*Without the TD threat, which one is superior: Elite karate or elite boxing?*

[Seiryoku Zenyo]

Machida and Wonderboy are, without a doubt, among the best strikers to ever fight on a MMA mat. Is that a prove that elite karate, taking away the wrestling threat, could be superior than elite boxing?

 

[Bork Neslar]

Wing Chun.

 

[Druken_Vovchanchyn]

boxing all day long. Karate is a point fighing system. In karate you win just by touching the guy. It doenst translate nearly as good as boxing.

 

[Stranger Come Knocking]

Keep distance, kick to death

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

If you're talking one vs the other I would pick boxing. The Karate style is harder to deal with in large part because it's hard to find someone who is elite at Karate that crosstrains and competes in MMA.

 

[drbolony]

I'd go with boxers. Karate guys had to adjust the ruleset of point karate to not get overwhelmed by punches.

 

[00 Buck]

What kind of karate? I can see something like kyokushin doing pretty well against pure boxing.

 

[Seiryoku Zenyo]

boxing all day long. Karate is a point fighing system. In karate you win just by touching the guy. It doenst translate nearly as good as boxing.

By "touching the guy" you mean a front kick knock out ir a roubd house to your ribs? Or an in-and-out combo that would break your nose? Cause i'm not talking a McDojo level karate or a TKD point fight. I'm talking about elite, like Machida or Wonderboy.

 

[Tugboat]

Does boxing allow kicks?

 

[silvasurfer5253]

Boxing. Most Karate in the states, is so watered down that it’s a joke. That’s not so say, there aren’t great karate practitioners, but you’d have to do some real research to find a reputable one. Moreover, most karate styles don’t allow head strikes in competition, hence, why a lot of karate guys keep their hands low.

 

[Organic Damage]

Objectively speaking, shouldn't the longer reach and power of leg techniques be decisive advantages over pure hand techniques?

I am not speaking to footwork necessarily.

 

[Kvothe_the_kingkiller]

I would think that a great boxer would eventually cut off the ring and get the fight close, and pummel the karateka (I had to look that word up)

The few pro boxers in K-1 have not done great, but kickboxing is not 'karate'.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Most boxing you learn will adapt well, while most karate you learn will be useless.

Don't let 2 elite karateka ouliers blind you from the fact that 95% of karate dojos in the West are shit and that even in good dojos, most of what you learn will be useless.

 

[Druken_Vovchanchyn]

By "touching the guy" you mean a front kick knock out ir a roubd house to your ribs? Or an in-and-out combo that would break your nose? Cause i'm not talking a McDojo level karate or a TKD point fight. I'm talking about elite, like Machida or Wonderboy.

so you have 2 references in the history of MMA and you think thats better than boxing?

both of the guys you named are also point fighters who sometimes get nice finishes. I think its boxing lol thats just what i think. Im a firm believe in mma

hand down man down.

 

[AngryPorto]

What are the rules? In an MMA match with no takedowns(?), or I guess an kickboxing match, an elite Karate practitioner should win given that they have elite strikes with both hands and legs whereas the boxer just has good hands.

The issue as a lot of people are pointing out in this thread is that it takes substantially longer to be considered "elite-level" in karate. Most karate schools these days are mcdojos that practice monkey flips and just do non-contact point sparring. In contrast, boxing gyms are and always have been for the most part schools-of-hard-knocks; you don't last in a boxing gym if you're not either a skilled boxer or incredibly tough. On the flipside you can find thousands of karate "black belts" who will get their asses handed to them by someone who trains boxing/kickboxing/jiu jitsu/almost any other martial art besides TKD or Kung Fu for a good year.

As always, the real question is "who is the better martial artist" as opposed to "which style is better".

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Objectively speaking, shouldn't the longer reach and power of leg techniques be decisive advantages over pure hand techniques?

I am not speaking to footwork necessarily.

only for the outside part of a fight but in close quarters or against the fence you need other stuff.

 

[TNGS1]

Body kicks are killers
Karate guys have the best body kick in martial arts

 

[jeff7b9]

Boxing Defense is exponentially more applicable to a real fight and I think boxing in general is much more similar to fighting.

Boxing "covering up", especially when coupled with head movement is a better method for defending against punches than the "blocks" that are usually taught in Karate/TKD.

Karate has a much more diverse array of attacks and better long distance strikes. At the higher level karate can be confusing and present problems to boxing/ muay thai based strikers.

 

[Organic Damage]

only for the outside part of a fight but in close quarters or against the fence you need other stuff.

Agreed that a fight takes place at any/all ranges... but what does the boxer do at kicking range against a skilled karateka? What about leg kicks?

 

[jnes]

Closest pure practitioners would be Wonderboy and his karate, much more reserved. And then someone like Garbrandt who uses his hands as his main weapon, sure he's a decent wrestler but he moves like a boxer, sadly he has poor defence. I'd say it depends on the division and your competition. There are a lot more kickers in BW than in WW and more wrestlers in WW than BW.