Bare Knuckle Boxing...

... And Punching In Hand-To-Hand Combat

© COPYRIGHT 2009 BY BRADLEY J. STEINER - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Sword and Pen – October 2009 Issue

[Reprinted with Permission]

American Combato
Seattle Combatives

Using the clenched fist either as a primary weapon or as a natural weapon with which to attack the facial/head area is WRONG for close combat and self-defense. Those who, correctly noting the deficiencies in the sport of Western boxing insofar as self-defense is concerned, have gravitated to the older (rougher and tougher) "bare knuckle boxing", thinking that this will give them a "boxing system for the street" are misinformed.


The old bare knuckle boxers were tough as nails, and yes, their method of boxing was superior for self-defense to the modern boxing we are accustomed to seeing today. However, the fact that bare knuckle boxing is superior to modern boxing for personal combat by no means demonstrates that bare knuckle boxing is a viable method of combat training, per se. Using a garden hose to attempt to put out a house fire makes more sense than relying on filling, refilling, and repeatedly tossing buckets of water on the fire. BUT NEITHER APPROACH MAKES MUCH REAL SENSE AS A MEANS OF BATTLING A HOUSE FIRE.

Bare knuckle boxers use their clenched fists for normal-fist punching. This is a serious mistake for self-defense or hand-to-hand combat. It is as much a mistake for the bare knuckle boxer as it is for the karate student, since other much more effective and reliable natural weapon hand blows have been proven beyond question to be infinitely better choices for close combat. (We must state here, for the overly sensitive, that we are in no shape, manner, or form deriding bare knuckle boxing, per se. We are speaking only of how this sport stacks up FOR REAL COMBAT.)

To be a true fist fighter who stands any reasonable chance of stopping a dangerous physical assailant, you must be REAL GOOD, an expert, or at least a strong, fit, boxer-in-training with conditioned fists.

Our advice: Waste no time training in bare knuckle boxing if you wish to be able to handle dangerous, real world attackers. You’ll only be getting sidetracked, and you’ll be confusing yourself by training to strike with your FISTS to targets that you should be training to strike with open hands. In the stress and heat of a real emergency you want your extended fingers to jab into your attacker’s eyes, your heel of hand to blast him in the jaw, and your hand-edge to chop at his carotid artery — or throat! Polish kicks to the testicles and side kicks to the knees. Never mind any kind of sporting stuff.

One excellent thing about boxers — bare knuckle boxers and the modern variety — is that the manner in which they hit (NOT the weapons, but the MANNER in which those weapons are trained to generate blows) is far superior to the manner in which the classical/traditional karate/kung fu/taekwondo/ju-jutsu man learns to hit. Learn this now:

Do not use the full turn "corkscrew" type punch, ever — and NEVER, EVER "counterbalance" (i.e. withdraw your opposite fist with equal speed and power to your hip, while delivering the punch)! Corkscrewing results in two problems when employed:

1. The punching arm "wings out" as the punch goes forward, and

2. The wrist twists, and this WEAKENS the critical support required from the wrist when the fist connects with the target. (You can prove this to yourself by standing in front of a heavy bag and driving your most powerful corkscrew punch into the bag. Then try a vertical (palm-in) fist punch. Much stronger.

When punching in an actual hand-to-hand battle, restrict the fist blow (either straight, palm-in, or uppercut, palm up) to the sternum, solar plexus, liver, spleen, testicles, or kidney. That’s it. Never punch to the torso area (too muscular, heavy, and well protected) or the facial/head area (bony contact surface can fracture fingers and hand bones). One minor, rare exception might be a quick fist jab or thrust to the nose, applied simply as a distraction, paving the way for "heavier guns".

Hit like a BOXER hits. No counterbalancing! Counterbalancing actually DETRACTS from the power of your blow. Here’s proof — and I offer it directly from the various karate systems:

When training their blows IN THE AIR karate students easily and naturally employ counterbalancing. The smart snap of the gi, the sharp, neat, upright posture, and the smooth symmetry of delivery, looks great. However, notice that you’ll never see any karate man counterbalance when breaking objects. Why? Because when breaking he must have full, unrestrained, total POWER — power that smashes through (not merely connect "on") the target. Intuitively, a karate man will hit by employing body movement similar to that which a boxer employs. He turns his body into the blow (whether a punch, heel of hand, edge of hand, elbow or whatever).

On a televised "Fight Science" Show comparisons were made between the power delivery of a taekwondo man, a kung fu man, and a boxer. The taekwondo man was built like Mr. Universe, and was an absolutely excellent performer of the taekwondo art. He was fast, lithe, strong, and technically expert. However, despite the boxer’s being perhaps fifteen or more years older, and apparently not in any kind of condition resembling the taekwondoist’s (or the kung fu man’s) IT WAS THE BOXER WHOSE PUNCH REGISTERED THE HARDEST HIT OF ANYONE’S!

Don’t fight with your clenched fists, per se. Use them sparingly, as we have instructed. But do use your body’s natural weapons in the fluid, natural, logically powerful and well-coordinated manner that a boxer uses when he punches. Perhaps boxing lacks the "mystery" and the "intrigue" that appeals to many who gravitate to the martial arts. But boxing teaches practical, fast, natural, and EFFECTIVE use of the body for proper delivery of blows when attacking a human adversary.

If you can find a copy of Jack Dempsey’s classic, CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTING, buy it and study it. This was our source for learning the "falling step" that we teach in our System. Dempsey was one of the greatest boxers in the sport’s history, in our Country. You will learn more about how to deliver all of the hand and arm blows of hand-to-hand combat and self-defense by studying the principles of hitting as taught in Western boxing than you will by training in classical/traditional karate. Just remember as you begin to apply these principles: Use of the fists per se is strictly limited insofar as actual close combat is concerned.

If your purpose is to become and to remain combat ready then understand clearly that — whether of the modern gloved or of the older "bare knuckle" variety — boxing per se is NOT an adequate or even a recommended skill. Its methods of hitting are superb — but those methods must be applied to and with proven, combat-viable blows, not with clenched fist punches.

Clenched fist punching is for the competitive and for the classical practitioner. Make no mistake about it. And pay no attention to any "bare knuckle fad. Stick with open hand chops, heel of the hand blows, edge of the fist blows, elbow smashes, fingertips thrusts and gouges, and low area kicks. Just learn to employ those devastating actions the way a boxer employs his punches; and you’ll be well prepared for any emergency!