FAO michael wright

[Ghost]

Hi Mike, now you started boxing...

How do you think you would approach a self defense situation differently to how you would have before you started boxing?

Have any of your perceptions of JKD (as a system, i know but you know what i mean) changed since you started boxing?

Has taking up boxing changed your view of your own abilities?

Is boxing what you thought it was before you started it?

Thanks

Ghost

[Michael Wright]

Sorry its taken me a while to get on this, had a bad day (where is that Tyson video?)

Is boxing what you thought it was before you started it?Yeah pretty much. I think I already had a good grounding from training with JKD people like Terry Barnett and Neil Mcleod, both of whom have great Boxing hands. So it wasn’t a massive leap in terms of expectations. What I will say is that I love it more than I thought I ever would, I have definitely caught the bug.

Has taking up boxing changed your view of your own abilities?Absolutely. When I first joined the Amateur gym in New Barnet at the end of 2006, the very first thing I realised was that I wasn’t in shape - no where near. I was in the kind of shape that allowed me to comfortably train in and teach my JKD, but Boxing is another world. Then when Spence moved our training to the Pro Gym at Finchley, it went up another notch. The guys down there are in awesome shape, and if you don’t want to get knocked out, you have to work very hard. At 32 I’m in the best shape I have ever been in.

The second wake up call in terms of my ability is that I always prided myself on the fact that I was good in sparring, and I thought my hands were good. Then the first time I sparred with Spencer I may as well have had both hands tied behind my back. He wiped the floor with me and has continued to do so for the last 18 months, although little by little I am getting better. Sparring some hands as part of martial arts with martial artists, is a completely different world to stepping in the ring with a Boxer.

Have any of your perceptions of JKD (as a system, i know but you know what i mean) changed since you started boxing?Not so much changed, but certainly re-enforced views that to be honest I have always held about JKD. I won’t go into all of it because its in a lot of things that I post here, but the bottom line for me is this: We are trying to do far too much in JKD, and in the end are any of us really good at anything? The reason we are trying to do too much is that everyone is trying to emulate the impossible, Guro Inosanto. Everyone jumps around from art to art trying to follow what he has done, but you can't the man is a one off. Too many people just get more and more logos on the tshirts. It is the classic “jack of all trades master of none”.

The people in JKD who really excel are those who put their stake in the ground and said “this is my road, this is my focus, this is my JKD”. Paul Vunak with his street approach, Erik Paulson with CSW, Rick Young with BJJ, Neil McLeod with Stick/MMA etc. You see what I mean. I just felt that after 10 or so years in JKD, I didn’t feel like I excelled in anything, or had even reached a high level in any of the elements. I though about if for a long time, which road to go down and make my own, and I decided on Boxing because I have always loved it. At 32 its never going to be a long term thing, and my chances of reaching any serious level of competition before I am 34 are slim, but for as long as I am in it I am in it 100%.

How do you think you would approach a self defense situation differently to how you would have before you started boxing?Not so much the approach, but rather my confidence in the outcome. In terms of the approach, I have always maintained a small core of the nitty gritty material that has served me well, just very simple ballistic stuff in all ranges with or without weapons, mostly from Paul. That hasn’t changed, and (contrary to some of the nonsense written in certain threads) I haven’t suddenly become a “rules” fighter outside of the ring. Core to everything you do is attributes, and my core arsenal of self-protection has been enhanced for the simple reason that I am fitter, stronger, faster, more conditioned and have far more real flight time under my belt. So the approach may be the same, but Boxing has only helped my confidence in the potential outcome.

Hope that answered your questions and is of interest to you mate

[Ghost]

Yep that was great thanks, im always interested in what people think when they come from somewhere else and move into boxing. Very good detailed replies michael, was interesting thanks.