You need to understand that karate is practiced with semi contact sparring, boxing with full contact. Then theres also lots of other arts like kick boxing, ju jitsu, muai thai etc etc.
I understand fully, I have plenty of unarmed fighting experience and qualifications and experience in several martial arts. And the quote you gave was not referring to boxing, but street fighting..however most boxers are already competent street fighters, those that are not are rarely successful boxers.
Semi Contact sparring is simply not the same as full contact boxing..it isn't even in the same ballpark.....there is a reason why MMA fighters are not simply single martial arts experts, because they get beat if they are, they train in various styles and techniques for a reason.
The issue is that Muhammed Ali is simply an outstanding and exceptional boxer, and one of the best boxers that have ever lived. Even a top karate expert is not going to be comparable to him because he is simply the best in his field.
I see, and Bruce Lee was simply an average martial artist?
Even if Mohammed Ali is the best marital artist in the world today, this is a reflection of his personal ability, not his fighting style or physical attributes alone. If you put a karate expert who has only ever trained in semi contact sparring against a professional boxer, the boxer will most likely win. However if karate practioneers were actually trained, and had the opportunity to hone their skills in full contact, boxers wouldnt stand a chance and in fact, people would potentially end up dead during sparring.
Well, everything is obviously down to the personal skill and ability of the individual as well as the variables of the fight itself......a poor boxer will have difficulty against a good martial artist...however all things being equal, boxing will generally trump karate, particularly if the karateka relies on kicks and fight is in close quarters (which the majority of street-fights are)
The bottom line is that there is a lot of nonsense spread about Karate and Taekwondo etc, mainly by the media and people who have little or no actual experience in unarmed combat/fighting techniques outside of the dojo, the truth is that a successful street-fighter is more adept at punching, taking a punch and wrestling with their opponents than Kicking and Style Technique, and this is more indicative in Boxing than Karate......
Of course the successful fighter learns to use techniques that work no matter where they come from. Just look at successful MMA and see the techniques they use, predominantly it is about ground fighting and the use of techniques inherent in boxing, wrestling, and the various hybrid styles like Kick-boxing, Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and Muai Thai which if you look at them have more in common with boxing than Karate or Taekwondo.
You are overcooking the effectiveness of pure martial arts such as Karate in street-fighting, boxing is far more applicable to the average smashup down the dog and duck.
Anyway, I doubt you will agree its not in your nature and as others would like the conversation to return to poorly spelled protein drinks that I can't seem find in our local stores, I'll let it lie.
