I have previously addressed the issue of the superiority of punches over throws.
And, of course, when compared to each other the winner is…both!
Although it has been suggested by experts in the field that it is dramatically easier to throw an opponent after his ki has been rearranged with a head butt or a left hook.
But I had an opportunity which I will follow up in the next week or two to talk to an expert on actual, factual fighting, not the stuff involving referees.
You see, cops see stuff we’ve only started to see because of cell phone video cameras. Bouncers probably get to see more fights in total, but those are almost all fueled by the explosive combination of alcohol, pool tables and short skirts (those darned Scotsmen cause a lotta fights).
Although bouncers also suggest that roundhouse right punches start many a fight
Cops get to see it all, including the privilege of being attacked by women who aren’t kidding. After all, one of the best quality rookie mistakes is breaking up a domestic dispute and NOT planning on wifie with a frying pan, from behind.
Still, in my first seminar on real fighting, I’ve heard the following: men predictably attack with a roundhouse right punch to the head, and are very often deterred by one (1) good punch to the snoot, because everybody likes to fight until they get punched in the face.
Doesn’t apply if they’re high on stimulant drugs, which reduce their perception of pain, or if they’re psychotic or, sometimes, if they’re drunk enough.
Obviously, the generalization that men routinely attack with a roundhouse right does not always hold true. But it comes up so frequently in the literature, and so emphatically from the expert on civilian violence I recently polled, that I have to believe that preparing for roundhouse rights ought to be a very large part of a martial artist’s daily routine.
A second teaching from this experienced cop is that women fight differently than men, and that another particularly good rookie error is trying to restrain a woman by holding her wrists, for instance, because she’ll hurt you. A lot.
Women claw the face and gouge the eyes, and attack the groin, or so I’m told.
Apparently I have chosen the right profession in becoming a bankruptcy lawyer. The probability of physical violence is much lower in offices where coffee is the strongest drug present, and after twelve hours in the office, the draw of pool tables, pitchers of Bud, and even the short skirts, is somewhat resistible.
And if I see a “fight” at the dojo, it involves referees, so it’s really a spirited contest between athletes, rather than an effort to injure anybody. Accidents happen, of course, so I have seen Shotokan punches work very well, by mistake.
Note: a well-known and widely read expert on mixed martial arts, Mark Hatmaker, has written a book that applies scientific method to the following question: if we examine about 700 mixed martial arts bouts, what techniques end those contests by knockouts most frequently?
I won’t keep you guessing, and ultimately I’ll give you chapter and verse. But the winner in causing knockouts was: good old fashioned punches to the head, usually the chin and jaw.
Now, if both a seasoned cop, who’s seen it all, and Mark Hatmaker, an incredibly well-studied martial artist, both suggest that simple punches have great effect in both real fights and mma contests with fairly few rules, that makes me happy.
Because Shotokan Karate has a great deal in common with old bare-knuckle boxing, and practices more punches than anything else.
And the exercises of Shotokan, including the five-step sparring that I practice far too little, should be of some use in developing effective defenses (like, interposing your arms, for instance) when you’ve gotten hit, or are about to get hit, with a roundhouse right.
P.S. While we have just celebrated Memorial Day in the United States, which honors those who have died in service to the United States in her armed forces, it is always good to remember that policemen die to keep us safe. They know a lot about fighting because they’ve all lost fights and learned from it; Fairbairn was himself a cop, and was beaten nearly to death by a group of Triad Thugs. Good news was that he lived, learned, and taught.
But here in Arizona, we’re acutely conscious that the thin blue line is all that keeps us safe, and the line is stretched thin, in what has become the kidnapping center of the United States.
And as our police, like Police Lt. Eric Shuhandler, are murdered by cowards, other heroes step in to take their places.
And God bless and keep them all, and may angels sing them to their rest when He gathers them home at last.
