Wing Chun vs Boxing | Wing Chun does NOT work?

The notion that “Wing Chun does not work” comes from a misunderstanding of the training methodology of Wing Chun. This video explains how Wing Chun can be used effectively over a long distance, while introducing the basic concept of improving footwork mobility.

Surprisingly there are some people outside of the Wing Chun community that have the opinion that Wing Chun does not work a fight. Of course defining a real fight is difficult, as the term can mean different things to different people. This is where the misconceptions about Wing Chun begin.

As in any martial art it is necessary to develop the ability to manage and control distance to the person that is attacking you. This involves the attribute of developing good mobility and footwork.

Our Wing Chun video discusses some simple and techniques in which to improve your mobility at long range. Key points to note, that mobility is not important at close range especially when connected (Bridged) with your attacker. At close range you should focus on good structure and rooting to the ground. In contrast, when you are moving at long range, where there is no contact with the attacker, then you should focus on mobility for distance control.

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[AJweathersby]

Funnily enough, I think the main reason that Wing Chun gets such a bad reputation is because a lot of Wing Chun users have more of a boxer's mindset. Most wing chunners want to fight like Donnie Yen's version of Ip Man, doing *just enough* to decisively win the fight. But that's not Wing Chun looks like in reality.

Wing Chun is a very aggressive style that requires you to force your way into your opponents personal space and overwhelm them with up close and personal fighting/brawling. Proper wing chun in a street fight looks dirty and brutal. You have to have an aggressive "I'm gonna fuck this guy up" mentality when it comes to actually applying these techniques against someone who genuinely wants to kick your teeth in. But most wing chun users want to be reactive and counter-strikers, rather than the aggressors.

With boxers, the reverse is true. All the best boxers are competitors, meaning they're forced to develop an aggressive and decisive mentality, even though boxing itself is more along the lines of a calculated and patient fighting style. As a result, many boxers, at least when they're just starting out, have more of a proper wing chun "ruthlessly attack the center line"-mindset then most wing chunners do. However, boxing can still double as an up close and personal fighting style, while Wing Chun can't. Hence why most Wing Chunners end up falling short against boxers.

Of course, if you don't regularly do full-contact sparring, then you won't be any good at applying any martial arts style in a real fight, much less a super aggressive one like Wing Chun.

[pokeround]

This is the first video of yours that I have watched and what strangely jumped out at me most was the way you handle your students: no 'tough guy' BS or subtly slapping them around to impress - very respectful and 'gentle'. Also your WC looks really strong and effective. Really impressive.

[i-evi-l]

I've had a hell of a fun time learning Wing Chun concepts. The type of Wing Chun is negligent as the core concepts are the same.

I came from a western wrestling, boxing and Tae Kwon Do background. My wife has a wrestling/JJ layman background that works well. What I found is that the more I incorporated WC philosophy + basic Pak Sau into my form that I improved my standing and grapple evasion game write dramatically.

What this means is that the "problem" with WC is all in the mentality of application rather than the style itself. Head game over hand hand game.

[ngaiflex]

Wing Chun and Aikido suffer from the same issues. Combat training and application has left them behind because their teachers were too selfish and traditional to adapt. Arts like Karate, Judo, Wrestling and BJJ all went basically full contact in various forms and as such, cemented their place in MMA and its future. Wing Chun fighters enjoy their drills amongst themselves. Never really adapting. Never really opening up their training methods to include genuine western boxing. Never having full kick-boxing contact. Never being open to simply changing what DOES NOT WORK! EVERY Wing Chun vs Boxing match I have seen ends in a humiliating defeat for the Wing Chun fighter followed by some faux humility and a lesson over why the Wing Chun fighter didn't succeed followed by songs of "it was the individual not the art." .... Aikido and Wing Chun are good arts .. CONCEPTUALLY ... but its implementation is a colossal failure. Change how these arts are taught and they will succeed .. otherwise they will be extinct in a decade. If you want your wing chun or aikido to work you must:
1. Aikido: Do another art like BJJ or Judo to back up your aikido.
2. Wing Chun: Constantly spar with other strikers. CONSTANTLY.

The fact that these have to happen shows a flaw in the art or at least how it is taught.

[MakeMoneyTipsJustin]

Very nice. I thought this made a lot of sense. You don't want to be still and have the WC/WT guard up. You want to be mobile and seek the openings the best you can. The openings will allow you to implement closer ranges and sticky hands. I found this to be one of most practical WC explanations for long range boxing. Thank you. Huge respect to you and your school.

