Eubank on Martial Arts helping Boxing

'Doctor' had 40 years experience in Chinese boxing, all the traditional forms like praying mantis, tiger form and ****** boxing. After a year of practicing these forms, 'Doctor' told me I had the equivalent of a Black Belt. At that point, I decided what aspects I was going to incorporate into my boxing style.

I would already subconsciously use certain moves and stances in the boxing ring. I decided what would really add to my style would be a defensive posture to confuse the opponent, and foot movement, which is out of sight. The stances in Chinese boxing require you to raise the back heel and distribute the weight to the right leg, which makes you more dynamic because you can punch at a longer range and also escape into a safer position much faster by pushing off the balls of your right foot.

I previously had been taught how to cut the space by my boxing trainers and actually excelled at working off the front foot. But I was willing to sacrifice that balance and stability to be much more dynamic as a boxer. The key is to get away from the conventional, which will see you beaten sooner rather than later.

The other aspect I extracted was flexibility, through the rigorous stretching exercises required for Chinese boxing, such as backbends and splits. This only lengthened range of motion from the waist, not just in the punch but backwards and sideways, defensively as well as offensively, and complimented my stance and movement. Stretching also helps with your breathing and prevents you from becoming musclebound.

I must point out that I did not extract and implement any striking technique from the martial arts, because boxing has it all in its own manual. Another thing I must say is that boxing is actually the highest form of martial art, because you have to learn how to absorb punishment first before you can initiate it.

I did bring in jiu jitsu wrist exercises to strengthen the wrists, because for no matter how many times you wrap bandage around a wrist, if that wrist is weak, then powerful impacts become risky.

Another thing the martial arts can help you with is dominating the opponent even before blows are exchanged. You do that by standing tall, appearing confident and causing the opponent to feel inferior.

I would also suggest reading up on the Samurai of the past during training camp. The thing is, though, with me, when I was told all about the Samurai for the first time, it was as if it was a knowledge of which I already had but just needed to be reminded. Really weird. I believe there is a warrior within me, only awoken in times of crisis.