*Let us begin with the fact that the sport fighter when using punches most often has the protection of wrist support and wrapped hands to reinforce the structural integrity of the wrists, metacarpals, and knuckles. In addition to all of that, many modern ring fighters also don gloves.
*Contrary to popular misunderstanding the wraps and gloves are not meant to make the strikes less lethal to the recipient of the blows but rather to reinforce and protect the hands of the striker so that they can strike much more forcefully to the facial and head targets without breaking the wrists, metacarpals, or knuckles as would be very common injuries were they to engage in such action bare knuckle. Long ago they first began wrapping the wrists, hands, and knuckles in cord and sometime even covering the cord with a hard resin to allow the fists to be used as hard blunt force trauma weapons against the hard bony targets of the face and head in man to man combat matches. The reason the ancients did this across the earth was because they knew what every bone and joint doctor knows today, which is that the delicate metacarpals of the human hand and the knuckle joints are not meant to sustain massive impact trauma against the rounded and hard surfaces of the human skull.
*What about the Okinawan masters who conditioned the bones and strengthen the wrists and hands to absorb massive impact against very hard boards, brick, stone, and concrete block? And why did they train clenched fist strikes so extensively in the Okinawan schools of unarmed combat?
*First let us examine the fact that in many arts where the practitioners devote decades, if not a lifetime, to conditioning and strengthening their hands through what they call Hojo Undo training they are striking very hard flat surfaces with their bare knuckles when they perform breaking demonstrations to exhibit their achievements. With such intense strengthening and conditioning the bones through what science now calls Wolff's law the practitioner can strengthen the bones to sustain massive impact at the proper angles without breaking the metacarpals or wrists. However, let it be known that in these demonstrations one is striking a stationary, flat, surface with great attention focused to ensure that the middle knuckle, along with at least one other knuckle, impacts flat at the proper point of impact. Some schools will strike with the middle knuckle and the index knuckle as the point of impact at the weakest point of the board, brick, block, or flat stone. Other schools will strike with the middle knuckle and the back two riding along to reinforce the middle knuckle and metacarpal's structural support. But they do not ever punch bare knuckle to break a rounded and hard object, like a bowling ball, with a massive follow through punch because there is no way to evenly distribute the load of the impact upon the knuckles of the clenched fist. To take it even farther let us acknowledge that they would never attempt such a feat against a rapidly moving, rounded, hard, object using bare knuckles.
*In fact when we examine or train in an old style of Okinawan 'boxing' be it Toudi or Kara Te we will notice that the makiwara are almost always set at breast level height and never set at head level for bare knuckle punching. The makiwara is set at the level of the solar plexus or rib cage for conditioning and training hard bare knuckle strikes for a specific reason. The open hand or even hammer fist strikes are trained at the higher level makiwara, set above torso level, but the bare knuckle punches are not trained upon the makiwara above the torso level because the old masters understood the wisdom of using bare knuckle punches to the softer torso targets and bones of the chest cavity to inflict massive trauma or death, while utilizing other empty hand strikes to targets above the torso. They followed the rule of hard to soft and soft to hard.
*The close fist strikes were used in sparring or practice quite often in some schools to feign strikes above the torso in order to prevent serious accidental injuries. At the high levels where practitioners had developed more control they used the correct alternative strikes above the torso level during practice while reserving the bare knuckle punches to the torso targets, sometimes including the groin.
*With the advent of sport and de-militarized civilian self-defense methods (less than lethal methods) the bare knuckle punches were adopted for striking both below and above the torso to coincide with civil laws prohibiting deliberate killing another human being in a civil dispute. Teachers not wishing their students to kill or maim and receive a prison sentence or death penalty for murder under the law, nor wishing to be implicated for teaching or encouraging their students to use lethal methods were obliged to modify and demilitarize their methods by adopting the closed fist bare knuckle strikes for targets both below and above the neck.
*Never the less, with this de-militarized method being adopted by the Okinawan masters they also taught two methods of bare knuckle punching for striking. When striking the torso targets they taught to 'drive-through' the target and exert maximum force, as had always been the method used when striking the torso targets. But when bare knuckle punching the hard bony targets of the face and skull: chin, jaw, tempro-mandibular joint, nose, temple, etc, they taught to 'snap-back'. This snapping back combined with a pronation
*Let us examine bare knuckle boxing methods like Chinese Wing Tsun. The bare knuckle punches or the straight punches used to strike the bony facial targets, also being a less than lethal method taught for civil self-defense and safe practice, utilizes a punch that does not rely so much upon massive impact force to create a knock-out as in the harder punching methods of Okinawan, Thai, or Western boxing methods. But rather the Wing Tsun bare knuckle straight punches to the bony facial targets rely more upon the speed of overwhelming the opponent while using forward body momentum to keep the opponent on their heels and off balance until a take down can be achieved followed by a finishing blow of dropping the knees into the rib cage or the solar plexus while striking at the throat to finish the fight, or until the opponent surrenders in defeat. The Wing Tsun punches travel a very short distance and therefore do not generate the amount of force necessary to break the metacarpals of a conditioned fighter's hand.
