Incorporating Karate into Boxing

[goose 5]

Gerry Cooney had a karate expert in his camp when training to fight Michael Spinks; it seems the karate guy was trying to teach Cooney karate techniques to improve his defense. Obviously, it didn't work out well, but I'm curious if there are any karate guys here who care to weigh in on the types of techniques from karate that could-in theory, at least- be used in boxing for defensive purposes ?

[Noxy]

It might depend on the type of karate. I did Shotokan before boxing, I don’t really see any cross-over potential.

[margaret thatcher]

maybe if backhands were allowed

[gilgamesh]

I suppose Parrying is kinda a Karate technique, but you wouldn't need any Karate to pick up on it as it's a Boxing technique also.

[Crease]

Karate? There's a massive scope to talk about it in and of itself and actually defining what Karate is. But I'll throw a few points out because me and a workmate were talking about this last week.

My workmate has a seven year son, brought him to a local community centre to a Karate class where the sensei was selling to my workmate the virtues of learning "pure Karate" and was using a load of negative phrases about other disciplines', calling them "impure" and "imperfect" and broadly mentioning the "bastardisation of Karate". So that was how he went about selling...

Anyway last week, we had a pint after work and my workmate wanted to wrack my brain on it. I told him that Karate as "the first Martial Art" that it's meant to be is fine. But over recent decades the effectiveness of it had really went downhill with the likes of kickboxing and boxing proving themselves to be more effective striking disciplines... And then the likes of Jiu-Jitsu and Judo also being considered more efficient in deterring an aggressor.

I started off doing Karate when I was a kid, then in my teenage years I went to boxing, then that evolved into me going to kickboxing, but the terms that the Karate sensei used had made me cringe - why wouldn't Karate want to evolve and get better results for it's practitioners? If a martial art is determined to stand still and stay in it's "classic mode" then it will eventually be surpassed by even more disciplines who are using techniques that work and dropping that which doesn't...

Also, talking about Karate and it's true form (whatever that means) I pointed out looking at the early days UFC -
someone like a Zane Frazier always described his fighting style as "Karate" - but if you didn't know that and you watched him with the commentary on mute, you would be saying to yourself "that guy is a kickboxer"...
- I just had to throw that in there, I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to the history of the sports and how it's got where it is today.

[Crease]

It might depend on the type of karate. I did Shotokan before boxing, I don’t really see any cross-over potential.

Shotokan? That's Van Damme's style isn't it? Again - there's another guy who transitioned over to Kickboxing. A lot of Kickboxers in the 80s actually called their style Karate - when it was actually kickboxing...

[gilgamesh]

Karate? There's a massive scope to talk about it in and of itself and actually defining what Karate is. But I'll throw a few points out because me and a workmate were talking about this last week.

My workmate has a seven year son, brought him to a local community centre to a Karate class where the sensei was selling to my workmate the virtues of learning "pure Karate" and was using a load of negative phrases about other disciplines', calling them "impure" and "imperfect" and broadly mentioning the "bastardisation of Karate". So that was how he went about selling...

Anyway last week, we had a pint after work and my workmate wanted to wrack my brain on it. I told him that Karate as "the first Martial Art" that it's meant to be is fine. But over recent decades the effectiveness of it had really went downhill with the likes of kickboxing and boxing proving themselves to be more effective striking disciplines... And then the likes of Jiu-Jitsu and Judo also being considered more efficient in deterring an aggressor.

I started off doing Karate when I was a kid, then in my teenage years I went to boxing, then that evolved into me going to kickboxing, but the terms that the Karate sensei used had made me cringe - why wouldn't Karate want to evolve and get better results for it's practitioners? If a martial art is determined to stand still and stay in it's "classic mode" then it will eventually be surpassed by even more disciplines who are using techniques that work and dropping that which doesn't...

Also, talking about Karate and it's true form (whatever that means) I pointed out looking at the early days UFC -
someone like a Zane Frazier always described his fighting style as "Karate" - but if you didn't know that and you watched him with the commentary on mute, you would be saying to yourself "that guy is a kickboxer"...
- I just had to throw that in there, I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to the history of the sports and how it's got where it is today.

I'd rather be "Impure" than a guy who gets his ass kicked because my Pure ass can't fight very well

[Noxy]

It might depend on the type of karate. I did Shotokan before boxing, I don’t really see any cross-over potential.

Shotokan? That's Van Damme's style isn't it? Again - there's another guy who transitioned over to Kickboxing. A lot of Kickboxers in the 80s actually called their style Karate - when it was actually kickboxing...

Possibly mate, I really don’t know. I don’t think Shotokan is the best style for fighting (like boxing or kick-boxing) but it was an elegant style, cool katas, etiquette etc. It really strengthens the core and improves flexibility too.

[Steveh583]

point fighting can give you good "in and out" footwork, pacquiao style. it can help you to explode and "be first" too. Tho obv that also comes with its own risks.

the old school, traditional karate guys i've trained with were by far the hardest single shot punchers. Scary power. whether they could do it in competition is another matter.

i can't think of much traditional karate would add defensively to a boxer tho. maybe the ability to move fluidly between southpaw and orthodox

[Steveh583]

It might depend on the type of karate. I did Shotokan before boxing, I don’t really see any cross-over potential.

Shotokan? That's Van Damme's style isn't it? Again - there's another guy who transitioned over to Kickboxing. A lot of Kickboxers in the 80s actually called their style Karate - when it was actually kickboxing...

Possibly mate, I really don’t know. I don’t think Shotokan is the best style for fighting (like boxing or kick-boxing) but it was an elegant style, cool katas, etiquette etc. It really strengthens the core and improves flexibility too.

kyokushin is the best for real fighting. they hit like mules.

[AngryGoon38]

The various foot-pivoting movements performed in Karate, Could carry over to Boxing. Also,just the emphasis of power movements of the legs aspect in Karate, Could Carry over to overall enhanced performance of a Boxer.

[Oiky]

Not much traditional karate techniques could do for you in boxing imo

Tried karate for a short while as a kid,respect the training,respect it in general,but there's far better out there imo for fighting purposes

[p4p1]

It might depend on the type of karate. I did Shotokan before boxing, I don’t really see any cross-over potential.

Shotokan? That's Van Damme's style isn't it? Again - there's another guy who transitioned over to Kickboxing. A lot of Kickboxers in the 80s actually called their style Karate - when it was actually kickboxing...

Possibly mate, I really don’t know. I don’t think Shotokan is the best style for fighting (like boxing or kick-boxing) but it was an elegant style, cool katas, etiquette etc. It really strengthens the core and improves flexibility too.

Machida showed how good Shotokan could be utilised as a main base. The movement could be used effectively in boxing IMO but I’m not convinced that the amount of movement could be used over 12 rounds.

The men’s gold medal match at the Olympics showed why Shotokan can be a joke sometimes.