Hi Karas,
Yes, I have used my boxing skills in real-world engagements for self-protection purposes a fair amount of times...
I've made significant adaptations/modifications with my sportive boxing-based skills due to the various differences between the "street" and "sport" arenas. For instance, I use palms instead of fists to reduce the likelihood of breaking my hands. I also don't concern myself with defense (slips, parries, etc) on the street. Instead, I'm all about awareness/assessment, guile, surprise, and offense. And when I have to go physically offensive, I'm all about constant forward pressure and relentless attack until my adversary is sufficiently neutralized.
"Sport" fighting is a symmetrical contest battle; i.e. a give-and-take/back-and-forth match affair with a rhythm and flow far different than "street" fighting. "Street" fighting, on the other hand, is a different "animal." Among other things strategic/tactical, if you understand the all-important pre-fight cues/signs/rituals and utilize them to your advantage, street fighting is often the opposite, a through-and-through asymmetrical engagement; i.e. a one-way demolition.
For self-protection/self-defense purposes, I always proactively maneuver/manipulate volatile situations for an asymmetrical engagement if it degenerates into that, using deception and surprise as precursors when all other peaceful/reasonable options such as avoidance, evasion, deescalation have been exhausted or are not viable due to the circumstances I'm in. When a gratuitous situation has become this dire, I've always employed the most important physical strategy of them all--PREEMPTION (i.e. attacking first off of deception & surprise and clinically blasting my opponent with an accurate, power-based shot to the jaw. With that said, I've ended the majority of my real-world engagements with one punch, either a left hook or left cross. Now, in those rare times when my preemptive strike didn't KO, TKO, or neutralize my adversary sufficiently enough to make a safe escape, I immediately followed-up and barraged my adversary with boxing-based blows in a rapid-fire, relentless, ferocious manner until he was neutralized enough for me to do so.
Knocking someone out with one punch is not as difficult as it might seem. If you can keep your wits about you and pack decent punching power & accuracy, you can easily (relatively speaking) KO a gratuitous/confrontational adversary with one clinical punch. The most difficult aspect for most normal, good, law-abiding citizens is having the courage, the wherewithal to preemptively attack an adversary. There are many fears that abound which cause this hesitation, this deliberation. Anyway...
Karas, I've expounded quite a bit. This is a subject of passionate interest with me. If you are interested in more of this kind of discourse, please visit my website (see my signature below for details).
I've been an obsessive, passionate self-protection based, combat-oriented martial artist for most of my life. I've successfully competed in the sporting arena and in the "street" arena. Whenever anyone asks me what "martial art" to study strictly for self-protection/street fighting purposes, I always say first and foremost Western boxing. On the street, as my mentor Geoff Thompson likes to say, "hands are king." If anyone plays his/her cards right, practically any opponent can be clinically taken out with one punch. And, at the bare minimum, if the preemptive punch doesn't neutralize an opponent sufficiently enough, a follow-up barrage of blows almost always does the trick if the initiative was maintained from the onset.
While I'm proficient in muay Thai, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and freestyle/folkstyle wrestling among other systems, for me, Western boxing is the foremost system I recommend for self-protection/street fighting. For me, and loads of other more experienced combat martial artists/street fighters, boxing reigns supreme in the "street" arena. Everything else is "support system."
On a final note, take a look at this link to see but one example of what I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKdZg...eature=related
Click again on the white screen afterwards. To access this video, you'll have to log in or join YouTube. If this doesn't direct you to the video then use the search function and type in "Dual KO Bar Fight" It's worth checking out...
Take Care,
Lito
