Kostya Tszyu on Power Punching

[-Antonio-]

It sounds like he's saying he snaps his punches, and within a split second follows through with it. That just sounds extremely difficult if not impossible to do effectively though.

[kayjay]

It sounds like he's saying he snaps his punches, and within a split second follows through with it. That just sounds extremely difficult if not impossible to do effectively though.

Good guess. It has to be something like that but not with two distinct motions, just two levels or waves of force or impact. It has to have something to do with where in your body the strength is coming from.

[Unseen]

erm can you post a video of the technique he uses? well a chinese boxer really. i can see his punches, but don't quite see the double impact.

[-Antonio-]

Good guess. It has to be something like that but not with two distinct motions, just two levels or waves of force or impact. It has to have something to do with where in your body the strength is coming from.

I'm thinking he's getting that extra force from his shoulders. It's hard to pick up with just watching. Probably why he tries to keep it secret.

[j]

http://www.shenwu.com/hsingi.htm

this is a very good website. have a look around. i pasted a link relevent to our discussion.

[Darkstranger]

I'm sure Zab Judah will be able to testify to Tszyu's power!

[j]

don't play with matches

scary **** that tszyu said he was off target by a bit. i don't think zab would have gotten up had that hit exactly where KT was aiming.


edit: on youtube, look for su dong chen, tim cartmell, or luo de xiu. i also like the stuff by sifu rudy curry and blacktaoist.

[moy22487]

i think bruce lee said a perfect punch should be aimed a couple inches past your opp, as in going threw them to fully reach punch extension

[j]

well, i'm a bit bored since it is very early in the morn and ain't nobody up right now, so i'll throw a couple of things in here.


if you do a little reading on chinese boxing(xing yi quan - intention shape or mind form boxing), you will read about some common attributes.

one is that your are using your whole body to punch, not just your arm, or shoulders, or legs. this is not as simple as it sounds. and there is not just one method. many people, especially boxers, muay tai guys, etc like to use the body in the manner of a chain. meaning, the power is based off of the spring from the legs and snowballs up through the different segments of the body. this is one way. here, i must say though, many people do actually lose power through bad mechanics/movement and structure.

another one, however, is the one unified mass method. this method combines all of your mass and momentum with proper structure and refined movement(shape) which directed by the mind(intention) is utilised as ONE big pulse. no chain of movement. the foot and hand arrive at once. this is called harmony.

however, without proper education in structure, proper education in coordination, and much more, the punch becomes closer to what can be reproduced by an average trained karate fighter or boxer - not that either can't punch hard!

to change from the chain type of force, the sequence of movement, therefore, has to change. instead of initiating from the feet and moving up through the body, you can initiate from the center of gravity(lower abdomen) and move so that as you connect with the ground as your fist is delivered. this means that your movement spreads from your middle outwards in a symmetrical manner. not only can you harness your mass through momentum, but if you are set properly in your posture at the end or issuing of a punch, you can utilise solid structure to back up your punch.

play with that and get back to me. do it right, and you will be surprised.

i didn't cover much here, but what i did is extremely practical. if you really want to investigate further, or actually have the balls to try to learn, look for a teacher around your area. "XY" is probably the best complimentary martial art to a boxer and will raise your game. btw, PM if you think you have a good teacher near your area and i can double check for you.

[BrooklynBomber]

found this article which seems to have some excerpts from an interview of kostya tszyu for a magazine i used to have. the part i quoted only hints at part of his secretive training method and does not hint at the hand conditioning as in the full interview. i figure you guys who train in MA like me or boxing will find this interesting and perhaps even usefull.

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“I can’t cry, all I can do is come back,” the brash American Zab Judah reflected after being ruthlessly chastened by Tszyu inside two rounds in 2001. “Kostya Tszyu is a legend, know what I mean?” Tszyu smiles at the reference to Judah, a fighter accomplished enough to be world welterweight champion now. “I had worked on two or three different punch combinations to be especially effective. The other punches were only to provoke him,” Tszyu reveals. “Once I had him doing what I wanted him to do, I stepped in and nailed him. He got up but weaved across the ring like a drunk at closing time and the referee stepped in. To me, totally predictable.”

Like a ballistics expert, he describes the science that has felled 24 other men in addition to Judah, a technique that distinguishes his right hand as perhaps the most dangerous and feared weapon in boxing. “To disable an opponent, you must accomplish what I call ‘internal hurting’. I use the example of Chinese balls, which are metal balls that contain a second ball inside, to explain,” he says. “When you throw one of these balls and it strikes the target, it will penetrate deeper because of the internal ball. There is initial impact, then a second impact a split second later. The second impact is devastating. This is when the internal power is released.

“When I throw a punch it opens a hole in the target. The second impact, which is accomplished by delivering the punch in the correct manner, brings the internal hurt that results in concussion.”


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now, if you understand what he is saying, you can gain a small glimpse of a trained punching method from classical chinese boxing. if you compare getting hit by both, a normal western boxing punch and the punch described by tszyu, you would be able to recognize very easily that they feel completely different. well, they are different. very different.

add your thoughts. i would like to see some of the trained boxers or other trained martial artists thoughts on KT's brief description of his power right cross.

perhaps even a comparison to your punching technique.

I am not sure if it's what you are talking about, but when I was trained by my old trainer he taught me to imagine that my opponent has a core(he said to imagine a ray of light going from his brain to his spine and when I was to punch I had to punch through the body and into the ray. The punching technique was not much different from it's western counter part but philosophy behind it was. It was rather effective, since my punch skyrocketed in terme of power(and accuracy) considering that I was a skinny 14 year old was a smallish frame. The only downside to it was a much higher risk of breaking my knuckles if I was to fight outside of the ring.