why do so many men NOT know how to punch

I was in dance club with my girl a few years ago, and I went for more beers. As I’m walking back over I see a dude grinding his crotch all up on her beautiful ass. He was pretty drunk, so I took that into consideration and politely asked him to stop touching her and just walk away, which he did.

A half hour goes by and I’m on the other side of the bar talking to friends when I look over and see my man all up on her again. He had already had his one warning. I run over and lay dude out with two hands into his chest with everything I had. I was fucking pissed. He went flying backwards a few feet and fell back hard on his head. He was out cold. I was terrified that I killed the guy, but he came to fortunately.

He easily could have died and I would have been responsible for it. We were both lucky that night.

 

i am that dude with a couple exceptions lol...now to not gas out? theres a issue lol. but street fights dont usually last that long lol.

 

even after you have been thai boxing awhile...then they bring in a pro to run through the better guys in class...yeah thats humbling...you get hit 4 different ways at the same time lol.

 

this has happened to me before. it sucks.

i have (had) boxed and kick boxed and trained for a long long time, in a previous life (or that's what it feels like now at least). but at 40, still a good 1/4th of my life was dedicated to that where pretty much all i did besides chat up girls, was eat, sleep, and train. 6 days a week, 4-5 hours a day. i'm no superstar, but decent enough i guess. the head instructors at my school were all world full contact champions. one time, one of them was having a bad day, and i distinctly remember him coming to a class (he wasn't teaching), and literally fighting back to back 2 minute rounds with every single person in the class, without stopping or taking a break. probably 12 rounds back to back. he beat the shit out of EVERYONE, myself included. then left. very humbling indeed. i've been hit so hard it felt like my soul left my body before haha. there are some amazingly talented people out there.

when i was in my 20's, and real fighty, and hanging out in bars and pool halls with korean gangsters and other tattoo'd motorbike degens, i LOVED that i was pretty good at fighting. we got in fights all the time, and for me it was like... "fun" haha, cause it wasn't even fair (for them). i'd see some little 5'6" fake thug dude eye'ing me up and in my head all i'd be thinking about is destroying his face and running thru him like a freight train. but those days are long gone and i don't mind that they are either one bit. i probably haven't hit a person in 12-13 years or so at this point, and i (try to) live a low key peaceful life. and even back then, i seriously can't recall a single fight i started or that was because of me. when i started changing who i associated with or called my friend, magically fights seemed to stop happening. imagine that haha. either way tho, i still have this bad boy in my basement:



its leather, take out all the stuffing, fill it with soy beans. canvas ones are also good, stay away from cheap vinyl trash. its a 4' bag and it weighs 230lbs. if you're gonna fight full grown men, why not train like you're fighting a full grown man? that's how we used to train at my school, that's what i still kept for myself. its like hitting a brick wall. hit with no bag gloves until your knuckles start ripping and bleeding, let it heal, do it again, and again, and again until eventually your knuckles don't care at all. knuckle push-ups on concrete. if you can make THAT bag jump on the chain from snap power, hitting a person in a street fight might as well feel like hitting air. its like a nothing. and eventually, when you start being able to see individual knuckle imprints on the bag filled with beans, you'll understand that when you hit somebody in the face it'll probably shatter like glass.

but i'll say a few things...

1) there is no replacement for in-the-ring stamina. and its the first thing that goes. your muscles remember how to punch even if you don't train much, but no matter how much you run or ride a bicycle or go to the gym, nothing replaces it, and if you don't keep it up, a single 3 minute round feels like you're about to die.
2) i'm now probably 45lbs. heavier than i was when i was boxing and it doesn't help that's for sure.
3) i hit this thing every now and again, but after breaking one wrist once and the other wrist 3 times, my body feels brittle and rickety when it comes to still doing this and i don't really have the passion about it as i used to.
4) dudes who work out in the gym a lot develop the wrong muscles for punching. having a big chest and big biceps specifically slows down punching. if you want faster punching, develop triceps the most by doing specific tricep pushups (with your elbows tight against your ribcage) and leave the others alone. at 185-190lbs. in college, i could MAYBE bench like 220? 240? i could tricep press an entire machine stack of like 365lbs. for a full set of 10, and do like 50 dips in a single set, and 1 handed pullups. triceps and shoulders/back are the recipe.
5) it is very hard for people to learn 2 things unless they're taught... developing snap power that starts at your feet and generates thru twisting up thru your legs and torso and out thru your arm, and also keeping your fucking hands up and not dropping them to throw a punch or as the punch returns home. watching celebrities start getting into MMA and posting their stupid sparring vids on instagram is painful to watch.
6) footwork that also seems so simple is also hard to make feel natural, and learning to slip side to side and not ever move backwards or be weighted on your back foot is also something people don't realize they naturally fall into unless you're taught.
7) if you're interested though, boxing is an amazing sport. teaches you about how bodies move, timing, strategy, physio of the human form/function, makes you faster, stronger, tactical thinking... its a great sport.