[HenkvanMierlo]

At last a decent answer to all the stiff WC examples that you can find on youtube. Thanks for that!

[movieexpert]

I like how they pretty much avoided the question and just talked about wing chun false advertising

[henriquenakamura]

I've just found your channel, and it's really refreshing to hear a traditional martial artist bridging the gap between the competitive and "historical" forms of training. We hear modern martial artists saying that traditional training is useless, and traditionalists saying that what they're doing is more than enough to learn real combat skills. In reality, I believe historical martial training from back when people relied on this kind of stuff every day involved more contact and harsh training than we see in most modern dojos.

[antant]

Very interesting to see someone come up with similar answers to what my old wing chun sifus advocated. They had a strict emphasis on mobility, blind side movement, escaping to the outside of one person, or of a group, and trying to get away.

[vyshak]

The Wing Chun in Donnie Yen's Ip Man works, but you would have to be that one in a million Wing Chun fighter, in the films he had 20+ years of experience. Also what they don't emphasize in the movies is that the man sparred with virtually every style you can think of. Out of all his opponents he only fight a Wing Chun master once! So even though these were just films it shows that even the character in the movie had to learn to fight other styles and adapt, muy thai, boxing, taekwondo, karate, other styles of Kung Fu, weapons etc. He fought through all in the films, and adapted. Yes we would all love to fight like Donnie Yen but, unless you are a one in a million like Bruce Lee or something, adapt to fight other styles.

[xSnoweyexp]

THIS IS GREAT !! EXACTLY HOW I THINK ABOUT WING CHUN, IM A WINGCHUNNER MYSELF

[DownWithThePlague]

Cool video! At long range, footwork is your first line of defense.
Regarding boxing, I'd say it is a mistake to try to box using WC, especially when you're facing a boxer at medium range. Not that it can't be done, but you need a lot of sparring experience in order to feel the punches coming in order to exploit openings, because bridging safely can be hard in those situations. Explosively controlling with one hand while attacking with the other, especially when combined with low kicks (knee or below) can work, but it is much easier said than done, naturally. Progressive sparring can help you achieve that.

[DownWithThePlague]

When people ask how they can use Wing Chun vs boxing, what they're really asking is how to use Wing Chun at long range. In my experience, it's mostly a matter of strategy and having good footwork while mantaining a good root, which is one of the main challenges of Wing Chun, since it's very hard to move freely with your hips firmly tucked in and bent knees without a lot of practice. The old saying "no root, no kung fu" is also valid for WC.

[ObsidianDBrattaHouseNightwinge]

Brilliant. Nicely put together. Thanks for sharing your point of view.

[sanguisdominus]

It's simple - if you're best at fighting in close range, get in close range. It's easier for you to get into close range than it is for them to prevent you from getting into close range. I mean, if you're advancing to close in, and they want to keep you further away, they're gonna lose ground, they're gonna be backing up. Deflect, dodge, wait for the opportunity, distract them with a few light hits to goad them into giving you an opening, or even just take a couple of hits, so long as you get through their threat range to a distance you're more comfortable with, then you've got the fight.

[Aniontedone]

Excellent non classical wing chun! Very alive.

[emrekeskin]

As a person who has trained in Boxing and has some experience in basic grappling, I can not stress enough that performance and execution depends on the martial artist, not the martial art. I see alot of ignorant comments being made which critices Wing Chun's effectiveness, but that just reflects on their ability to adapt as Martial artists. If you think that something doesn't work for you, then change it, and use what does. In other words..."Be water, my friend"
- Bruce lee

[bergenranger]

there is not one boxer in this video. Not one jab to stop the "brigding", no hooks when you close in, and they dont even have a stance, walking around with whatever leg first. Put up some full contact sparring for demonstration please;-)

[dinninfreeman]

I need to agree with you on this one. At first I ignored WC structure but ironically, I learned it's importance sparring with a boxer. When in the WC range doing WC I realized that I wasn't very stable, as soon as I got set in my stance I had far more control. At range, mobility is far more important, but close up stability is King.

[tylerscott]

Other thing people need to realize is that Wing chun was a kung fu, designed to combat other eastern martial arts. It's uses against boxing and other western style are very limited because they're from a whole other world. My problem with people's mindset is that they think that just because you learn from one school of martial arts, that you cannot change in any way to combat its weaknesses. A practitioner of wing chun could also take Muay Thai, or hell, even boxing, and use what they find useful from all of those style to what suits them.