boxing training and martial arts?

Question

do you think that boxing is the basis of a lot of martial arts. after all most rely on punches. so doing boxing training would add to your m/a skills, surely.

Answer 1

Boxing does help your MA, especially with hand speed and timing. It will also teach you something most martial arts won't, how to take a punch. Many martial artists have never been really hit. I've seen blackbelts get their butts handed to them because they'd never been hit full force before. They were used to light sparring (with pads and gloves) and unprepared for what a real punch would do.

Answer 2

boxing is punching specialization and trains much much better than many generic "karate" dojos and MA schools because of the intensity of which people train at a boxing gym.

Obviously there are schools that are like "cardio boxing" you find at sports clubs and non-real boxing gyms, but this is like the level of training you find at one of these crappy karate dojos.

Yes some arts can gain from it, others simply chose not to. It is simply hard to deny the fact that boxers are as a group better punchers and can generate more power (as a group) than most other martial arts styles out there.

Yes it would benefit to take boxing, however for your information boxing was a "complete" martial art before it became more sportative, i've heard accounts that historically it did involve throws as well- however as you can easily see for yourself, there were many rule changes and evolutions it went through- even as early back as the 70's.

Moxing Is a martial art but I don't think it is the "basis" for it because if that were the case then those martial arts would have been properly teaching the power generation techniques of boxing, very few do.

EDIT: as far as the "spiritual" aspect of martial arts, thats a load of crap, it was introduced in the 70's to help sell martial arts as a marketing ploy that there is a way to "improve your spirit".
History? Ewar Oakeshott was (before he died) the authority on european swords, does that mean he knew how to use them? NO, it made him a historian. What do you want to be a martial artist or a historian?
If you want to do both then fine, That is your preference and I'm not saying it isn't a good idea to know, however I'm making the distinction between historian and martial artist.

Answer 3

Hi there

Boxing and martial arts were developed in different countries and in different decades. There at different ends of the training scale. There are so many different ways of punching from strikes used in wing chung to basic junzuki punch of karate. Most martial arts work off the principle of punching in a straight line as where boxing uses angles and upper rising punches. As for doing boxing yes it would improve your skills ten fold especially for tournaments. If you were to mix it with a kicking art such as karate or tae kwon do there you're onto a winner. But again there's so much more to punching than bag work and sparring. Can't remember the name but there is a Russian martial art that uses punches at unusual angles and is very interesting to watch.

Bruce Lee saw the importance in boxing because he liked the way they used angles and were free in sparring. Remember most tournaments around in the 60's and 70's didn't involve any actual contact unlike today where you have UFC. It would also improve your movement too. I think the best fighters don't punch or kick the hardest they just really know how to move! Dancing classes may also help.lol

Regards

Idai 122

Answer 4

The answer is "absolutely true, depending on what you're training for."

That is, if you're studying a classical Asian martial art to learn the history, tradition, and spiritual aspects, the speed bag isn't going to do much for your tiger-fork forms or your iaido technique. Oh, it'll do a little, because it's all good fitness training, but it isn't going to help your form or technique.

However, if you're working on self-defense or tournament sparring, which have a high need for speed, timing, and accuracy, boxing is an excellent addition to your martial-arts regimen. We've incorporated boxing training and techniques into our competition training since the 1970s.

As for boxing being the BASIS for a lot of martial arts, that's not the case, at least historically speaking. Asian martial arts traditionally came from India to China when Bodhidarma brought Buddhism into China, founded the Shaolin Temple, and was appalled that the Chinese monks were in such poor physical condition that he taught them the physical training that became gongfu or wushu. This martial art in turn migrated to the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa) and to Korea; the Okinawan version was adopted by the Japanese and combined with jujutsu, the traditional hand-to-hand Japanese fighting method (which stressed grappling and joint-lock techniques).

