Thinking of starting a martial art for self-defense purposes and not sure whether karate or boxing is better? This post will help you choose the martial art that suits your goals, preferences, and circumstances.
What Is Karate?
Karate (meaning empty hand) is an art of self-defense developed in Okinawa under the heavy influence of Chinese martial arts.
Unlike boxing which was originally created as a rule-based combat sport, karate was born out of necessity: it was developed and evolved over time in Okinawa for self-defense purposes.
Traditional Okinawan karate is mainly centered around hand techniques including blocks, punches, knife hands, spear hands, palm heel strikes, elbow strikes, hammer hands, etc. Although kicking techniques are taught, they are considered impractical and not as effective as hand techniques.
Traditional Okinawan karate emphasizes the practical aspect of karate and uses higher and more natural stances, favors close-range combat, and utilizes many circular movements.
It also stresses the importance of body conditioning and turning body parts (hands, fists, knuckles, elbows, toes, feet, knees, and head) into weapons through training using traditional tools such as makiwara (a wooden striking post), chishi (a stone weighted training tool), and nigiri game (gripping jars used to develop palm and finger strength).
Traditional Okinawan karate was introduced in mainland Japan in the early 1900s and the version of karate that is practiced in mainland Japan today has some features that are distinctively different from traditional Okinawan karate.
Japanese karate and sport karate today use low and long stances, favor long-distance fighting and explosive movements, rely on linear patterns, and focus more on attacking and scoring than practical self-defense.
In a typical karate dojo today, your training will include learning basic techniques (blocks, punches, kicks, evasion, grappling), kata (specific patterns of defensive and offensive techniques), and sparring.
Traditionally, the teaching of karate is form-based or kata-based which means you learn self-defense techniques taken out of kata that have been created and passed down by karate masters and use those techniques in sparring.
However, depending on individual instructors and karate styles, in many modern-day dojos, while kata still remains part of the grading curriculum, it may not be the focus of daily training. Instead, learning basic techniques and practicing sparring become the focus.
What Is Boxing?
Boxing is a combat sport in which two participants of similar fighting ability and weight fight each other with their fists following pre-determined rules.
Boxers usually wear padded gloves and fight in a series of intervals called rounds. Each round normally lasts three minutes and a boxing match would have from 3 to 12 rounds.
Boxers try to win by landing blows while avoiding the opponent’s attacks.
The outcome of a boxing match is determined by knockouts or by outscoring the opponent.
Boxing is one of the oldest combat sports and has a much longer history than karate.
Boxing as a spectator sport was popular in ancient Rome and was a part of the Ancient Olympic Games.
Modern boxing as we know it today developed from bare-knuckle fighting that resurfaced in the early 1800s in Britain and later on spread to the rest of the world.
Boxing is a combat-based sport meaning you learn fighting mostly through actual fighting. There are complimentary exercises like running, jumping rope, or strength training, however, the core of boxing classes is shadow boxing drills, hitting heavy bags, and sparring.
Despite being a combat sport, boxing can be very effective in self-defense.
Boxing teaches you attacking and defensive techniques, evasive techniques, footwork, distance, timing, and fighting mentality. All of these are the very fundamental elements of fighting and self-defense.
Due to its long history, anything that is not practical or ineffective is discarded and what is left is a few techniques that actually work well in combat.
Thanks to its focus on a small number of techniques and a lot of actual fighting practice, in my view, one can learn and apply boxing techniques straight away in an actual fight in a much shorter time than is the case with karate.
What Should You Choose?
Whether karate or boxing is better for you depends upon your characteristics, the amount of time you have, and your goal in picking up a self-defense art.
The case for boxing
If you don’t hate repetition, haven’t got a lot of time, and want to learn something practical and effective in a short period of time, you should choose boxing.
As mentioned above, because boxing training is combat-based and focuses narrowly on a few effective techniques, you can learn and apply them in actual fighting very quickly.
