A common question in the fighting sphere is whether boxing is a good enough sport for self-defense.  Many people wonder if they will be able to protect themselves just through boxing techniques. 

If you’re one of these people wondering, “Is boxing a good self-defense sport?” Yes! Boxing is a fantastic sport for self-defense. That comes from its mixture of defensive and offensive moves, efficient footwork, and distance management. Fighting against a trained boxer gives an average untrained guy little chance.

You don’t need to train yourself to be some GOAT-level boxer to protect yourself. You’ll be fine in a streetfight if you understand and use the basic concepts:

• Being capable of blocking, dodging or slipping punches
• Managing distance and using your jab to set up combos
• Using footwork to move around, defend and attack without sacrificing balance

With those three elements, you will be a challenging contender to anyone who has never practiced combat sports.

In this article, I discuss the primary reasons why boxing may or may not be practical in self-defence. Then, we’ll compare boxing to other famous self-defence sports like BJJ, Muay Thai, and MMA, and I will give some advice on how to use boxing in a street fight. (Check my post about why you should get into combat sports)

Boxing is practical in some Real-Life Situations, and here’s why! 

1. Higher Chances of Delivering a One Punch Knock out

‘One punch, man,’ imagine how easy your life can be if you can end a violent altercation with just one punch. Boxers are well-known for knocking out opponents with a single blow, even with their 12 oz big gloves. Imagine the impact if they just used their bare knuckles.

Boxing teaches you to rotate your legs and pivot your body to increase the power of your punches. When boxers master their craft, their ‘right hook’ or ‘shovel hook’ is more damaging than the hooks of fighters in any other combat sport.

Knocking out your opponent quickly and leaving the area is crucial for survival in a self-defense situation. But don’t let your aggressor fall too hard on the concrete ground so he doesn’t get damage that might end his life.

Russian Boxer Defends His Wife | Nikolai Vlasenko | 3 Knock Outs

2. Boxing teaches you speed and accuracy.

Your punching power is largely influenced by your physical traits, such as weight (that’s why heavy-weight boxer’s punches sound like gunshots when they hit the bag), the way your muscles are attached to your bones, and the development of fast-twitch muscle fibers.

 Even after a lot of boxing practice, your punch strength might not be at its full potential. It is due to the fact that you can still improve it!  

However, even if, for example, you are small and cannot knock someone out with a single blast, you can still beat them with fast, accurate punches.

Boxers are known for delivering faster and more accurate punches than any other style.

3. Boxing gives big importance to DEFENSE.

Boxing can keep you from getting damaged in dangerous situations by teaching you to dodge punches efficiently. Among stand-up combat sports, boxing has the best punch defense.

Furthermore, even as a newbie boxer, you are taught how to handle street brawlers. No one will successfully catch a boxer with a wild overhand, that one overdramatic punch that most untrained people will throw.

By sparring and learning to take a punch, you’ll be more confident in handling and defending a variety of punches. (A good place to learn that online at the comfort of your home would be Precision Striking website and channel on youtube. This is not a paid ad I just learned a lot from him and I wanted to give something in return.)

4. It teaches you to float like a butterfly! 

Most angry brawlers will try to use wrestling in a street fight. However, with the footwork boxing teaches you, it will be easier to move around (float) and watch your back.

Furthermore, you can maintain your balance during a street battle. Combine that with great punching skills, and who can stop you then?

5. You’ll be able to do well against multiple opponents. 

It’s never good to fight multiple people, especially in the streets. However, if you cannot avoid that problem and have to knock out multiple opponents with your blows, you will have a higher chance of handling two or more opponents with boxing than with some other combat sports. 

6. Live the Fighter Lifestyle.

Boxers are true fighters. Boxing training makes you accustomed to shock, pain, high stress, and taking a beating. Being punched in the face is frequent in fights and sparring, and no one is more ready and trained to handle a strike to the face than a boxer.

We have all seen a boxing fight where a fighter will get knocked down multiple times and would not give up, stand up, and get right back to the fight. It’s the hours of roadwork, sparring, training, and the brotherly gym vibes that prepare you for that, living fully the fighter lifestyle. 

Real-Life Situations When Boxing Might Not be Useful in 

1. Punching With a Glove On and Bare Knuckles Is Not The Same

Boxing in our day and age is a ring sport that primarily focuses on having well-protected hands. To fight with your hands wrapped up and gloves on is a different game than bare knuckles; for instance, the high guard is pretty much useless without boxing gloves.

 So without gloves, almost half of your defensive arsenal, which is high guard, is gone. Now, you must rely on head movements and using your arms to defend (which will hurt).

A fighter could even break his hand in a ferocious fistfight. All it takes is one blow to an elbow. The bare-knuckle boxing system uses different strategies and punches, which is considerably better for street fights and all self-defense.

Most boxers do not know how to box bare-knuckled because they simply don’t have to! 

2. Clinch isn’t always focused on in Boxing.

Clinch is so common in boxing fights. Some call it dirty Boxing, and some say it’s part of the game. But most boxers don’t even train on their clinch game! 

