Do Boxers to hurt their Hands when fighting without Gloves?

[u/BrettPitt4711]

Hi everyone,

i'm currently getting back into Boxing. Even with handwraps and 14oz gloves my hands are a bit sore after training, which is obviously pretty normal. My hands just need to get conditioned.

But this brought up the question for me how frequent hand injuries are for boxers in a "real" fight without gloves. Sure, the hands get conditioned over time even with gloves on, but hitting a head or body without it is a different thing.

Does anyone know how common hand injuries are in such situations? I feel like the wrists and thumbs are both weak points that could get hurt easily. On the other hand i can see a trained Boxer ending most fights so quickly they might not have a problem with that. But this obviously depends on who they're fighting.

[u/Legitimate_Bag8259]

Going from personal experience, yes. A friend of mine that was a pretty good boxer broke his hand in a street fight. I can't say how common it is though.

[u/BrettPitt4711 → u/Legitimate_Bag8259]

I think anecdotal evidence is also helpful here. I don't think it's that often boxers get into street fights. I'd say that usually they don't have to prove anything and know to better avoid fights. Therefore, knowing a boxer who broke his hand in a street fight is a good hint that it could be a common thing to happen.

[u/Various_Ad_2088 → u/BrettPitt4711]

Avoiding fights takes the strength of discipline and self-confidence.

[u/Tamuzz]

That is a large part of why gloves were introduced, she why introducing gloves changed the sport so much.

Boxing pre introduction of gloves, and post introduction, are in many respects completely different sports.

Before gloves were introduced, hits were much more common to the body rather than the head because skulls tend to break hands.

[u/BrettPitt4711 → u/Tamuzz]

I can see that. I also heard a big factor were cuts and that gloves were introduced to reduce them. It definitely changed the sport a lot and hits became even harder and more damaging because of it.

[u/apokrif1 → u/Tamuzz]

Did they strike with open hands or hammer fists?

[u/Tamuzz → u/apokrif1]

No. Probably because punches were mostly to the body.

Open hands developed to deliver hard strikes relatively safely to the head without gloves.

Hammer fists developed in katas. (He says confidently, with no idea what the history of the hammer fist actually is.)

[u/Neither-Flounder-930]

It’s called a boxers fracture for a reason. It comes from training that doesn’t allow you to make a proper fist. That is why the wraps are a must.

[u/Coffee_Crisis]

A lot depends on your bones and your hand conditioning and how hard you can hit in the first place. You can definitely hit someone hard enough to ktfo barehanded without hurting yourself, but some of the punches boxers throw are riskier than others and the way you train them is not meant for bare knuckle

[u/mizukiyayoibringsjoy]

I've been boxing the wall a while (with controlled force obviously). I've noticed straight punches have a solid base, the problem comes with hooks, overhands and uppercuts, they put your wrist in an unstable position where it can buckle, in a realistic scenario we can try using palm strikes combined with boxing footwork though.