Sparring questions

[GhostFighter]

1. Whats the best place to kick on the leg in a real fight?

2. For someone who wants to learn and become good at sparring, should he go straight to kickboxing or is it better to do boxing alone first?

3. Is there a real difference between thai and kick boxing except for the knee and elbow usage?

4. Whats best to learn for a rookie to sparring: Wing Chun, boxing or thai/kickboxing?

thx in advance

[SoonerJohn]

I want to preface this by saying that everyones experiences and opinions are different, so here are mine:

1. Whats the best place to kick on the leg in a real fight?

I probably wouldn't do many kicks if any in a real fight, but it would be on either side of the knee if I did.

I've not been in a great amount of real fights, but the ones I've been in I've thrown one kick. I mainly threw punches and grappled. My background is heavy in boxing and wrestling though with Jiu Jitsu and kickboxing being what I do these days in a mixed martial arts class.

2. For someone who wants to learn and become good at sparring, should he go straight to kickboxing or is it better to do boxing alone first?

I'm biased towards boxing and I've taking both boxing and kickboxing separetly and learned much more by concentrating on boxing. Of course we trained harder in boxing, so it probably had a lot to do with it and the coach was top notch and taught the ends and outs of the strategy very well.

3. Is there a real difference between thai and kick boxing except for the knee and elbow usage?

This I don't know.

4. Whats best to learn for a rookie to sparring: Wing Chun, boxing or thai/kickboxing?

I think you know what I'll say by now. Boxing.

[GhostFighter]

Do you think that Wing Chun can be compared (sparring) to boxing and kickboxing?

[AndrewGreen]

1) Best place to kick the leg - Dead center of the front of the quad.

Unless they are stiff legged don't bother kicking the knee, it probably won't do much at all.

2) Up to you, there is no real agreement here. They are different styles though so if you go with boxing first you will have to unlearn some things.

3) Targets too, in American kickboxing you can't kick bellow the belt line. You also can't clinch. Kicks tend to get thrown higher and are more karate / TKD based.

4) Boxing or Muay Thai

[GhostFighter]

1) Best place to kick the leg - Dead center of the front of the quad.

Unless they are stiff legged don't bother kicking the knee, it probably won't do much at all.

Can you clearify that, cause i dont really understand why that would be.

[AndrewGreen]

Knees got a lot of give, they move too much and kicking them is not the most effective target. Unless the guy is stiff legged, then there is no give and you can do lots of damage.

Kicking the quad will cause a charlie horse like nothing else, it's possible to temporarily paralyse it. A hit or two there and the leg stops working like you might want it too.

[SubGrappler]

1. Whats the best place to kick on the leg in a real fight?

I'll disagree a bit with Andrew here- I think the best place to kick is on the side of the leg, i.e. your typical Muay Thai match. My reasoning is that your thigh isnt one large muscle but rather a collection of large muscles. Theres a fascea tissue along the side of your leg that works to keep your muscles there together when they contract- hurting this really hurts the leg. The other catch is that by hitting the side of the leg, you can get a shotgun type effect where you can damage many of the muscles in the thigh rather than just your major quad.

2. For someone who wants to learn and become good at sparring, should he go straight to kickboxing or is it better to do boxing alone first?

Take your pick I suppose- I asked the same guys who are teaching me Muay Thai, and thats what they told me. They did say that boxing would be just as good, since the first 6 months of muay thai is boxing techniques anyway, as they are essential.

3. Is there a real difference between thai and kick boxing except for the knee and elbow usage?

Kickboxing is a general term used to describe any standup striking event where punches and kicks are allowed. Muay Thai is a type of kick boxing. To give an example of another, Savate is also a type of kick boxing, similar to muay thai, but minus the knees and elbows. ISKA kickboxing would also be another type of kickboxing, but fighters wear padding when they fight.

4. Whats best to learn for a rookie to sparring: Wing Chun, boxing or thai/kickboxing?

thx in advance

boxing or muay thai.

[SubGrappler]

Do you think that Wing Chun can be compared (sparring) to boxing and kickboxing?

Its not bad, in my opinion, but the numbers speak for themselves. Muay Thai and boxing have had much much greater success.

[Menjo]

Do you think that Wing Chun can be compared (sparring) to boxing and kickboxing?

Its not bad, in my opinion, but the numbers speak for themselves. Muay Thai and boxing have had much much greater success.

I beleive this is the result of Muay Thai and boxing and some other MMA fiting the average human body type so well, as well with training. Because it is relativly simple to learn and easier to apply and faster to apply than other martial arts, it gets the glory. Somewhere I posted a more a slightly more in depth post on this idea.

[AndrewGreen]

I disagree about it being easier to learn, boxing / muay thai techniques are just as complex as any other system and the strategy is just as deep.

It is faster to apply because of the training methods, you start sparring early on, and you spar hard. Training is entirely based around what works in a live situation, not what is a part of the established curriculum or "sensitivity" drills like chi sau that really have little to do with really fighting.

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Subgrappler, most kicks will land on the side of the leg because it is a easier target, and most fighters will turn there leg if they can't avoid or check a kick to take it on the side towards the back of the leg. If you can set up a kick where you angle off and land it more towards the front of the leg it will hurt a lot more, especially if you got a downward angle too it.