The deadly solar plexus punch

[MisterMR]

I wanted to ask this in the basic striking forum, but for being safe I'll post it here.

When I was in middle school once one of my classmates punched me in the solar plexus by surprise (I didn't know I offended him, so I was taken completely by surprise). I literally couldn't stop weeping, so much that the puncher had to console me and probably was quite shocked by the result.

In an old Judo book the punch in the solar plexus is considered the most common atemi.

The traditional stance of Nippon Kempo has one hand protecting the solar plexus, and this I think happens also in other TMAs.

BUT I never saw a solar plexus knockout in boxe.
Maybe gloves or some other mechanics make solar plexus punches in boxe not practical?

Do solar plexus KOs happen in kyokushin?

And in MMA?

[Detritus667]

http://<a href="https://youtu.be/tBG...BGj6GfdQnQ</a>

And no - it is not deadly...

[MisterMR]

Embedded version of Detritus' link:

another solar plexus KO:

another thing that I think is a solar plexus KO though I can't be sure:

But then in this compilation of body shot KO all seem liver shots:

So, is this because the solar plexus is a more difficult target, or because it's less effective than the liver, or what?

[ermghoti]

another thing that I think is a solar plexus KO though I can't be sure:

No, that's a punch to the pussy.

[Guird]

With the solar plexus it really depends if you catch them on an exhale or inhale, on the inhale it's like magic, exhale the surrounding muscles tense and reduce the effect (though it still sucks).

[kendamu]

I mean, Goku killed Broly with a solar plexus punch, but he needed the combined ki of Gohan, Trunks, Piccolo, and Vegeta to help him do it. So, unless you have everyone giving you a bunch of ki, it's not deadly.

Trust me. I'm a weeb.

[Permalost]

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The traditional stance of Nippon Kempo has one hand protecting the solar plexus, and this I think happens also in other TMAs.

I've trained in such a style, and think its a foolish approach. If a hard body shot is coming your way, covering your solar plexis with your hand won't stop it, and if you'd used an elbow cover instead, your hand would remain high for defense and you might hurt the incoming limb. You can also throw a counterpunch over theirs just after they punch your elbow. I see no advantage to that guard-the-solar-plexis style.

[DdlR]

Fun fact: the "solar plexus punch" received big press back in 1897, after "Ruby Robert" Fitzsimmons KOed Jim Corbett in a world championship match held in Carson City. Because it was so unusual to see a champ taken out with a single shot to the body, some spectators believed that Corbett had thrown the fight.

A small panel, including promoters, a writer and a doctor, was convened to try to figure out exactly where the punch had landed to have had that effect. The doctor identified that spot as the solar plexus, which none of the others had ever heard of, and the writer (W.W. Naughton) highlighted the "solar plexus punch" in his report on the fight. Naughton's report was widely republished in local and international newspapers, establishing and spreading the lore of the solar plexus punch and hyping it as a sort of secret finishing move.

[MisterMR]

I've trained in such a style, and think its a foolish approach. If a hard body shot is coming your way, covering your solar plexis with your hand won't stop it, and if you'd used an elbow cover instead, your hand would remain high for defense and you might hurt the incoming limb. You can also throw a counterpunch over theirs just after they punch your elbow. I see no advantage to that guard-the-solar-plexis style.

In all honesty I agree with you.

Currently my tentative answer to the question I posed at the beginning is this:

At a boxing distance, the punch to the solar plexus is not particularly pratical relative to other shots, because it can be deflected by forearms, because the opponent will usually keep a slanted stance, it requires a lot of precision etc.

But in some martial traditions like that of old jujitsu, they more or less assumed a fighting distance that is much shorter, what we could call the aikido distance. Something like the distance when two judokas are straight arming, and then one of the two punches/kicks the other. This is a distance that for various reasons almost never happen in modern combat sports, we still see it in aikido, in some self defence courses, and in some katas in TMA.
An example would be the tachiai portion of the Kime no kata (starting from 5:51):
https://youtu.be/eN1Z8qKNfW8?t=5m51s

In that kind of situation a solar plexus punch is a much more viable attack than in boxe/kickboxing etc., so from the point of vieu of old jujitsu it was normal to consider it one of the main targets.

When karate was introduced in Japan, some of this kind of knowledge entered into it, however the kind of competition and preeminence to striking that karate acquired made so that the fighting distance of karate become a more normal striking fighting distance.
So now many TMAs of the karate family (I think that the hand on the solar plexus is something that happens mostly in the karate family) ended up with a stance that tries to protect a vulnerable point that is not anymore one of the main targets, because in the meanwhile other changes in the style trasformed it into a more long distance style.
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EDIT: somewhat unrelated, but I should probably say that while the official NK stance has an hand covering the solar plexus, in reality nobody does it during sparring/competiton.