A lot of people wonder which combat athlete is stronger – the boxer or the martial artist. The answer, of course, depends on a lot of things, but I can tell you this: In all the classes I’ve been in that taught martial arts, about 9 times out of 10 a boxer will win. Why is this? Is boxing superior to disciplines like karate? No. In fact, as a street-fighting discipline, it is weaker. Let me be clear that I am not looking down on boxing. Boxers are incredibly dedicated or they lose. However, boxing is bound by a set of rules. Pay close attention to this next statement:

Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent.

If you practice fighting with a certain set of rules in place, it is true that you can override that in a real fight. The problem is that you must think to override it. Thought takes too long in the split-second action of a fight. Why do we practice the same moves over and over? It’s because we’re training muscle memory. After a certain number of repetitions, you not only get better at the moves; at some point you develop the ability to repeat them without conscious thought. That’s the key right there. Boxers are not permitted to strike below the belt, certain punches are restricted, and elbows, head butts and legs in general are completely out. In a street fight, they will do what they have spent countless hours doing. This doesn’t mean that they’ll lose… not even close. It only means that they’re fighting with less than their full arsenal.

Are martial artists typically even weaker in a street fight? Yes, they are. Before you get the thought that I’m biased, I should tell you that I am not a boxer, and have studied martial arts most of my life. So why do I say that a boxer will usually beat a martial artist? Because a large percentage of martial artists are not training for combat. They’re training for shows, for health, or to improve their self-esteem. It’s not the discipline that’s weaker – it’s the practitioners. Boxers are nearly always geared towards combat practice, and they do a lot of what most martial arts schools do not – spar.

Sparring is the best way to prepare for a fight. I mean real sparring. This doesn’t mean stepping carefully through a predefined set of steps with a partner, nor does it mean practicing joint locks to bring someone down who isn’t really resisting you. These are important training aids, but they are NOT sparring. Of course, sparring doesn’t mean that you’re trying to kill or injure your parter, either. That’s bad business for both of you. But you should be trying your best at all times, and the hits each of you take should hurt a bit. Pain is a wonderful motivator to get the hell out of the way next time.

There are martial arts that are geared towards full-contact action, like kick boxing. This is one of my very favorite disciplines. The training is harsh, and the medium (and occasionally heavy) contact does a lot to prepare you for the real deal. The feeling you get when someone is throwing strikes, trying to keep you away, but you break through anyway is like nothing else.

So if you want to prepare for a real fight, get into some training that will accustom you to hitting and being hit. Everything else is just frosting on the surface.