Tips for a boxer fighting martial artist?

Question

I have a couple martial artistthat wanna spar with me. One takes Karate and the other is Wing Chung. I'd like to think of my self as a pretty skilled boxer but this will be my first time going against a marshall artist. I'm mainly concerned about my legs, being as I'm a boxer and I am not used to having to protect them. Can anybody offer any tips?

Answer 1

Learn a little kickboxing, mainly the defense and what kicks to look for. I take mixed martial arts in which we do alot of kickboxing where low kicks are very common. They get to the body faster than a punch and they do more damage. Your legs will weaken and you won't have any push off power. Muay Thai kickboxing is a good art to learn because it also teaches the art of using knees and elbows effectively. I'd check out http://www.kickboxing.com and get all the information you need there.

Answer 2

How intense sparring are we talking about? If it is all out trying to knock the other guy out then I would say the boxer must quickly close the distance and hit with quick combinations. I use to do boxing and sparred with guys who did karate. Of course they were doing boxing training. The karate guys are not great with their hands. Now if they get to kick you better get in and do something fast.

If it is just for fun then go light and see if you can get the feel for it.

Answer 3

close the distance quickly. don't worry about the chunner, chances are he recieved crap training as what I hear the vast majority of wing chun schools are not trained to deal well with other arts and do not spar. However I am not familiar with wing chun and have not to my knowledge sparred against anyone using it ever so he could have been training outside against resisting opponents of other styles.

Karate could be good depending on the intensity of training of the school. you can negate many of thier kicks by approaching quickily and going after them. if you close quick enough you negate his legs, even if he is attempting a roundhouse you drive towards him and he has no room to manuver or can't quick enough you have a big advantage.

you know these guys better than anyone. look at the intensity of thier training (and yours) and if they train with resistance. Boxing generally does of course. The karate guy may train in point sparring crap or kyokushin goodness (they spar bare fist but disallow strikes to the head, generally. And there are schools train with gear too.).

The only real thing you need to worry about is the low roundhouse or possibly a front kick to keep you away. The low roundhouse (this is not a thai boxer) can demolish you, but you can minimize this if you don't waste time dancing around and sizing him up, attack quickly so if he does execute one he hits you not with his shin as aimed, but higher up on your leg, and higher up on his, instead of taking it to the knee area, you get the hit in the meaty thigh muscle that gives you more protection.

again, it all depends on how hard they and you have trained.

EDIT: I would agree with hood 12 if it was a muai thai guy which generally I would think trains as hard and as competitively as a boxer. However karate is a wide range of intensity so we don't know how hard these guys train and what intensity.

Answer 4

I have to agree with hood 12 the most because since they have the added ability to use their legs, you'll want to move in close to (almost) even things up, but then if either one of these guys know how to utilize their knees for striking then you're still in some trouble.

I'd probly forget about trying to spar with these two, it could only wind up pretty badly, anfd you are right to concern yourself about your legs, that's most likely what they'll try to work on the most to wear you down.

If you think you wanna do it, go ahead, but I don't reccommend it dude.

Answer 5

I would say Bluto Blutarsky has basically covered most things. The only thing additional that i can think off is.

Watch out for the leg sweep.

Answer 6

Capoiara

Answer 7

if you are sparring seriously
attack the legs that are thrown at you
their foot will be the closest thing to you
hit it as hard as you can and they will stop kicking

keep your elbows low to your body, if they kick your elbow it will dig into thier foot and they will give up on that

move away from thier kicks
let them wear themselves out throwing them

be very cautious about closing the gap, that is when you will get hammered
whatever you do, do not rush in unless you see a distinct opening
remember it is very easy to throw a low sidekick from nearly any position and it will hammer harder than nearly any other kick

step back from low kicks, if they loose ballance you may have an opening provided

the karate guy will probably rely on kicks till he gets hurt feet again and again
he may try takedowns in which case you need to maintain some distance and control his arms with your combos

use your control of distance to control his movements and timing
boxers are generally very good with distance control
use your weaving, bobbing and feinting to get him to comit and expose himself

work out how quick he is and if you can close the gap and hit while he is kicking so is on one foot

the wingchun guy may be very good, or very bad
the wingchun punch is faster than a boxers punch and can hurt a bit
one tactic they always seem to do is to comit to a hit on you as soon as you go to hit them
useually this will work as their punch is quicker

feint with a hit, wait for the commitment and switch with a instant counter hit

wingchun do something called sticking hands -(which most fighters do instinctively) they will rest thier hands on your arms controlling you if they can
use your control of distance to prevent this

its really not a good idea to fight martial artists as they have a lot of advantages on you
no doubt they will try and work the kicks, but the wing chun guy will go for his hand techniques a lot to try and control your body and get some quick easy hits

just dance around, control the rythem of the fight, be calm and take it easy- you have to remain calm and responsive if you are to take advantage and control the fight
the variety of what they may throw at you will otherwise overwhelm you and you will get hurt

run away from kicks or hit them hard so they are tiring to perform

assess the range of your punches to thiers and use feints a lot

with your legs, just dance away from kicks, if you see them going to kick you in the leg and you are commited so cant step away, step forward into the kick smothering it with your shin and leg and hammer to the body as hard as you can

your advantages are your dancing, handspeed, strength, timing, rythem and broken rythem especially
use stop-hits, if you can

Answer 8

It all depends on how much contact, full contact would be better if you decline. If its just body contact and no kicks or punches to the midsection, you need to keep moving and wait for them to miss slide in close and nail them wit a gut shot. that will slow down their legs and kicks...........

Answer 9

My advice would be to use more than just boxing. Just remember to protect your face at all times and watch out for whatever kicks they use.

Answer 10

ask them to spar against each other first ot see what you are up against, then after witnessing them fight, zero in on their weakness.