Copyright © Geoff Thompson 2004
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'So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.' – Sun Tzu
There are many contributing factors that combine to form a knockout on an adversary. Rising above all as the most important is not, as you would imagine, a powerful strike, but an accurate one. A powerful attack that is not accurate is very unlikely to knock an adversary out. Neither is it a matter of being big or heavy: size is irrelevant. An eight stone woman who punches her weight will have no trouble knocking a much larger adversary unconscious, if she is accurate.
The next important factor to accuracy is surprise. The adversary who does not expect the punch cannot prepare for the punch; therefore the impact of the punch is maximised. To attain a KO you rely heavily on the looseness of the adversary's neck and jaw muscles. If they are not braced when you strike the jaw, a huge shaking of the adversary's brain will occur. It is this shaking of the brain that will cause unconsciousness. If, however, the adversary sees the strike coming, he will brace himself (consciously or subconsciously), the shaking is minimised and unconsciousness does not occur so readily. This is where we tie in with the chapter on fence work. Verbal disarmament and brain engagement are pivotal in the execution of an effective KO The fence allows you to utilise your entire body weight from a stable, balanced posture; the verbal mental disarmament engages the adversary's brain for the split second. This is your window of entry to launch the pre-emptive attack. While the brain is engaged, even for a second, the adversary will not see the attack coming. Because he doesn't see it coming, he does not brace himself for the strike – the jaw and neck muscles are relaxed, maximum shaking of the brain occurs followed closely by unconsciousness. Also, brain engagement will cancel out any spontaneous response that your antagonist may have in-built. He will not react during brain engagement.
As mentioned in the chapter on fence work, attacks that are launched outside of tunnel vision also have a great effect for the same reason, the attacker does not see, so cannot prepare for them.
For best effect you should strike anywhere along the line of the jawbone, from the ear to the chin. This, if struck correctly, will cause the brain shaking that brings on unconsciousness. If you strike by the ear this will cause minimal shaking of the brain and a short spell of unconsciousness. The further down the jaw you strike the bigger the brain shake and the larger the probability of unconsciousness; if unconsciousness does occur, the longer the spell of unconsciousness. By the same count, the further down the jaw you strike the smaller the target area becomes.
A punch on the point of the jaw will have maximum effect but holds the smallest target.
The jawbone, when struck along the jaw line, causes a shaking of the brain. However, when it is struck on the point of the chin the knockout occurs in two phases. First the clivius and the anterior edge of the occipital bone are pushed against the lower portions of the pons and the anterior surface of the medula oblongata. Next, by virtue of the 're-bounding effect', the medula oblongata bounces back against the internal surface of the occipital bone and the posterior edge of the foramen magnum. In essence, the double impact causes the medula oblongata, the most sensitive part of the brain, to concuss, thus causing temporary cancellation of the functions of the central nervous system.
THE APPLE TREE HYPOTHESIS
The chances of such a strike are lessened by the fact that the target is only around one inch in diameter. I call it the apple tree hypothesis. If you shake an apple tree at the base of its trunk, heavy shaking of the upper branches will occur, and lots of apples will fall. If, however, you shake the tree high up the trunk, minimal shaking of the upper branches will occur, and very few apples will fall. It is recommended, therefore, that you aim your blow at the middle of the jaw line (on the curve), where the target area is larger and the effect of an accurate blow will cause unconsciousness of a reasonable duration, certainly long enough to effect escape.
The first thing to do, before you strike, is look at the target area on the jaw; if you do not, you are not likely to hit it. When you strike, do so with your best technique, preferably off the back leg to ensure maximum body weight utilisation (an experienced fighter may throw the technique off his front leg). Don't stop the punch and merely strike the target, punch through it with your blow and your body weight.
There is a school of thought that says punching off the back leg is telegraphed and slower than punching off the front. Let me tell you that the time difference between punching off the back and the front leg would not register on a normal clock – we are talking about a difference of split seconds. So attacking off the front leg may be quicker but not enough to be caught by the naked eye. Speed of punch is not the major factor anyway. I know slow punchers that get KOs in every encounter because they are so good at engaging the brain before attack. While the brain is engaged time stops for the opponent, probably for a split second: this is the window of entry for your attack. If time stands still for a second your attack need only be as quick as that and you are in.
A direct hit will cause unconsciousness in an adversary immediately; his fall will then add to his defeat, because the unconscious head will usually meet the floor very heavily. If you are on target, but not right on the button, your adversary will, likely as not, fall to the floor in a semi-conscious stupor from which he usually recovers quite quickly, so get away as soon as possible. Even a blow that is off target should at least stun the adversary, giving you enough time to run. Always, as a matter of course, try to verbally and mentally disarm and engage the adversary before you strike, as this will greatly enhance the chances of a KO I would always, when possible, advise you to use a punching technique as opposed to anything else, because the hands are economical, fast and usually closer to the target than most other attacking tools. When using the fist to strike, for best effect, strike the line of the jaw with the two major knuckles. If you cannot or do not use the fist then make sure you use the hardest part of whatever attacking tool you do use. Bone to bone is always most effective. You may attack the jaw underneath (uppercut), around (hook), straight (cross), or overhand (hook), depending upon your preferences and strengths, all will have the desired effect if accurate (though hooking punches seem to be the most effective).
Summary
- Line-up the adversary using your 'fence' to control range and trigger attack
- Mentally disarm him and engage the brain, using your verbal action trigger
- Look at the jaw
- Strike
- Escape