If you practice a single punch a few thousand times, you’ll be pretty good at it and more likely able to use it in practice quicker.
If you train for the same amount of time but have to learn 10 different karate techniques, well, you will know more techniques but won’t be as good at all of them as when you focus your training on just one technique.
The case for karate
On the other hand, if you like more variety, would like to pursue a martial art for life, and want a well-rounded martial art, maybe karate is a better choice.
For some people, just hitting heavy bags all the time can become boring.
Karate has hundreds of techniques and a lot of katas that you won’t run out of stuff to learn even if you spend a lifetime learning them.
Karate is also a more well-rounded martial art than boxing because it includes hand and foot techniques, grappling, weapon training, and body-conditioning that turns your body parts into deadly weapons (I’m referring to traditional Okinawan karate, not the water-down versions of karate being taught in many Western dojos these days).
However, as with any other martial arts, superficially knowing many techniques and forms is of little practical use.
Karate requires a lot of training to build deep neural connections and muscle memory to turn self-defense techniques learned into one’s second nature and make them useful in actual combat.
In addition, if you are looking for more than just a sport, karate can be a better choice.
Karate is not just an art of self-defense. It can be a way of life for some people if they put time and effort into it and apply the philosophy and principles that they learn in karate in their daily lives.
Quality of instruction matters the most
Having said that, in my view, an important criterion in choosing what to learn is the quality of the instructions available around where you live.
Even if you like karate but the only karate dojos nearby are McDojos, you’d be better off joining a boxing gym.
While the quality of karate instructions can vary significantly (from genuine high-quality traditional karate dojos to water-down-and-useless-hand-me-money-and-get-your-next-belt karate dojos), the quality of boxing instructions has remained relatively consistent.
So unless you can find a good quality karate dojo with instructors who are passionate about the art and know what they are talking about, joining a boxing gym seems to be a better option.
Boxer vs Karateka: Who Will Win?
This question gets asked a lot.
The answer is it depends.
Let’s compare two people of similar athletic ability, one goes to an average boxing club and one goes to an average karate dojo.
If they both have been training regularly for a few years, in my view, if they are to face each other, the boxer will win.
This is because, as mentioned above, the boxer’s training is more focused and practical than the karateka. In a fight, just one well-timed and powerful punch can be enough to finish a fight.
Because boxing training is focused on just a few practical techniques and involves a lot of actual sparring practice with actual opponents, a boxer is likely to have the upper hand in a fight against a karateka.
Karate training in an average dojo these days is likely to be spread out over many basic techniques, kata (forms) and sparring drills. A karateka, therefore, has a lot to learn and has less time to actually spar compared to a boxer.
As a result, it does take more time for average karate students to learn the basic techniques, learn kata and sparring techniques, connect the dots and put what they learn into practice.
If they both have been learning for around 10 years or more and the karateka trains in a good traditional karate dojo with a lot of full contact sparring (not point-sparring or sport karate sparring), I think the karateka will have the advantage in a street fight situation.
As mentioned above, karate is a more well-rounded martial art. It has a variety of deadly hand and foot techniques, grappling techniques, traditional weapon training, and exercises to build an iron body.
Traditional karate is a complete martial art but what taught today in most dojos is a very small subset of its full potential.
In a street fight situation where there are no rules, an experienced karateka trained in genuine traditional Okinawa karate has a lot more tools at his or her disposal than a boxer.
Eye-gouging, knee-smashing, choking, throwing and other deadly techniques aimed at vital points can all be deployed while a boxer has a limited range of techniques.
Of course, if the boxer also cross-trains in other styles like BJJ or Muay Thai, the outcome can be anyone’s guess.
Other posts you might be interested in:
Karate vs Wing Chun: Which One Is Better for Self-defense?
Karate vs BJJ: Which One Is Better for Self-Defense?
Karate – Its Ancient Origin and Evolving History
What Is the Philosophy of Karate?