Embracing Street Boxing History

Embracing Street Boxing History


A fighter with great street boxing does not only want to fight according to its rules and regulations.
A top fighter absorbs boxing into himself, as a person. In a sense, the boxer becomes
“it.” He embodies the sport and becomes closely identified with it, not only by being a champion
of boxing for the street but also by learning everything he can about it.

Western players of Asian sports like Karate, Judo, and Tae Kwon do, often behave like
their Asian counterparts. They adopt the same discipline and patience, use the same terms in
their respective languages, same outfits, even the same battle cries and salutes.

But great boxers will go even further in adopting the cultures native to the sports - the
religions, philosophies, arts, and to a certain extreme, even the food and the way of talking.

Some of them even re-design their offices or houses to look like a place where boxing
originated. To most top fighters, excellence in boxing includes getting the “feel” of everything
connected to it. Some top boxers based in California, USA who are winning championships
upon championships, require their students among other things, mastery of the history of fighting country of origin. For a show of deep commitment to boxing and loyalty to their coach father,
they are also required to visit the said country and take pictures of themselves there as
proof of their trip.

Some sports are closely related to their culture and history. You cannot fully appreciate
their beauty and meanings unless you learn their backgrounds. Some fencers study the styles of
historic fencing in Spain, France, and England. They try to know details of how the game was
used in sports and in combat. Some serious baseball and football players even visit the town
where heroes of the sports became popular and where they first made their feats.

You may do similar trips as the aforesaid, which however are not really necessary, but
the main thing here—the working principle—is that great fighters must be so serious as to know
why and how boxing began and developed from a local game to a popular fighting sport.

Valuable secrets may be in store for the diligent researcher as historical backgrounds are uncovered,
contributing significantly in the understanding of the mechanics or technology of boxing—which
cannot be conceived if you merely play the sport by just knowing its rules and regulations.

It is helpful to know that Karate was developed when weaponry was outlawed by the
Japanese, particularly the Satsuma and Shimazu clans, in Okinawa (the Ryukyu islands)
sometime in 1470. The Okinawans secretly developed an imported hand and foot fighting art
from China, making it relevant to the limited space they had and to the common preoccupations
of Okinawans. Thus, a great Karate fighter will train better if he meditates and focuses in thinking
that his body and limbs are to be as effective (and deadly) as real weapons of war. And he will
know, through research, that the real masters cross train in the art of weaponry by sharpening
their skills in Karate. An adage says, “When you’re good with weapons in hand, you’ll be
invincible when empty handed.” Thus, to be a Karate champion, the street boxer is to seriously
consider cross training in weaponry arts.

It will help to have a knockout punch in boxing if you know about a Roman boxing and
wrestling champion during the peak of the Empire. Milo, a contemporary of Theagenes, then the
most noted boxer of his time, lived sometime in the fifth century B.C. He carried calves as a boy
and whole cows as a young man. He was able to punch cows dead with a fist blow to the head.

Of course, in sports boxing, you’re not out there to kill foes with a blow to their heads. But you
will have an idea how to develop a good, single action knockout punch. You have to cross-train
in weight training. Jogging, shadowboxing, and punching bag workouts are not enough.

In ancient Egypt, the earliest sign of street boxing was in 4000 B.C., when gloves were
simply made of thin leather that covered the hands, arms, and elbows. From this, one can obtain
some techniques of blocking using not only the hands, but also the arms and elbows.

Moreover, ancient Greek fighters really gave life and limb to win in boxing events.
Doesn’t this give you a clear picture of dedication and commitment? The earliest record of an
Olympic event in ancient Greece is in the 23rd book of the Iliad. From this, the life and training
of an athlete is seen as nothing falling short of ace sportsmanship.