I mean, the Old School, street-fighting Savate concentrated non-telegraphed kicks directed no higher than groin. The modern style is the sporting version, with high, but impractical kicks.
Bob July 24, 2017 2:43 AM UTC
Any thoughts on Old School Savate?
Thanks for the question, Bob.
Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about savate.
I like the idea of a shoe art for kickers rather than the barefoot BS of Asian-based, which is just ridiculous for survival. I have karate experts for friends wo practice kicking off their footwear so that they can kick properly on the street! It makes one wonder if they have ever looked down at the surfaces they walk on to see the syringes, glass, nails and rusty scraps at their feet.
I do know that one savatuer did well against an English boxer in the mid 1800s.
The martial arts myth that John L. Sullivan was fought to a draw by a savate man is based on the fact that Charlie Mitchell "that bombastic sprinter" raked the Boston Strong Boy with his cleats in about in the French mud.
The interesting aspect of old savate is that it was a specific adaptation of combat methods to prohibitions on weapons and the barbaric British propensity for punching.
Thank you for the video link as well.
Being a Bad Man in a Worse World
Fighting Smart: Boxing, Agonistics & Survival
The WW1 doughboys immortalized their contact with savate (and other things) with the ditty: "The French, they are a curious race. They fight with their feet and they f@ck with their face."
*To the tune of "Mademoiselle from Armentieres".
Rather ironically, Paris' street gang crime scene and well as entire men's sports disappeared after the vast carnage suffered by the French in WWI.