Charles and I finally got to review the video of Erique’s agon this past Monday. Being able to rewind, slow, and freeze the video was a huge advantage. Charles took the lead on the weaponry and walked me through seven technical factors that our two year fighter still has to conquer to get to the point where the other guys will groan when he steps into the ring. Each item will be addressed in an article on this site, after I have had a session to work on our proposed solutions with Erique.

As Charles said, “He’s doing the same thing I was doing two years in, the same thing everyone does.”

This makes our man Erique a good model for discussing common obstacles to a weapon fighter’s excellence in combat. An example of the process is below, with my reading of the boxing video.

Craig is a natural fighter involved in violence in and out of the ring since childhood, who once saw his dad chase a guy down the street with a machete.

Erique’s dad was a dentist and Erique saw his childhood combat in comic books.

Psychological edge: Craig

Craig is a middleweight and Erique is a heavyweight.

Physical edge: Erique

Craig has boxed for 15 years to Erique’s 1 year of Wing Chun/Kuntao

Technical edge: Craig

Craig is a pocket boxer with KO power whose base is not boxing, but judo. He’s not hard to find, so should be there for the Wing Chun counters. He is not good at moving on the outside, does not jab enough, and lacks lead hand discipline. He has been directed to box from all three ranges and to tone his power shots down to jab level. He is wearing 16 ounce boxing gloves.

Erique has no boxing experience and is a Wing Chun white sash under Arturo Gabriel, who corners for Erique, as I for Craig. I once bested Gabe in a boxing versus Wing Chun session, and then he switched to Tae Kwon Do and kicked the piss out of me.

Erique is wearing 8 ounce kempo gloves, the old lace model that Bruce Lee wore in his famous jump suit pose, which will permit his hand trapping techniques.

Both men wear boxing headgear.

Craig is directed to jab and move. He is not to throw any punch other than the jab.

Erique scored once or twice and picked off most of Craig’s jabs, with a few getting in.

Erique went to southpaw and was able to obstruct the centerline and pretty much shut down Craig’s offense. He still got the worst of it by a 3-1 punch count.

The point of interest was that Craig is good at dealing with southpaws, but Wing Chun hand positioning takes most of the southpaw countering game off the table as going up the middle is not a viable option, as you are running into both hands.

This really looked like what Wing Chun people assume boxing versus their art would amount to, a frustrated boxer. Erique doesn’t really have any kicks yet, so that aspect was not tested. Then again, Craig, who only failed to win one jujitsu tournament, was not using his judo or his jujitsu either. This was just a hand test for Erique.

In this round Craig was throwing jabs, straights and hooks. Most importantly Craig was now feinting, as his evil coach had pointed out to him that since the Wing Chun doctrine committed the defender to an active hand response, he would be prone to go after offensive bait and open up his flanks to angular attacks.

Craig went to an ‘in and out jab’ ‘side to side hunt,’ rhythm, which stretched Erique out, lured him in, and got him beat up. Even with the power dialed back to 30% Craig stopped him with a body shot after about 2 minutes.

The huge dilemma that the Wing Chun man faced here was as much about experience as style. So this is not a valid style-to-style comparison.

The other factors that contributed to this looking like a red headed step child versus his evil step father were as follows:

Like all Asian-based martial arts, as taught in the U.S., Wing Chun assumes that a boxer will box like a martial artist boxes in the boxing portion of a Jeet Kune Do seminar, by stepping in behind a single power jab, mindlessly delivering a power straight, and robotically committing with the hook. Having trained in five gyms and coached in more, I have yet to see that boxer. Wing Chun works well against the power jab, up jab, and sneaky jab. It is terrible against the blind jab, nothing jab, and corkscrew jab. As for the posted jab, I don’t know a Wing Chun man who knows what it is.

You see, in martial arts every punch, if it lands, is a disaster. In boxing, even though the punches are generally harder, some are just not worth worrying about. When you, as the fighter, commit to defend against every shot by actively engaging it with your hand, you are doomed. In boxing we call, this ‘chasing punches.’ If the other guy is experienced and feints, you’re just getting executed.

Basically Craig either faked the jab and landed the right, or he posted the jab, and cracked his man to the body while he was dealing with the posted jab. Then, once the legs froze up, he moved from side to side and laid in the leather to the flanks around the fairly impenetrable centerline defense. In terms of boxing, in my opinion, Wing Chun is the Maginot Line, the impenetrable French defense which the Germans just rode around.

As Gabe said at the end of the session, “In order to make Wing Chun work against a real fighter, you need boxing.”

This is why I like Gabe as a martial arts guy, because he knows you have to understand the other guy’s game to deal with it, even if your art is theoretically more effective.

Gabriel directed me to work on Erique’s boxing, which will make opportunities for his Wing Chun. He also asked Craig if he would spar with his top guys, thinking that a serving of humble pie could help their development. Last year, Gabe, a middle-aged lightweight, boxed with Craig, and faired as poorly as I did. It’s really nice to have a guy like Craig on the team, who you can trust with old men and novices in sparring and also drop opponents when required. If only I could get him to shadow box a half hour a day, then he’d be something to see in the ring.

As for Erique's boxing, I imagine training him to box like Orlin Norris, a thinking boxer of his physical type. The biggest thing Erique has to remember is the danger of the committed hand. Boxing, in the ancient world, was regarded as "the art of cunning hands." Your hands need to be criminals, not cops. No position of the hand will render it effective in all conditions, and a commitment to touch his hand with your hand, is as bad in boxing as a commitment to touch your weapon to his is in a duel.