“I’m short and have a hard punch. Are there combative and legal ups and downs to body punching when I get attacked on the street?”

-David

David, in Cսnt Amurica, one must be concerned for the safety of his attacker, as the entire system is designed so that the criminal can work it to engineer your demise with the aid of his allies in Law Enforcement. In that light, punching to the body against any attacker who is middle-aged or younger—don’t punch old men in the chest—is far less likely to cause death or other head injury as the man felled by a body shot tends to fold inward, while a man felled by a head blow tends to fall backward, sometimes unconscious, resulting in the head not only striking, but slinging into the pavement.

Secondly, most attackers are thin youths who lack thickness of body and strength of will to deal with body blows.

Thirdly, most attackers swing a looping punch towards your left eye. Simply shielding with your left and/or and crouching in while you thump the straight right to the body uses his commitment against him. Aim for the basketball-sized left half of his chest, which encompasses the following targets:

-Diaphragm, causing paralysis in most

-Breast bone, easy to fracture on skinny dudes

-Front ribs, easily fractured

-Cartilage over the lung, compress it with vertical fist and impede lung expansion

-The heart, just below the cartilage and next to the diaphragm

-The floating rib, bottom left, attached only by cartilage an easily knocked loose

-the spleen, to the right of the floating rib and below and to the left of the diaphragm

Against shorter men throw to the throat, which may gag his throat or ding his chin or hit the top of the ribcage at the collar and send his balance back. Against an onrushing puncher this last target is great, about the size of a volley ball.

Punches delivered below his elbows should be pronated with the thumb hanging below the hand, or be delivered behind the elbow with your small knuckles with the thumb outside the possible drop arc of his elbow.

If he bends, your best shot is to palm his left shoulder with your left hand and then dig a pronated corkscrew punch to his kidney just below the back bottom rib. He has one on both sides, so you can do this on your left as well.

After hitting the body, if he is still there and you wish to go upstairs, the best method is to throw an elbow hook. The elbow hook or forearm smash or Muay Thai elbow stroke is an excellent way to practice early hook mechanics on the bag and the safest bet for your hands on the street. I have used this successfully against a much larger attacker.

If it is do or die the best body shots are jump stomps on the chest, which will kill him.

If he is under foot and may rise and you need him to stay down, do not jump stop [unless it’s a death situation with multiple foes and or weapons] and do not kick the ribs from the side as this types as a punishment infliction. Rather, stomp the floating rib just under his heart and snap that fucker off in his torso, which will make sitting up an agony. The most debilitating stomp that is not fatal is to pick up one of his feet, straighten the leg and stomp in his genitals against his pelvis.

Fighting Smart: Boxing, Agonistics & Survival