Lessons From Boxing: Training, Tactics and
Faster Footwork
Lessons From Boxing: Training, Tactics and
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Rerun one of Ali’s better fights and you’ll notice that quick, flicking left hand—the left that blinds his opponent, obscuring his vision and keeping him off-balance. Ali throws it with the elbow out and the hand slightly unclenched, sometimes making contact with just the tip of his glove. It is said that Ali has taken instruction in a form of karate, so it would seem reasonable to assume that he consciously modified the stiff left jab of boxing into the whipping, backfist-like strike so often seen in tournament karate. Although no one but Ali knows what Ali thinks, it would make sense to add the backfist to a boxer’s arsenal, especially if that boxer was speed-oriented rather than one who depended on power. The backfist is a quicker blow, although the straight, elbows-in jab is probably more powerful with gloves on. Ali, who has always been willing to trade power for speed, seems to be a classic example of a boxer who has discovered that the martial arts have some useful techniques to offer—even in a ring with gloves on. Conversely, now that tournament karate is widespread, more and more martial artists are looking at the sport of boxing with an eye to learning enough to win more at the “sport” karate events and are undertaken with protective equipment. First of all, it might be wise to consider all the things that boxing is not. Boxing is a sport, not an art, and as such is undertaken in a ring with gloves. Traditional karate is, of course, empty-handed and with no ring as such. However, boxing and karate overlap in one area quite clearly—in full-contact karate competition. Call it, if you will, kickboxing. The full-contact fighters are borrowing footwork, training techniques and ring tactics from the boxing people. Some of the more perceptive instructors have recognized the value of boxing in training full-contact fighters. In adapting their full-contact men to boxing techniques, they have also picked up on ways boxing adapts itself to self-defense in the street. One such instructor is Hee Il Cho, a taekwondo instructor located in Los Angeles. Cho trains full-contact fighters, in part, by making them work out in a boxing-style ring and by having them do more bag work than a traditional “no-contact” point fighter would find necessary. Naturally, they wear gloves, and in contrast to point fighters, they spar regularly and vigorously, with many blows exchanged.
Cho believes strongly enough in boxing training that he studied boxing for years in an effort to learn why boxers do things as they do. He has good reason. “I always believed that I was able to beat the boxers—that was my feeling,” Cho explained of a time before he arrived in the United States from his native Korea.” In the ring, on the street—I thought I could do it anywhere.” Cho was so eager to test his martial arts ability that he got into the ring with a good boxer by telling the boxing coach that he had trained many years at boxing. “I went up there without knowledge (of boxing) and was beaten up so badly—I’d never had that experience in my life. That’s why I learned—I learned the hard way.” After that, Cho began studying boxing. “I went into boxing training when I was in Korea, then I went into the service—the 35th Infantry Division—and fought many times. Not professionally but as an amateur. Then for many years after coming to this country, I trained in my own way, analyzing boxing and incorporating it into taekwondo fights,” Cho said. “We can also modify the punching a little more like boxing,” Cho said. “We can throw the ridgehand exactly the same way as a boxing left hook. It’s a hundred times more effective if we throw the ridgehand and emphasize the boxing technique—stay at shoulder level with the elbow out, pivoting the waist simultaneously.” Both karate and boxing include the notion that twisting the hips with a strike adds power. “In karate, every movement has a similar one in boxing, or boxers could say that karate movements are more like boxing,” Cho said. “For example, we throw a backfist; that’s a left jab, or the left jab is a backfist. If we say right cross, that’s basically a straight right. Foot movements—in a reverse punch, we move the front leg first, with the back leg pushing into it. That’s the same movement as when a boxer throws a right cross or left jab, the same principle. The only difference is the balance; they keep a different (higher) weight, and the feet are separated differently.” The footwork is one key difference between traditional martial arts—in which low, strong, but immobile stances are often emphasized—and boxing. In boxing, the stances are usually higher, sacrificing power to gain more mobility. “A karate position is very still; it’s not easy to move from position to position. But boxing movements, with the weight fifty-fifty, almost—then they can move in each direction, forward, backward, sideways. They are not designed so that one blow finishes the fighter,” Cho said. In other words, the footwork is different because most boxers don’t try to finish the fight in one punch. In hard-style karate, the low stance allows transmission of more power, thus enabling the one-punch knockout. In boxing, combinations are the prime weapon, and perfect balance must be maintained to throw a powerful series of combinations. Needless to say, many martial arts competitors are finding that slightly higher stances allow greater mobility in tournament situations, in which the one-punch knockout is inappropriate. When it comes to training fighters, especially full-contact fighters, boxers are way ahead of traditional ways of training. Boxers work with bags, and karate men have adopted the bag—especially the heavy bag—as an adjunct to the more traditional makiwara. But boxers also jump rope and do roadwork—about a mile for each round of the fight they’re preparing for—and they spar much more than karateka. “Karate is for the general public; boxing is not for everybody. A 60-year-old lady or a 10-year-old kid couldn’t box,” Cho observed. And for full contact, there is no better training than boxing training, according to Cho. “Without boxing, you cannot go into full contact,” he said flatly. “Full contact is like boxing because they wear the boxing gloves and foot pads. Inside the boxing ring, putting on the gloves, no other things can be better than boxing.
