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Originally posted by fraidycat
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If I can, for a moment, go back to the original question:
What both of the guys who got owned in those videos did, that lost them the fight, was HESITATE. I'm not saying that they could have won against their opponents, but they both made the same mistake.
I've said this before and I stand by it: what makes boxing effective "on the street" is not punching ability. Boxing as a martial art does not win fights. What makes a boxer dangerous is what he's been through in his training. Boxing is one of the only martial arts that is practiced full-contact, with limited padding. A skilled boxer -- someone with, say, 5 years of hard training and a dozen matches under his belt -- has probably been punched in the face full-force a hundred times; so many times that it doesn't bother him any more than the shock of cold water bothers a competitive swimmer. He has been knocked to the ground. He's had the wind knocked out of him. He has conditioned himself to fight on with no wind, or with a broken nose, or even choking on his own blood. He knows that taking a heavy punch or kick is not going to kill him; he won't panic when he gets hit, or freak out at the taste of his own blood. And because of his conditioning and his experience in the ring, he's used to putting his body through a degree of pain that most people do not, and because of this, HE DOES NOT HESITATE. You punch a skilled boxer in the face, and he won't blink. Even if you can hit him, he just won't care.
Watch this guy:
Note how the guys he takes out spend most of their time TRYING NOT TO GET HIT -- covering up, back-stepping. Him? He just wades in, taking shots he's obviously practiced ten thousand times. Even if one of those guys had clocked him I doubt it would've even slowed him down.
There used to be a great news video of a Turkish (IIRC) security guard who has had boxing training, taking out eight or nine guys in the space of like fifteen seconds (EDIT: Mostly with jabs!) Because they hesitated and flinched, and he didn't.
That's what boxing gives you, that most martial arts don't. My nephew trains at a "martial arts" gym that DOES NOT HAVE CONTACT. At all. He can break a board held overhead with a jump kick, but he has never had the wind knocked out of him. He's never been punched. He's 15.
Anyone remember the first big hit you took? The first one that laid you out. The first one when you realized that this **** is serious; when you were lying on the canvas and started to shake uncontrollably. That punch. Personally, I threw up. Then I went into shock, and I cried for about ten minutes. That's what happens to most people the first time they get hit by someone who knows how to hit, the way a skilled boxer knows how to hit. Shock. Panic. Shutdown. That immediate sense that you are in over your head. Your brain telling you that you cannot deal with another punch like that; that you are in imminent mortal danger.
It doesn't happen to me anymore. I finished a match with a punctured eardrum last year. The guy busted my eardrum and I knocked him across the ring with an overhand right two seconds later. That's what boxing gives you, that most other forms don't. If you're a boxer, that's what you have, to work with. That's ALL you have. Just hope it's enough.
What both of the guys who got owned in those videos did, that lost them the fight, was HESITATE. I'm not saying that they could have won against their opponents, but they both made the same mistake.
I've said this before and I stand by it: what makes boxing effective "on the street" is not punching ability. Boxing as a martial art does not win fights. What makes a boxer dangerous is what he's been through in his training. Boxing is one of the only martial arts that is practiced full-contact, with limited padding. A skilled boxer -- someone with, say, 5 years of hard training and a dozen matches under his belt -- has probably been punched in the face full-force a hundred times; so many times that it doesn't bother him any more than the shock of cold water bothers a competitive swimmer. He has been knocked to the ground. He's had the wind knocked out of him. He has conditioned himself to fight on with no wind, or with a broken nose, or even choking on his own blood. He knows that taking a heavy punch or kick is not going to kill him; he won't panic when he gets hit, or freak out at the taste of his own blood. And because of his conditioning and his experience in the ring, he's used to putting his body through a degree of pain that most people do not, and because of this, HE DOES NOT HESITATE. You punch a skilled boxer in the face, and he won't blink. Even if you can hit him, he just won't care.
Watch this guy:
Note how the guys he takes out spend most of their time TRYING NOT TO GET HIT -- covering up, back-stepping. Him? He just wades in, taking shots he's obviously practiced ten thousand times. Even if one of those guys had clocked him I doubt it would've even slowed him down.
There used to be a great news video of a Turkish (IIRC) security guard who has had boxing training, taking out eight or nine guys in the space of like fifteen seconds (EDIT: Mostly with jabs!) Because they hesitated and flinched, and he didn't.
That's what boxing gives you, that most martial arts don't. My nephew trains at a "martial arts" gym that DOES NOT HAVE CONTACT. At all. He can break a board held overhead with a jump kick, but he has never had the wind knocked out of him. He's never been punched. He's 15.
Anyone remember the first big hit you took? The first one that laid you out. The first one when you realized that this **** is serious; when you were lying on the canvas and started to shake uncontrollably. That punch. Personally, I threw up. Then I went into shock, and I cried for about ten minutes. That's what happens to most people the first time they get hit by someone who knows how to hit, the way a skilled boxer knows how to hit. Shock. Panic. Shutdown. That immediate sense that you are in over your head. Your brain telling you that you cannot deal with another punch like that; that you are in imminent mortal danger.
It doesn't happen to me anymore. I finished a match with a punctured eardrum last year. The guy busted my eardrum and I knocked him across the ring with an overhand right two seconds later. That's what boxing gives you, that most other forms don't. If you're a boxer, that's what you have, to work with. That's ALL you have. Just hope it's enough.
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