It’ll be easy to take you down using “dirty” Boxing, elbows, or knees. So you might want to practice clinching, as the Muay Thai fighters do, which is essential.

In a clinch situation, most boxers just wait for the referee to break it. Out there, there’s no referee! 

3. Boxers Have No Game When It Comes To Ground

Well, let me tell you something you already know: your boxing abilities are useless when fights end on the ground. Yes, to defend some ground and pound, you must keep your hands in front of your face, and a boxing guard might help, but that’s it! 

Boxers with a shorter reach will struggle in a fight with no rules, especially if they can’t manage the distance. Their opponent can wrap them with their arms and take them to the ground. That’s exactly what happened to James Toney when he tried MMA. 

(include a link to the YouTube video of James Toney MMA fight)

4. You have no idea what leg kicks defense is as a boxer.

Punching power comes from the legs, multiple legs. If you receive a powerful kick in your legs, it will restrict you from punching correctly.

One of the fastest ways for a Muay Thai fighter to defeat a boxer is ‘leg kicks.’ If you’re not conditioned to them, leg kicks will be too painful to keep standing. 

Boxing against other disciplines (BJJ, Wrestling, Muay Thai and Kickboxing)

BJJ

If you know the fundamentals, such as maintaining or passing a guard, or the different submissions, like the infamous RNC, the Kimura, Americana, guillotine, etc.… Then you have the arsenal to take anyone that has no fighting experience. 

BJJ is an outstanding sport for one-on-one self-defense; many consider it the ultimate defensive sport, which might sound good to some but bad to others. BJJ focuses on defense and submission rather than taking opponents down and controlling them like in wrestling. 

Also, against multiple opponents, BJJ is almost useless unless you’re opponents will take turns fighting you, which most likely won’t happen.  

So, against boxing? 

Suppose a boxer fights against a pure BJJ practitioner. In that case, the odds are that it will be a one-punch-KO fight, or the BJJ guy will choke the boxer before even the boxer knows what’s happening. If the boxer somehow has some high fight IQ and can defend takedowns and keep the fight on foot, then the BJJ guy will struggle. 

Between the Two, I’ll recommend boxing because you’re less likely to get in fights with people who train BJJ. After all, martial artists, in my opinion, try to avoid conflicts.

Even if you do, it’s better to lose a one-on-one battle to someone who does BJJ; if you tap out, he’ll let you go (unless he’s a psychopath who trains BJJ for all the wrong reasons).

It’s still better than fighting multiple opponents and not having the necessary footwork and movement skills to help you move around and run away if you have to. 

Wrestling

Now, even if BJJ and Wrestling are grappling sports, when you dive deeper, it’s a different game. Wrestling teaches you to have complete control over your opponent’s body, FULL CONTROL! That’s why many wrestlers succeed in the MMA scene; I mean, look at Khabib Nurmagomedov. He’s in the GOAT discussion; his striking, especially in the beginning, was kind of off.  

If a wrestler can have a hold on a boxer, a kickboxer, or anyone, they will hold the other fighters and force them to the ground, using their skills, and the opponents will not have much to do! If a person has full control over your body you cannot do much.

Now again, wrestling is a one-on-one sport, and it’s an Olympic sport. In self-defense situations against multiple people, wrestling might not be that helpful unless you use the raw power you acquire from the intense workouts to push everyone around.

So against boxing, boxing still has the overhand (literally) when it comes to ending fights quickly, and again, ‘Footwork’ might be helpful.

But most of the time, Wrestlers who know how to handle punches and kicks can defeat boxers, kickboxers, and Muay Thai fighters if they can get them to the ground. It can be risky for them if they are battling a BJJ expert since they could get submitted.

Muay Thai & Kickboxing

In the same way, a fight can end with one punch in boxing; a fight can end with one kick in Muay Thai or Kickboxing; even better, it won’t have to be a risky brain-damaging punch that might over-hurt your opponent. A powerful leg kick might break up a fight before it starts.

You will also learn how to use your knees and elbows effectively through those combat sports, giving you more weapons. However, it will not be great to overuse your kicks in a street brawl. An opponent could quickly grab your leg and knock you to the ground if your kicks are slow.

Also, compared to boxing, there’s less head movement in kickboxing and Muay Thai. For instance, ducking might be bad when your opponent can kick you in the face or strike you with their knee. Kickboxing or Muay Thai highlights parrying and blocking more.

So compared to boxing, Muay Thai and Kickboxing have more weapons and can be more dangerous. On the other hand, boxing has a wider stance, which can be helpful to defend against takedowns. However, a boxer won’t know about leg kick defense, so the Thai boxing fighter might win a fight against a boxer by only deploying his legs.

CONCLUSION

As many contenders say, “Something is better than nothing,” and against ordinary people in most situations that will need self-defense, boxing is enough to help you defend yourself and your loved ones.

However, when it comes to MMA, boxing might be a minimal element of your craft that needs to be combined with another discipline to help make you unbeatable in the octagon.

Remember, in all combat sports, we prepare for a situation with rules and a referee, and that’s not the case in street fights, so the best defense is to avoid any violent altercation out there. But if you can’t avoid it, you will, at least, be ready by training in combat sports.