In short, the gloves, rules and ring of full contact change the game to the extent that it almost becomes a form of boxing but with kicks. Even with kicking allowed, however, many professional full-contact fighters are reluctant to kick because it increases fatigue and because it is often easier to use the hands. If it were not for rules that force the fighters to kick, it is possible that full contact would become even more like boxing. Boxing tactics, more than anything else, have contributed to successful full-contact fighting. For example, boxers are not taught to block punches, as are karateka in certain styles. Instead, a boxer will “slip” an oncoming punch by turning away and “shrugging” the fist by the face. The advantage of slipping is obvious; because no block was attempted, the defender is now in a position to counter strongly. In short, slipping punches, rather than blocking them, allows the defender to initiate counterpunches. Anyone watching Ray Leonard slip and counterpunch can see the value of slipping as a ring tactic. Boxers also spar more, which develops an awareness of how to create openings in an opponent’s defenses. Karateka, because they tend to spar only in controlled situations, are usually much less aware of how to use feints to “set up” an opponent for a hand technique. (Boxers are also more likely to duck, bob and weave in an effort to avoid punches, but these movements are not as important to full-contact fighters because any tenden¬cy to duck could leave them open for an easy knee to the head.) Cho believes there is value in teaching boxing basics to karateka, even if they don’t intend to become fighters. “As far as street fighting is concerned, kicking is not so effective, but can that student learn how to use his hands? Yes. How he trains is what makes the difference,” Cho said. “I think that every martial artist, if he wants to be self-defensive, should learn different ways to analyze his punching and kicking. I’m a taekwondo instructor, but I’m not just teaching kicking. “On the street, if you pick up one leg higher, one leg is left balancing yourself. No matter how you look at it, it’s not better than someone who has two feet on the ground. No matter how well someone can balance himself on one leg, he is already off-balance. If you are swept off that leg, then you’ll fall on the floor. Yes, maybe for certain exercises it is beneficial if you have a low-positioned leg with a wide center of balance—that will give you better exercise. But as far as realism goes, you can’t be fighting with one leg out there (in a deep stance). You can’t move. Also, because of the balance, boxers can continue if they miss at first. The follow-up punches are better. “I can’t say that is the only way to fight, but if you change things in a more or less scientific way, you can get a lot of benefit from it, not only for realistic situations but also to keep fit. Boxing has more strenuous training.” Cho is careful not to say that boxing is better than karate—or any martial art—or vice versa. With no gloves on, the karateka can use his hands and fingers to strike very small and vital points, to grip and tear soft spots like the throat, and to use the bony parts of the hands to do more damage. Boxers are not trained in these kinds of attacks. And of course, boxers do not kick. Cho is partly motivated by the memory of his encounter with the boxer in Korea, many years ago. He still has a healthy respect for boxers. “If instructors ever worked with a glove on or have ever fought with boxers, they will change their attitude: I did, and that’s why I changed,” he said. “Before it happened to me, I never would have believed it. I thought I could beat the hell out of anybody.” But Cho today is much wiser than in his youth, and he is also intrigued with the idea of a good, taekwondo-style kicker who can really punch. “That would be perfection,” he said. “Kicking and with good hands would be just perfect. It’s a more complete way. It gives protection. You can fight boxers, you can fight karate guys and you can do full contact, anything,” he said about boxing training. “That’s why I think both ways should be taught, not only one way.” Cho doesn’t believe it is necessary to make his students into all-out boxers, however. “I teach the basics of boxing, and I believe that someone who is studying the basics can complete it in about six months,” he said. “If they want more detail about boxing, I can’t tell them that much. I send them to a boxing gym. But I am including what I know about the basics of boxing in a book I am writing, which will make it easier for people to learn boxing basics. Cho can appreciate the worth of traditionalism and is aware of the historical and spiritual value of training in the way that martial artists trained centuries ago. But he still thinks that it’s important to keep one’s eyes open. “People are very, very funny,” he said. “Just like if someone believes in a certain religion: No matter what new religions appear, he can’t change. "Now boxing and karate competition are two different sports, but they can be analyzed and many things can be learned. You can teach many different ways.” |
