Why are backhands illegal in boxing???

[T-97]

Cause it would mean that fighters would be back hand slapping each other, and wtf is up with that!? No one wants to see that ****..

[Zerwas1]

Naseem Hamed threw a lot. Haven't seen one fighter in boxing throwing a powerful backhand

[Guest]

Your head is vulnerable and your body contorted when you throw a backhand.
I don't think it's the greatest idea.

Incidentally before the Marquis of Queensbury rules, a rabbit punch was legal and it was the weapon of choice for John Slack a dirty fighter and champ from 1750-1760 who basically invented it.

[Yogi]

One of the more famous backhands in history was seen during a fight between 'Nonpariel' Jack Dempsey and George LaBlanche in Aug of 1889, and here's a description of it from the fight reports of the time as printed on Aug 28th, 1889, in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle;

"The thirty-first round was exceedingly tame, but when the men came up for the thirty-second round Dempsey attempted to force matters. He was by far the fresher man of the two, and with but few exceptions had had the fight all his own way up to the present time. He forced LaBlanche into a corner and pounded him unmercifully. The latter recieved staggering blows on the head and neck, but stood up under them well. The men gradually worked to the center of the ring and while Dempsey continued to find LaBlanche's neck the latter whirled around suddenly and caught Dempsey a terrific blow on the jaw and the Nonpariel went down like a shot. He fell heavily upon his face and the blood spurted out upon the floor of the ring. Ten seconds went by amid intense excitement. Dempsey struggled bravely to rise, but before he had reached his feet, weak and staggering, the time had expired and the referee had awarded the fight to LaBlanche."


In his 'Greatest Fighters' book, Bert Sugar described the punch LaBlanche landed as such;

"But then in the thirty-second, LaBlanche spun completely around. Gaining momentum, his right arm straight out, he caught Dempsey with a perfectly executed pivot punch; or more correctly stated, he gave him the back of his hand, literally. Dempsey went down like a barrel filled with cement, out cold."

[fightingfigs]

Cause it would mean that fighters would be back hand slapping each other, and wtf is up with that!? No one wants to see that ****..

LOL exxcept UFC fighters I see alot of them using a "spinning Backfist" I think its one of the worst pnches ever it leaves alot of meat to be hit witht he opponent openly ready to hit if he misses

[shadeyfizzle]

LOL exxcept UFC fighters I see alot of them using a "spinning Backfist" I think its one of the worst pnches ever it leaves alot of meat to be hit witht he opponent openly ready to hit if he misses

Once again I am NOT talking about a spinning backfist like you see in ufc highlight reels. Im talking about a simple backhand. Imagine throwing a right cross and missing. Now instead of being vulnerable in this position imagine being able to keep offensive momentum by pulling your right cross back in the same flight path it had just taken instead of tucking it back undr your chin into a defensive position.

[Stickman]

I always thought because it would be a punch that is so much more damaging than all the others.

It is with the hardest part of your hand... and you can also get the most momentum when backhanding it.

But that sounds ****** next to Silencer's explanation, so you should probably go with that.

If you backhand someone and catch the actual back of your hand on a brow or forehead, you will break your hand. It is definitely not the hardest part of your hand. That's your knuckles. But you can deliver more comparitively force, faster, with a backhand than you can with a straight punch (like a jab), nearly double. That's probably another reason why it's illegal.

[Space_Bar]

Flicking jabs are garbage anyway

[warp1432]

Flicking jabs are garbage anyway

Yeah because Hearns' jab was never effective.

[T-97]

I repeat who wants to see boxers backhand slap each other!?

You wanna see that go watch some Hoes fightin, No one wants boxiers slappin eack other!

That would take pitty-pat to a new level