with their target. No other martial art compares to boxing when it comes to throwing fast, accurate, powerful punches.
3) Keeps You Balance While Fighting
A boxer’s fists are their main weapon and that makes it easier to stay upright and balanced in a fight. Being upright also makes it easier to watch your back or flee to a safe area. Throwing kicks in self-defense situations can leave you in a compromising position.
For example, an attacker might catch your leg and use it to throw you to the ground or you might slip as you throw it and fall. You’ve probably seen some professional mixed martial artist slip and end up on the canvas after throwing kicks. It’s something that occurs even at the highest levels.
4) Teaches You Effective Defensive Techniques
Boxing teaches the most effective defensive techniques against punches. No other martial art comes close to boxing in this regard: boxers use their feet, angles, and head movement to remove themselves from harm’s way. They also know how to block and parry punches, making them extremely difficult to land clean punches on.
Floyd Mayweather spent the last decade of his career fighting the best boxers in the world, yet he barely had any bruises on his face after his fights. If the best boxers in the world can barely find openings to exploit when fighting him, what chance does an untrained person have?
Master boxing defense and you’ll be a tough challenge for any untrained person. There are videos of boxing instructors challenging regular people to try and hit them in the head for a prize as a marketing tactic. Watch some of these videos to get a clear idea of how effective boxing defense is.
Drawbacks
While boxing is an excellent fighting style for self-defense purposes, it does have some glaring weaknesses that can leave you vulnerable in some scenarios. These include:
1) Zero Ground Fighting
Boxing doesn’t cover any aspect of grappling so a boxer might find themselves in serious trouble if they find themselves going against a competent grappler. James Toney’s UFC fight with Randy Couture is an excellent example of this reality. Despite winning multiple championships as a professional boxer, Toney wasn’t able to land a single punch on Couture because he was immediately put on the canvas and submitted.
Consider learning some grappling to complement your boxing training if you want to be a well-rounded fighter and know how to defend yourself against strikers or grapplers.
2) Doesn’t Cover Clinch Fighting
Boxers are typically reprimanded for clinching up with each other when training, sparring or fighting. That leaves you at a disadvantage since striking arts like Muay Thai and grappling arts like Wrestling cover the clinch extensively.
The clinch is a powerful position if you know what you’re doing and most self-defense situations often end up in a clinch. Muay Thai fighters are the most dangerous in the clinch if you’re wondering.
3) No Answers For Leg Kicks
Leg kicks are rarely used in street fights, but it is worth noting that boxing doesn’t teach you how to defend against them. To make things worse, the stance most boxers use makes them more vulnerable to leg kicks. Make sure you take some time to learn the basics of checking kicks if you’re learning boxing for self-defense. Watch some instructional videos or take a few Muay Thai classes.
Equip Yourself Today
Remember, self-defense is not about flashy knockouts or highlight-reel submissions, it’s a fight to live another day. Don’t restrict yourself to only boxing since other martial arts also have unique techniques that could come in handy. If you are looking to learn self-defense from martial arts World Champions, sign up for a complimentary trial class today!
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