*Western bare knuckle boxing or fisticuffs does not enjoy the protection of wrapped and reinforced wrists, metacarpals, and knuckles covered with gloves in an attempt to protect the wrists and hands from injury during a man-to-man combat match. Which in fact this practice of reinforcing the wrists and hands has made boxing combat sports much more lethal than the bare knuckle counter part because now the fighters can strike full force and need not be as surgical in their targets during a bout. Throwing "punches in bunches."
*With this new found power and confidence the boxer can afford to be a hard hitting head hunter and swing with all of his might at the bony skull/face of his opponent. A thing that would be foolish and most likely self destructive in a bare knuckle boxing match. And imprudent against multiple attackers in a potentially life or death struggle. Yet even with all of this conditioning, reinforcement and protection for the sport boxers' hands their have been several incidences of professional fighters in boxing and other competitive martial arts venues whom have sustained broken hands.
*Now when fighting outside of a ring or cage, many bone and joint specialists will attest, it is very common for fighters and practitioners of these modernized combat sports and competitive martial arts to sustain what is called in the medical community a 'boxer's fracture', a crushed knuckle, broken metacarpals, or broken wrist when applying the same methods of punching in the competitive venue to the proverbial 'street' fight. Even the American heavy weight champion of the world, Mike Tyson, was reported to having broken his hand in a street fight against a fellow professional boxer, Mitch Green, during a one-on-one fight that took place outside of a store. And we can't say it's because he doesn't know how to punch or that he was an untrained amateur, as many often claim when a fighter breaks his metacarpals, knuckles, or wrist in a bare knuckle fight.
♣WHAT THE OLD SCHOOL BARE KNUCKLE BOXERS KNEW ABOUT STRIKING♣
*When striking the bony facial targets with the bare knuckles always 'snap-back' upon impact. Don't try to punch through the target the way you can with taped, wrapped, and gloved hands.
*Bare knuckle punches above the torso should impact with the middle knuckle and the last two riding along to reinforce the second metacarpal and middle knuckle. Either strike with the fist in the vertical position (thumb up) or the fist in a diagonal position (a three quarter twisting punch but not the full twisting or reverse punch used in boxing and many martial arts). Do not impact with the first two knuckles and the palm down when bare knuckle punching above the torso to the bony facial targets. *The straight punch is ideal for the lead, jab, hand while the diagonal punch is ideal for the cross punch.
*When striking bare knuckle to the torso targets below the neck one may train to punch using any method of punching they prefer: horizontal, vertical, or diagonal, but the diagonal is still the most structurally sound punch. Preferred targets are the solar plexus, liver sack, kidneys, bladder, and testicles. The floating ribs (short ribs) are also targeted to cause injury and pain but seldom will cause a knock out in the way that the other targets can.
*Always 'punch-through' the softer torso targets as opposed to 'snapping-back' when punching the bony facial bones. This is always without exception the rule of thumb in bare knuckle striking and it is LAW. If any self-proclaimed guro, master, sensei, or expert teaches you to punch through the target when striking bare knuckle toward the bony structure of the face and head in a fight then you may consider them dubious or merely unexperienced outside of the competitive boxing/martial arts arena and they shouldn't be teaching 'bare knuckle' combat methods. They should stick to teaching what they know best, 'sport-based' combat methods.
*When throwing a 'hook' bare knuckle the method was to clench the fist in a way that the thumb rests upon the top of the index knuckle with the tip of the thumb nail barely protruding over the index fore knuckle. It was not a punch in the way it is thrown today in gloved boxing nor was it named because it is thrown in a 'hooking' motion. The 'hook' got it's name because the thumb, in the aforementioned position, would be slightly extended upon impact into the outside corner of the adversary's eye to 'hook' the eye! (This is bare knuckle boxing and it is dirty. Not 'sport' boxing.)
