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March 1

Boxing vs other martial arts

I have seen some documentaries comparing martial arts. Something strange I noticed is that the boxer often gets to keep their gloves while fighting a different style which uses bare hands. Why is it like that? It looks ridiculous as if the boxer wouldn't be able do anything without them and unfair to their opponent, who doesn't have any protection. An example would be the movie Ip Man 2. --2.245.241.113 (talk) 19:58, 1 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki went something like that, too. But neither fight was quite what you'd call "on the level". For fairer fights, see how it's done in mixed martial arts. Though smart boxers learn to kick and wrestle, many are content with relying (or at least heavily focusing) on their boxing skill. For some, like Junior dos Santos, it goes pretty far. For elite boxer James Toney, it goes terribly. Others, like Holly Holm, can certainly crush cans.

But the main thing is everyone wears the same gloves, which aren't great for striking or grappling, but good enough for both. The only fair way, really. InedibleHulk (talk) 04:24, 2 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

As InedibleHulk notes, the difference here is between a true mixed-martial arts match between people of different disciplines and a publicity stunt. The Ali-Inoki "fight" was clearly the latter. In terms of a true MMA match, the rules, including allowed equipment, are uniform for all fighters, whatever their discipline. It should be noted that MMA, like Freestyle swimming, has evolved into a more uniform style. Just as freestyle swimming is basically everyone doing the crawl, because that's the best stroke, and even though they're allowed to do different, no one does. In MMA, you never see one fighter standing in a boxing stance expecting Marquess of Queensbury rules, while another fighter sets up for jiujitsu. There's certainly styles the fighters follow, MMA isn't a free for all, and neither does it reward purists, and as a result a distinct "MMA style" has developed as fighters have learned what works best within the rules and what doesn't, and the sport has "homogenized" some into its own discipline. It is certainly less homogenous than any one discipline, but people now train strictly as "MMA fighters" rather than training as "boxers" or "Wrestlers" or whatever because the people who are successful in the sport now train specifically for it. --Jayron 32 00:08, 5 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Still evolving, though. That strict adherence to "MMA style" in training camps loses against those who look to exploit the predictability, and confuse with sudden straights from any available angle. Anderson Silva, Yoel Romero, and Conor McGregor are three good examples of this, and many more are following those examples.

Of course, they're all just stealing from Bruce Lee. InedibleHulk (talk) 18:35, 5 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

“The definition of a true martial artist to me is a man with an open mind, is open to all styles of combat. That’s me. The human body can move in many ways and I am looking to learn all those styles. I am unpredictable. Bruce Lee was asked in a film about the highest level of technique he hoped to achieve and the highest technique he hopes to achieve is to have no technique. I agree with that: to be unpredictable and to move in many ways. I believe that is why I am dangerous.” InedibleHulk (talk) 18:43, 5 March 2015 (UTC) [reply]

In UFC1, Art_Jimmerson fought with one boxing glove, because he didn't want to hurt his jab hand. It. . .didn't go well for him. OldTimeNESter (talk) 20:38, 4 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Mission successful, as far as his hand went, though. Holm's toughest opponent wasn't so lucky. InedibleHulk (talk) 21:17, 4 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Speaking of the "human cockfighting" days, if Keith Hackney had proper gloves at UFC 4, he could have accumulated more low blows, ~~potentially preventing a gang rapist from later doing his thing.~~ InedibleHulk (talk) 21:48, 4 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

That was actually a few years earlier, he was only charged in 2008. So no harm done. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:17, 4 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]