How easy would it be to defeat a boxer by simply "attacking his weak legs" in particular with kicks? Specifically for an average out of shape Joe?

[Wing Woo Gar]

Can you point me at a boxing system that fights from a squared up position? I have not seen one... but I am willing to learn about one that does.

Not boxers per se. some cma do it that way but not many.

 

[J. Pickard]

I don't know man, every boxer I've ever met with more than 5 months of training have really strong legs. They may not use them to kick but footwork and having a strong base is something every boxer works diligently on. I don't thing an "out of shape average joe" is going to beat a trained boxer by trying to kick his legs. Boxers know how to use distance, out of shape average joes do not.

 

[Oily Dragon]

Can you point me at a boxing system that fights from a squared up position? I have not seen one... but I am willing to learn about one that does.

The traditional Muay Thai stance is kind of square. More than orthodox boxing, at least.

The reason being they want to be able to use all eight limbs.

 

[punisher73]

The traditional Muay Thai stance is kind of square. More than orthodox boxing, at least.

The reason being they want to be able to use all eight limbs.

Agree. Most MMA will also have a more square stance to avoid a lead leg that is more susceptible to leg kicks and takedowns. Pure boxing doesn't have to worry about either, so their stance is designed to maximize its own techniques and tactics for the ring.

 

[drop bear]

But otherwise yes. Trying to do everything but getting in to a punching exchange with a good boxer would technically be the correct tactic.

 

[drop bear]

Agree. Most MMA will also have a more square stance to avoid a lead leg that is more susceptible to leg kicks and takedowns. Pure boxing doesn't have to worry about either, so their stance is designed to maximize its own techniques and tactics for the ring.

Not really. MMA can go heavy on the front leg to avoid take downs. The downside is they eat leg kicks all day.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Not really. MMA can go heavy on the front leg to avoid take downs. The downside is they eat leg kicks all day.

To be fair, certain things aren’t allowed. How many knee kicks will that heavy front leg take? barefoot on a bouncy floor with rules is a certain type of thing.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

But otherwise yes. Trying to do everything but getting in to a punching exchange with a good boxer would technically be the correct tactic.

This is true. Not letting the opponent do what they do best is solid advice.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Not really. MMA can go heavy on the front leg to avoid take downs. The downside is they eat leg kicks all day.

There exist no perfect fighting stance. A narrow stance is dangerous for double legs. A wide stance is dangerous for single leg and foot sweep.

 

[drop bear]

To be fair, certain things aren’t allowed. How many knee kicks will that heavy front leg take? barefoot on a bouncy floor with rules is a certain type of thing.

Depends. If you fight John Jones. Then all of them.

Calf kicks are a better example. You can't really hit them on a thai style guy because that front leg is too loose.

But they are becoming a super weapon for MMA.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Depends. If you fight John Jones. Then all of them.

Calf kicks are a better example. You can't really hit them on a thai style guy because that front leg is too loose.

But they are becoming a super weapon for MMA.

That guy even tells people he is going to win with leg kicks. It’s just amazing how often it works. I have good friends that train/fight Muay Thai at Fairtex in the Bay Area, they can wear you out and keep going.

 

[Oily Dragon]

Not really. MMA can go heavy on the front leg to avoid take downs. The downside is they eat leg kicks all day.

They enjoy it.

 

[Ivan]

Can you point me at a boxing system that fights from a squared up position? I have not seen one... but I am willing to learn about one that does.

Peek-a-boo

 

[kfman]

One of the cliches is that to defeat a boxer, you simply attack his legs since they are quite weak. Especially with kicks (which boxers are often seen as being terrible at taking).

Indeed I seen enough kickboxing vs boxer and MMA vs boxer at the professional level , and old school hardcore training full contact traditional martial artist defeat boxers that this is overall accurate.

However on the flip side I seen many amateur traditionalist martial artists, weekend kickboxers, and MMA fanboys who brag pro boxers are easy to defeat for the same reason. We are talking about average Joes who are out of shape by fighting standards (or even morbidly obese fatsos and frail skinny nerds) and only practise at best 1 hour a day and often on average only at the weekend (and even than rarely more than 30 mins, I know many who practise less than 15 mins).

Would it simply be easy as "attack the legs"? I ask this because I seen in a post months ago I think it was in the Muay Thai and amateur boxing subreddits of MT fighters saying they were losing to boxers of about equal skills and physical conditioning and it took advancing higher skills of both their boxing opponents and themselves in MT to finally demolish the boxing specialists with ease.

However this assumes the use of punches, elbows, knees, sweeps, etc the many stuff MT allows and not merely breaking legs.

Another reason I ask is since boxers do a lot of roadwork and roadwork is generally seen as one of the prime ways to train the legs in traditionalist karate and Savate to be both toughen up and hit hard, I wonder if their legs are so weak that an out of shape nerd doing a roundhouse ould easily break them? I mean in modern times many boxers do weight training such as kettlebell swings that often strengthens the legs so I find the "break the legs easily" cliche questionable for weekend warriors who don't train hard.

How is it? is it that simple? I mean I received kicks before from even people fit enough to compete with a degree of legitimate competence in high school sports including muscular football players and while receiving roundhouses and such did sting like hell, my legs wasn't broken even from the quite fit jock athletes.

Would you actually have to be fit enough to spare full contact at amateur tournament levels to "break legs easily with kicks" as the cliche goes?

Go for the knees and groin.

 

[jergar]

Boxers do not like to have their chest face you. Its called "squaring up" and when a fighter does that, he is open to be hit, and can generate no power... for the same reasons that many other martial arts discourages this as well. Some fighters will square up during a fight, just as many martial artists do as well. Every time, it puts the fighter squaring up, at a disadvantage. Even boxers will take advantage of it, if you square up against them.

Look up the different boxing guards, (the philly shell and such) none of them call for the boxer to square up. They all call for the boxer to be turned to the side, so as not to be open. Even when a boxer is on the ropes, they are taught to not square up.

*note: edited above to say that many martial arts discourage squaring up... there are some martial arts that do fight in a squared off stance. And they can generate power... but the technique is different than boxing technique. So a boxer would lose his power when squared up, unless he specifically trains another art to learn that technique. Thanks Crane!

I agree my dad was a boxer in the military, he taught me how to box when I was a teenager , first rule was if your right handed left foot forward, right foot back when other person jabs you take a small step with the right foot block or deflect with left glove and pivot on right foot and power punch with the right glove so your never square with your opponent, at least that’s the way I remember it and I still use that movement in my king fu training minus the bobbing and weaving ha ha.