The Responsibilities of Punching

Https://www.myboxingcoach.com - I am often asked online “Which knuckles should seek to land when punching?” The knuckles on the left side of the fist? The right side? The centre pair of knuckles. Interestingly, I am never asked this ‘offline’, not sure why. When you throw a punch, you have 3 primary responsibilities: Making the punch technically excellent. This includes driving the shoot from the feet, getting the appropriate body rotation and delivering the shot with acceleration. Landing the punch. This is about getting your range right and using the appropriate shot for that range. Minimizing the risk of injury to yourself. In boxing we are fortunate to have lots of protection on the hands. Wraps on the hands, gloves that are generally excellent quality with good padding to the front of the glove and solid support around the wrist. Given the level of padding across the fist it feels a little academic to think about which knuckles to land - a bit like suggesting that the colour of a car has any influence on how fast the car goes. So, keep it simple. Aim to land the punch with the full face of the fist. What does matter is ensuring that you align the bones of the hand with the bones of the forearm. This alignment will minimize the risk of wrist injury. What about on the street then, without the benefits of protection on the hands? I am not a street-fighting expert, nor a self-defence expert. That being said, I reckon that when an unprotected human fist hits a human head it’s 50/50 whether that fist ends up with broken bones - this is even if the punch lands on the jaw where there is a bit of ‘give’. If the punch lands high up the skull, that I reckon it’s pretty much certain that the hand will break. Probably another of the many good reasons not to end up in street fights, and if you do, maybe consider going for body shots. Cheers Fran