# Karate in Boxing



## lklawson (Dec 22, 2008)

Edwin Haislet, a well respected Boxing coach, Professor of Physical Education, Director of the Northwest Golden Gloves, and author of one of the most authoritative and respected boxing manuals from the '40s.

In his (still) highly regarded manual on boxing he details many techniques and strategies. Among them he teaches what he calls Straight Blows to the Body:

_Edwin Haislet's Boxing - pp23 Fig 27 Left Jab to Body_






_Edwin Haislet's Boxing - pp23 Fig 28 Straight Right to Body_





By way of instruction he writes:


			
				Haislet said:
			
		

> THE LEFT JAB TO THE BODY
> If the principle is followed that the body must follow the arm at all
> times, no difficulty will be encountered in executing the straight blows
> 
> ...


 

Now, Haislet never details an attack without detailing defenses (at least one, usually multiple) against it. In this case, he details 4, but, for this thread, the most intriguing is what he calls the Brush-away.​ 

_Edwin Haislet's Boxing - pp24 Fig 32 The Brush away_








Of this particular defense he writes:​ 


			
				Haislet said:
			
		

> _The brush-away_&#8212;is the safest and easiest defense against straight
> blows to the body.
> 
> Assume the fundamental position. As the opponent leads a straight
> ...


 



It doesn't take a genius to notice that this looks nearly exactly like the traditional karate "low block" (gedan barai).


Interesting.​


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## jarrod (Dec 22, 2008)

very interesting!  

also a good way to get popped in the face if your opponent figures out what you're doing. 

just my opinion,

jf


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## lklawson (Dec 22, 2008)

jarrod said:


> very interesting!
> 
> also a good way to get popped in the face if your opponent figures out what you're doing.
> 
> just my opinion,


Sure thing! If you know what your opponent is going to do before he does it, you surely can exploit that, particularly if you can "force" him to take that action through a feint and then attack with the "second intention."


Fortunately, Haislet details 3 other methods:

The Step -away
The Elbow Block
The Fore-arm Block
Personally, I like the Step away and the Elbow Block better than the Brush-away and Haislet himself says that the Fore-arm Block is particularly dangerous to try but he includes it, apparently, for completeness. 

For the "Brush Away," I prefer a slightly different verstion. Same basic movement but you turn your body a bit away from the blow and move you up hand to guard the other side of the face. I use it when parying a cut #4 in Bowie sparring more so than in pugilism.  (In Haislet's pic above, picture the left hand being on the right side of the chin, the back of the wrist turned out, protecting the neck, and the right hip "pointed" more at the opponent).

Not that any of them get much workout because, first, the sort of low-line body blow that Haislet shows doesn't get used much anymore (if it ever did) and second, it seems like good strategy to just tense your abs, eat the punch, and follow it up with an upper-cut to his chin. WHEE!

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


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## jks9199 (Dec 22, 2008)

lklawson said:


> Edwin Haislet, a well respected Boxing coach, Professor of Physical Education, Director of the Northwest Golden Gloves, and author of one of the most authoritative and respected boxing manuals from the '40s.
> 
> In his (still) highly regarded manual on boxing he details many techniques and strategies. Among them he teaches what he calls Straight Blows to the Body:
> 
> ...


Not really surprising...

The human body is built pretty much the same, so there simply aren't but so many ways to use it offensively and defensively.


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