Good thread.
One unmentioned aspect that makes bodyshots hard, is that going to the body hard will come at the expense of defense if not set up well.
It is difficult against an opponent who throws his punches nice and straight.
A beginner can usually place them only in the infight or with a high risk of countering.
@liver
The left hook to the liver must be done in a whip-like fashion.
This is where gungfu and western boxing meet: apparently, the chinese call it fa jing
I don’t give a crap about internal energy and pandas but the principles are sound.
Like with all hooks, practicing them with no windup from a few inches can really teach to maximize explosive tension and torque.
The SSC is key.
bonus question: has anybody ever seen a straight right to the liver succeed?
[quote]Schwarzfahrer wrote:
bonus question: has anybody ever seen a straight right to the liver succeed? [/quote]
Yes. Bare nuckle to an untrained and charging opponent. Sidstepped left but stayed square, so our shoulders were still parallel, dropped down, and delivered an unblocked and unexpected right to his (soft) body. He doubled over, and I immediately stepped behind him for the standing RNC to finish him off. All the fight went right out of him, he just fell to the floor like jello, I hadn’t even sunk the choke completely when he fell.
Not sure I’d rely on it though, I wasn’t counting on it to do anything but lower his hands for my choke attempt.
Ah yes Montaigue, one of the few Taiji/Bagua/Hsing Yi practitioners who actually at least talks about martial applications. Gotta at least give him credit for that.
Unfortunately, most of what he says or teaches is mystical nonsense. What he is demonstrating in that video has nothing to do with “fa jing” or any kind of internal energy; punching power is purely driven by the laws of Newtonian physics. The only difference between the “push” that he demonstrates and the “strike” is the acceleration (or lack thereof) of the arm/hand at impact.
The “strike” that travels further prior to impact (which means more time to develop momentum/speed) will generate more force at impact (assuming that mass transfer, rotation, and inclination are maximized as well) than the one that travels less distance prior to impact. What “short power” demonstrates is a solid understanding of the mechanics behind power striking and therefore being able to do so in a smaller distance/time frame.
Eventually what we should seek as fighters/martial artists is to internalize the mechanics of power punching so that every punch/hand strike we throw has power and leverage behind it and can be a powerful potentially devastating blow/strike.
In regards to the straight right to the liver, I’ve landed it against lefties fairly consistently (slip to “outside”/left against their jab and throw the straight right to the body). Against a righty though it’s tough to land it to the liver because of the relative body positions. Against righties I generally target either the solar plexus, heart, or arm pit if targeting the body.
[quote]Schwarzfahrer wrote:
Good thread.
One unmentioned aspect that makes bodyshots hard, is that going to the body hard will come at the expense of defense if not set up well.
It is difficult against an opponent who throws his punches nice and straight.
A beginner can usually place them only in the infight or with a high risk of countering.
[/quote]
Very true. Most dudes who streetfighting don’t know shit about how to exploit the opening we’re giving them, though, and I think is doubly good for me being a southpaw - I drop down and hit that straight left to the body and I’m generally far enough away that the bar-style haymaker isn’t going to hit me, and my right hook to the body (which is my money punch, really) lets me drop down and away from most guy’s power hand.
[quote]
bonus question: has anybody ever seen a straight right to the liver succeed? [/quote]
Not liver per se, but I’ve stopped guys with shots to the solar plexus, absolutely.
Shot placement is important with the body though.
Look at this clip of Hatton’s KO of Castillo, which is probably one of the most impressive bits of bodypunching I’ve ever seen - not a lot of effort behind that punch, just a nice whip effect that lands EXACTLY where he wants it to.
Wow, I leave for a while and this gem pops up!
Killer killer posts by everyone, this is great.
Also great body shots highlight. Some of those made me cringe in my chair 
good stuff…
i’ve always loved body shots (even as a kid… i recall dropping a bully with a right uppercut to the solar plexus to this day).
it seems to me, that only people who follow boxing really get body shots… MT guys get knees to the body, but most people really don’t get their effectiveness. i blame this on the fact that every dude thinks he can KO anybody in a fistfight, even if he never has, in his entire life…
personally, a couple combos i love:
-jab, cross to body, lead hook, double leg takedown
-sprawl (off opponents takedown), overhand right, left hook to body
-jab, lead hook to head, right knee to body, trip/leg sweep
