Defense against the face punch

[bushido_man96]

It is interesting. The difficult part for me would be learning to counter and punch with my hands from that position.

[joesteph]

Would immediate counters be palm heels and backfists? Or good old-fashioned shoving, if he seems caught off-guard by the unorthodox blocking?

[bushido_man96]

I don't know. I would like to take it to my DT buddy, and work it over that way, to see what I could (or couldn't) do with it.

What one could do is after the deflection, move forward as deflecting, and then spike that elbow right into the attacker's centerline, to create some space, and jar them good. You could also look for available targets for that elbow spike, too.

I think a downward trajectory palm strike might be something to consider, too. Again, seeing targets would help you decide.

[cross]

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=njPgVLPTWZk&feature=PlayList&p=259EEC8605280211&index=0&playnext=1

In the above clip Rodney King explains that the position of only used momentarily during defense, you still stand in a normal boxing stance at other times.

[bushido_man96]

I guess once you get used to making the transition, then it wouldn't be a big deal. Just practice.

[50inches]

Rodney King says that you can use any guard from a distance, but when getting showered with punches, that's a good guard to turn to.

[FitOrDie]

Yes, instead of blocking with fists, just use your forarms. With any luck you can maybe get them to punch your elbow, which really hurts the knuckles...

Still, like Mr. Miyagi said, best block: no be there! I like the quick duck and shooting in for a take down, changing levels, if you're one on one. People on the street generally will fall right into it, can't stop it, and will get mounted and take a pounding with relative ease. Usually I duck as I'm covering with my forarms, loosely, just in case.

[Bushido-Ruach]

First thing I would do is block it with an elbow jam stop-hit block, if all goes well, his cross won't be coming because he is in too much pain from breaking his fingers on my elbow. Then I would follow up with a finger slap to the eyes so that he can't see very well...and finish him off with a front kick to the gut.

 

There are other scenarios, of course, but that's my favorite.

[Daisho]

If it's not a sucker punch, then I generally try to get inside when I'm fighting.

A trained boxer is not going to launch the cross at the same point as he's aiming the jab. He's using the jab, then anticipating your head movement to land the cross, so it makes it difficult if you're not trained in getting "under" the cross.

As far as technique to defend it, I'd probably react similar to explained above, hand check the jab and dodge the cross.

[rj]

if the confrontation cant be avoided, strike 1st, and take out the eyes...disabling the old optic system should signifigantly reduce further aggression. When he's done screaming like a howler monkey, you can be long gone!