Bare fist, which knuckes and why?

**Mor Sao** · Posted On: 12/01/2009 4:44pm

Originally Posted by battlefields

One of Lawrence Lee's first queries of me was my fist and which knuckles I used. I had always used my index and middle, but he said to get the maximum impact you have to hit with all the knuckles at once. He then showed me the shape of his fist and in comparison to a normal fist, his knuckles, albeit deformed somewhat, were in a straight line. Then he asked how much money I had before formulating a "special deal" for his super secret ancient Chinese herbs that helped heal bones and flesh after iron palm training. I can honestly say they didn't do that much.

Let me know if you are wanting to try herbs that truly work.

**Sang** · Posted On: 12/02/2009 9:40am

Originally Posted by Tubarão-branco

Why do the WC haters have to come out of the woodwork whenever anyone mentions punching with the last three knuckles? This thread wasn't even about WC.

What ever happened to: Individual > Training Method > Style ?

Plenty of well known posters myself included have met and sparred with WC Individuals that know how to fight. All of them cross train and use Training Methods other than wooden dummy forms. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being able to pull off chain punches in an alive environment. I don't find it much different from a triple jab.

Also, I use the First Three knuckles. I'm pretty sure this has to do with the way I do knuckle push-ups.

The problem is people who don't hit **** giving advice on hitting **** to other people. It makes complete sense to ignore all posts from a wing chun user on technique until they prove they are in the 0.001% that train alive. I hold everyone to this standard though, someone having boxing in their style field doesn't mean they'll give decent advice.

Regarding the topic; personally i think it's retarded to use any knuckles to punch someone with, i've remained injury free using elbows, forearms and open palms. There is not much difference between two knuckles and three, both have a good chance of getting fucked up if you hit the wrong target or at the wrong angle, which can and will happen in a high stress scenario. Use whatever your coach teaches you to use.

**AustinHarry** · Posted On: 12/02/2009 4:38pm

Originally Posted by Sang

The problem is people who don't hit **** giving advice on hitting **** to other people. It makes complete sense to ignore all posts from a wing chun user on technique until they prove they are in the 0.001% that train alive. I hold everyone to this standard though, someone having boxing in their style field doesn't mean they'll give decent advice.

Regarding the topic; personally i think it's retarded to use any knuckles to punch someone with, i've remained injury free using elbows, forearms and open palms. There is not much difference between two knuckles and three, both have a good chance of getting fucked up if you hit the wrong target or at the wrong angle, which can and will happen in a high stress scenario. Use whatever your coach teaches you to use.

Sang speaks the truth. Shane Mosley fought someone many years ago who claimed he frequently got into bar fights. One of the HBO guys asked Shane what he thought about that and he said "That means he has bad hands" and turned out the guy had surgery on his hands in the past.

The only fight I've been in as an adult I jacked my hand up pretty bad after a left hook caught the guy right on a tooth. It still hurts when I bend that finger all the way.

All this talk about knuckles is great but in my experience it all goes to hell in a real fight. For example the guy I fought had his hands in front of his face so I threw a left hook, thing is I was still at long range so my arm was somewhat extended and I ended up hitting where the metacarpal and the phalange meet instead of on the knuckle.

If I somehow ever get in a fight again I will do my best to remember not to use a closed fist, I work in IT and it sucks trying to get by with one hand.

**BackFistMonkey** · Posted On: 12/02/2009 4:45pm

Originally Posted by Whathappened

That's funny, google told me this

Boxer's knuckle

Boxer's Fracture Overview

Guess your gym has some Karate influence if they suggest using the 1st two knuckles.

Because, in this famous pic of Muhammed Ali,

and Mike Tyson,

and current hot-topic for the Filipinas,

the striking point is the last three fingers/knuckle.
I guess it varies from boxing instructor to instructor, gym to gym.

Did anyone forget we are talking about BARE knuckles ?

**MMAMickey** · Posted On: 12/02/2009 5:10pm

A couple of older guys i know who did a bit of prizefighting mentioned that they'd often hit each other in the body alot more than you'd expect.. for the sake of their hands

***WhiteShark*** · Posted On: 12/02/2009 8:00pm

I'm sitting here staring at my hand and I can't really figure out what is wrong with it that makes hitting with the first three knuckles strange. I basically just line up on my middle knuckle. On me it is clearly the largest/most conditioned. My hands aren't particularly flat or anything.

**Whathappened** · Posted On: 12/02/2009 9:06pm

Originally Posted by Christmas Spirit

Did anyone forget we are talking about BARE knuckles ?

Nope. They are just relevant to the picture of Mohammed Ali's bare knuckle punch which is the same as Mike Tyson's and Pacman's (nickname) when gloved.

My ex-boss, as trained boxer did not differentiate between glove and bare knuckle, other than doing last 3 knuckle push-ups to condition said fists.
Knuckle push-ups was advice I gave after he approached me once he knew I was from Karate and fought/sparred bare handed.

He obviously took my advice since the next two street fights he got into didn't involve bandages but band-aid for skin cuts.

**jspeedy** · Posted On: 12/02/2009 9:47pm

Originally Posted by Christmas Spirit

Did anyone forget we are talking about BARE knuckles ?

I was thinking the same thing, consider the post title "bare fist, which knuckes and why?" (hey I just noticed is says knuckes not knuckles, typo? or coolness?)

Not to mention all the pictures posted by whathappened are 1 ali posing for a picture and 2 live fighting. niether picture proves anything. Ali was posing not punching, and in a fight it's likely at least a few punches will land without using the intended striking surface. One isolated picture is not proof of anything. In summary the pictures are not only irrelevant to the OP they can be considered irrelevant to this whole topic.

**Whathappened** · Posted On: 12/02/2009 10:28pm

Originally Posted by jspeedy

I was thinking the same thing, consider the post title "bare fist, which knuckes and why?" (hey I just noticed is says knuckes not knuckles, typo? or coolness?)

Not to mention all the pictures posted by whathappened are 1 ali posing for a picture and 2 live fighting. niether picture proves anything. Ali was posing not punching, and in a fight it's likely at least a few punches will land without using the intended striking surface. One isolated picture is not proof of anything. In summary the pictures are not only irrelevant to the OP they can be considered irrelevant to this whole topic.

The implication of your statement is that boxer's cannot utilize their MA without their gloves. Or at the very least, train another set of knuckles for outside the ring.

My posting of the boxers is relevant based on my experience with them. They (the ones I know) punch with the same set of knuckles with or without gloves.

I've met at least two who train for the street, their last 3 knuckles and fingers are calloused and of higher bone density than the index or thumb.

***WhiteShark*** · Posted On: 12/02/2009 10:29pm

Wait I just realized someone was trying to say that the picture of Ali "proves" that HE punched with the last three knuckles. lol

You can't recognize any bone remodeling in that picture? Hint: It isn't on the last three knuckles.