Bareknuckle boxing, the high guard, usage of MMA style blocks, and delving into the realm of 52.

[Highguard196]

The high guard is rarely used in bareknuckle boxing, opting for a more MMA style hands low type of stance, but Lorenzo Hunt and 52 Blocks are a pretty good example of using a high guard for active defense.

Recently, I was preparing for a bareknuckle fight, not to fight competitively but to fight bullies at the school and was looking into the 52 style of defense as well as taking a look at Petr Yan's use of the high guard and MMA blocks being more exaggerated coming to boxing blocks due to the lack of padding in gloves to act as defensive tools.

I was taking a look at some of the blocks used by boxers who do wear gloves too, where they focus on having blows land on their elbows or forearms than their hands, having a high guard high above their hairline.

I saw this video of 2 guys sparring, 52 blocks, on YouTube. They used slaps instead of hooks, but they seemed to use real fists when throwing straight punches. Here's the video linked below.

 

[HunterAcosta]

Crazy Monkey Boxing by Rodney King addresses defending against bare knuckle punches. Rampage's cover and roll is very similar that he used very effectively(at least against head kicks and punches). I personally used the crazy monkey defense when a guy squared up to me and let out a hellacious 6 punch(at least I think it was 6) combo on me out of blue. Didnt hit my face once, just my forearms, elbows and side /meat of my shoulder when i blocked his hooks. If i had thought about slipping or ducking or leaning back I woulda been screwed, cause it came on so fast and I woulda ate probably all the hard shots. I had bruises on my forearms and shoulders but was fine.

 

[Highguard196]

Crazy Monkey Boxing by Rodney King addresses defending against bare knuckle punches. Rampage's cover and roll is very similar that he used very effectively(at least against head kicks and punches). I personally used the crazy monkey defense when a guy squared up to me and let out a hellacious 6 punch(at least I think it was 6) combo on me out of blue. Didnt hit my face once, just my forearms, elbows and side /meat of my shoulder when i blocked his hooks. If i had thought about slipping or ducking or leaning back I woulda been screwed, cause it came on so fast and I woulda ate probably all the hard shots. I had bruises on my forearms and shoulders but was fine.

Really similar to MMA blocks or Keysi blocking, many people called the rapid movement of the Keysi blocks unrealistic but honestly if they're slowed down and not spammed like people expect they are done, like the Crazy Monkey Boxing defense, it's definitely a valuable asset to your game.