The jab is the foundation of boxing. To the ancients the jab was the shield, the weapon that guarded a warrior’s space.

To the old bare knuckle boxers the jab was the rapier, the small sword and also the buckler when the jabbing arm was at rest.

The bare knuckle guard is thumb up. The old illustrations how palm up because that was the sweet punch that popped eyes out of their sockets and every fighter wanted to be depicted as the smart hitter.

The “milling motion” that one famously sees Jack Johnson and other small glove fighters doing came from bare knuckle boxing. In terms of self defense this is “talking with your hands” before letting loose the sucker punch. In terms of weaponry this is your snaky knife and snaky stick, the constantly moving weapon that cannot be pinned down and which will launch a strike from a point of deception.

Note the level of power in my jab, with minimal effort and very little speed. That is pro level power for a middle weight, about 140 PSI. When I was a middleweight my jab only came in a round 80 PSI. By timing my step correctly I have managed to get my beer gut into the blow. This is a two-way street. If I step into a punch my middleweight neck eats heavyweight walk-in force. Also, the force of my rotational blows is not enhanced by this weight and every other aspect of my boxing is compromised by the blubber. I mention it to demonstrate the importance of timing in power—it is not the speed equation people think.

The most important part of this video is the reason for the blind jab, which is tragically absent from martial arts applications of the basic boxing blow and the digression on the shockwave imparted to the neck that KOs most fighters.

Fighting Smart: Boxing, Agonistics & Survival