 

Haven't been in a fight since my teen years and generally try to avoid them now. However, I have never minded confrontation and been ready willing to tango a good dozen or so times in my adult life. I try hard to never be the instigator but when it's called for, quickly turn into the aggressor if someone else starts some shit. It's never had to come to blows as I'm big enough (6'3" 230 lbs) to make most people back down with some fierce intimidation. Reality though is I'm waiting on the day that I stumble upon a confrontation with someone who has even a little bit of training, my tactic doesn't work, and I get my ass kicked.

I've been wanting to join the local BJJ gym and get some actual training, with my main motivation of being able to simply control a situation/individual(s) if needed. But there's always been something in the way. Going back to school to finish my degree, work, kid/family. Time has always been an issue until the last few months but now inflation has resulted in us having to re-evaluate our finances and it's a bit more difficult to justify the cost. I know, always an excuse. Need to buckle down and just do it.

As it stands, I'm sure I'd be one of those dudes you see throwing wild haymakers hoping one lands. My best bet right now would be that I can simply take a beating longer than most. Frankly, that's how I won every fight in my teen years. I was nowhere near the size I am now. Super thin, I think I graduated at 6'4" 175 lbs. So wasn't packing much punch and had no form to boot. But years of playing sports through injuries and being well-adapted to pain as well as having amazing cardio meant I could simply outlast most opponents. We'd both be beat to hell afterwards but my opponent was always the one to throw in the towel. Didn't hurt that I had quite the complex about being so skinny and appearing weak so I'd have let someone put me in a coma before I threw in the towel.

 

Nothing.

 

Neither lol I just figure no one expects it so if I'm really in a fight I'm using the element of surprise

 

Setting aside the issue of not knowing how to throw a punch... these fan fights are usually drunk guys throwing punches in narrow aisles at different levels with no footwork frequently falling over rows of chairs or each other. Not the best way to evaluate someone's punching skills. But I get it. They look like bad hockey fights... not pretty but still can be effective.

 

this. shit, look at the way Tyson was hitting that dude. looked like a Karen's gone Wild youtube vid and he's arguably one of the best boxers ever to live with flawless technique. you can't move half your body from the isle of an airplane seat. it eliminates a LOT of the power generation and range of movement.

stadium a little easier, airplane so cramped, only so much you can do. you can't maneuver or really plant to generate a proper technique. if anything in a situation like that, just think of eliminating as much of the leverage from the fulcrum as you can and go to work. think of it like swinging a baseball bat, or a roundhouse kick, or the punch itself. the hip or shoulder is the fulcrum. the further away the impact point is from the fulcrum, the more momentum and force the object has. if you can act quick enough and step "in" to the attack, getting hit with somebody's thigh or upper arm is a lot less of anything then being on the receiving end of the foot, fist, end of a stick. step into it, take a little bit, get inside, go to work. this is also why tae kwon do people are generally terrible in actual fighting matches against other types of fighting peoples. all you gotta do is be willing to take part of that first one and shut the distance down, and you're good to go against a dude who also often can't throw a punch haha.

this is also why even though i've never tried it ever, i appreciate the skill and potential of BJJ or some kinda wrestling in close quarters. boxing from a corner is awful. if somebody's an expert at grabbing you and breaking you or putting you to sleep, you're in big trouble. seems like that'd be a good skill to have for a plane.

 

Throw punches?? This is WERA, we pack 3-foot screw drivers!! LOL

 

Last fight I remember was a bar fight in Naples Italy with a bunch of Russian sailors in the late 70's
Last thing I remember was yelling, hey put me down m'fkr or I'll kick your ass.. woke up on boat.

 

Hey don't let anyone tell you you didn't win

 

https://twitter.com/TeeOhEmm/status/1580390226333028353

No excuses here....this just embarrassing

 

Why was your girl letting him grind on her ass?

 

Drunk twins fighting

 

What were those two fat chix fighting about in the men's bathroom?
Who likes that shitty baseball team more?

 

I wasn't gonna say it but kinda had the same thought

 

Well I mean once is a mistake twice is a decision

 

Pretty interesting read about the current workforce

Former Levi’s top exec reveals how woke mobs took over corporations

https://nypost.com/2022/10/24/former-levis-top-exec-reveals-how-woke-mobs-took-over-corporations/

 

Well yeah, there’s that.

She ended up being batshit, but damn that was a fun 6 months.