In all the madness of modern martial arts and hardcore MMA events, boxing is a sport/fighting style that has been pushed to the side. I don't even know if most people see western boxing as a form of self-defense these days. Although it's still a popular sport to watch on pay-per-view, UFC style fighting has pretty much dominated the reality arts for some time now. But, I encourage all boxers not to hang up their boxing equipment just yet. This is one style that will always prove worthy in empty-hand combat.

In all likelihood, most modern males have viewed a mixed martial arts event at this point. This new entertainment phenomenon hit the scene back in the early 90s. Suddenly the martial arts world was flipped upside down. Many traditional arts were put to the test and found insignificant in modern-day combat. Styles such as Brazilian ju-jitsu were now recognized as street-worthy. However, traditional western boxing was not really discussed or scrutinized so much. In fact, it has become one of the main arts practiced for MMA events. With these reality "no-holds-barred" fighting events, mixing it up is what has been deemed effective. And the styles mostly getting mixed are ju-jitsu, Muay Thai kickboxing, and standard western boxing. It turns out that boxing equipment you invested in back in the day was worth your effort. Boxing is and always will be a great stand-up form of self-defense. It offers effective striking and evading techniques that any fighter could benefit from. Even though I started out with Chinese boxing, also known as Wing Chun, I added western style boxing to my game in order to improve and become more diverse. Also, you can hardly beat old-school boxing equipment like a 50 pound bag and a set of gloves to train with.

We have so much to take advantage of these days. When it comes to boxing equipment, there is plenty you should know about. A Slam Man can come in very handy for training the basic punching techniques. This is a tough dummy that has lights showing you where to strike. Then there's the B.O.B. dummy. These are great training aids if you're looking to go all out and just wail on an opponent. It may look like a man, but it never complains.