Asian martial arts were first widely introduced to the West in the late 1950s, but really began to take off in the 1970s with the popularity of Bruce Lee's movies and the TV show "Kung Fu" with David ("Kill Bill") Carradine. My family was at the heart of this "second wave" of martial arts, and did a lot to get the practicioners of various styles working together to learn from each other. It was an exciting and creative time to be in martial arts, training with Okinawan, Chinese and Korean stylists and incorporating my father's extensive amateur boxing background into a different way of teaching and applying martial arts.

When "full-contact" and "kickboxing" matches first became popular in the late Seventies, it was an eye-opener to many traditionalists that a good boxer could more than hold his own with a good Asian-style martial artist in the ring. It's that whole speed, timing and accuracy thing -- and since then, Western style boxing training (speed bag, sparring, moving target training, and more) have been added to many martial-arts schools, especially if they have a strong interest in tournament fighting.

My favorite quote on the subject comes from Miyamoto Musashi, Japan's most famous swordsman and author of "The Book of Five Rings" (Go Rin No Sho), the best book ever written about the philosophy of Japanese martial arts and the psychology of combat:

"Anyway, cutting down the enemy is the Way of strategy, and there is no need for many refinements of it."

Answer 5

No. You are not considered a "legal weapon". Your pro or amateur training is supposed to give you more self control, not less. Yes. You can get into tons of trouble in a street fight whether you are trained or not. 1.The other guy might sue you for assault, and win in court, even if you did not start it. It is just his word against yours (sometimes even if you have credible, independant withnesses) because you never know how it will go in court. Is jail time worth the risk? Only you can answer tthat for yourself. 2.You or the other person might get seriously injured. There is no referee on the street to ensure personal safety, and no one to stop the other guy (and sometimes his five friends you never noticed) from stomping on you head for five minutes after you have been knocked out cold by that bottle from behind. Or, maybe you "win" but the other guy cracks his head open as he falls on the concrete. Are we prepared to live with that? Even for legitimate self defence, we need to be aware of the law and also consider personal safety if we do use boxing or martial arts as a response to univited aggression. (self defence). A number of posters have made some good points about that already. You can defend yourself, but the law will not tolerate an excessive response to aggression. And even if you know this and are very careful, there is still no guarantee that a judge will believe your story if it goes to court, and no guarantee that your training will be effective in saving you injury to yourself or the other party. I am a boxer, but I think the best training for self defence is a course in self defence. You learn to avoid trouble in the first place. Street fighting is for idiots.(Too much risk, and no prize if you "win".) I also think Judo and wrestling is probably the best reponse if there is no way to run (and there is usually a way to talk your way out of it or exit). A judoka or wrestler can at least offer a controlled response that can be effective and not cause serious injury or look like a street fight to witnesses. A striking response always looks like a fight, and can hurt someone (not the objective, surely, to some drunk guy who makes a pass at your girl). A wrestler's arm or wrist lock will convince most drunks to back off, and there is no shattered orbital for the lawsuit. Peace is the objective on the street, battle sport in the ring.

Answer 6

Realistic sparring with your art is needed to really get your art or science of fighting down. Boxers do this very well so they tend to be able to fight. To those that say boxers just stand and hit... you don't know boxing.
Quite a few martial arts were weapons based that taught some hand to hand for the worst case scenario and grew from there. Keep in mind, some of the ancient folk wore tough armor so styles adapted...
I could go on... but I'm not.

Answer 7

Don't believe that it is the basis of most martial arts but would agree that it is a skill that would add to a martial artists armoury.

Answer 8

I sat go for it see ex-boxers training in martial arts tend to be more aggressive and can punch real hard

Answer 9

The martial arts developed seperately. I don't think boxing has had an influence on karate or kung fu for example. It definitely has been studied by all the MMA fighters today. You have to know how to throw fundamental punches to be any good in MMA.

Answer 10

A good grounding in boxing technique fitness and endurance will certainly complement which ever martial art you chose.

Go for it : )