*The upper cut is not so much used in bare knuckle boxing though the shovel hook sometime is. If an uppercut is employed bare knuckle, one only used the heel of the palm much like a WWII 'chin-jab' uppercut under the chin at very close quarters or grappling range while slapping the lumbar of the adversary with the opposite hand. Sometimes a knee is brought up into the groin to cause the adversary to react by leaning forward at the same time the heel of the palm (carpal bone) is striking from under the chin to facilitate the knockout. Their head should snap backward, pinching at the brain stem, ideally resulting in a knockout.
*The round house punch is also delivered in bare knuckle boxing in a much different way, having the point of impact being predominantly upon the heel of the closed hand as the thumb is out of the way and resting atop of the index finger fore knuckle. The targets are the jaw, TMJ, ear, and steno-mastoid. As well as the temple.
♣SUMMARY♣
*I do not intend to make this a lesson in bare knuckle boxing according to the very old school methods before it became a sport, so I will not go any farther here. But in sticking with the subject at hand, we have laid out many of the common reasons why boxer-fractures and injuries to the hands and wrists are much more common outside of the ring when fighting 'bare knuckle' without the protection and reinforcement, despite professional training or years of conditioning.
* If one intends to train for the competitive ring then realize that one's methods and approach will be drastically different than if one intends to train for bare knuckle pugilistic applications outside of the ring, as for a self-defense situation. Not only will your method of striking, point of impact, and intention completely change but so will one's guard, defensive methods, and even footwork once the context has changed from inside the ring to outside of the ring.
*Let us also add that when the horizontal punch is used in bare knuckle boxing to strike above shoulder level the muscles in the forearm disengage and permit the wrist to buckle under massive force. And let us consider that the horizontal bare knuckle punch, as in a fully pronated punch used in competitive sport boxing and competitive martial arts, where the palm is facing down at the moment of impact, that should one slightly miss during the frantic bobbing and weaving of the adversary's head during real combat that the last two knuckles of the clenched fist (or quite often the last knuckle all by itself) will impact upon the hard bony structure of the adversary's face/skull with all of the massive kinetic force behind it which results in a boxer fracture. The same thing will happen if all of the force of a powerful bare knuckle hammer-fist impacts the little finger's knuckle upon the bony round structure of the face/skull.
*Again, striking a hard flat surface where the force is evenly distributed across two or more of the knuckles is drastically different than striking a hard rounded surface where the force of impact is more likely to be absorbed by a single knuckle when striking with both the horizontal (full twist reverse) punch or a hammer-fist when using bare knuckle punches in a frantic combat situation against a single adversary or multiples.
*This is why in bare knuckle boxing we 'snap-back' when striking bony surfaces but we 'punch through' when striking softer torso targets. And we never use the horizontal (palm down) punch when punching above the adversaries torso targets but rather train to employ vertical and diagonal punches to the targets above their torso (I/E: the bony facial targets) but may employ any type of bare knuckle punch we prefer to the softer torso targets below their clavicle.
*If you're trained in competitive sport boxing then you already have excellent body mechanics honed through training and all you need to do is now consider these reasons why boxer's fractures are much more common outside of the ring when throwing bare knuckle and incorporate these simple bare knuckle rules into your training so that your muscle memory will respond properly should you have the misfortune of having to resort to bare knuckle boxing for a self-defense situation.
*Remember, self-defense is all about self preservation so it makes no sense to destroy the tools which you must rely upon throughout your survival in daily life. And our hands are some of our most important tools. So if you are foolish enough to be caught unarmed and then decide to 'punch' your way out of danger with bare knuckles than at the very least learn the difference between punching in a competitive sporting arena and bare knuckle punching in a close combat defense situation.
16October2014
AnDrew Soldier
P.S.
The author of this blog does not contend that bare knuckle boxing
is a preferred or even prudent form of empty hand self-defense in
a potential life or death struggle against single or multiple attackers.
And if the situation is not potentially life or death then one could
argue that there is no need to engage in such aggressive negotiations.
And finally if one feels the need to aggressively resist a potential
life or death situation than the author contends that a more dedicated method
than one's bare knuckles may be justified and more prudent.
Never the less, all empty hand methods of practical close quarter combat
have their benefit as a method of last resort until one can escape or create
space and access a better 'tool'.
The author believes that boxing's greatest asset to the realm of unarmed combat defense is in it's outstanding evasive maneuvers, trapping and tying up the attackers limbs and in safely acquiring the clench without getting knocked out in order to utilize standing grappling techniques from Kodokan Judo, Jiujitsu or Catch Wrestling.
♣Hoo-ah♣
♣Hoo-ah♣
