Have any of you gentlemen had any experience with Rodney "Chico" King's Crazy Monkey Boxing? If so, what is your estimation of it, and what parallels do you find between it and classic pugilism?
For the curious, Crazy Monkey Boxing is a method of boxing, founded by South African Rodney King (no, not of police battery fame!), that allegedly lends itself more readily to light-glove and bare-handed use than it's modern cousin. It's most widely-known characteristic is its defensive posture--a high guard, in which the hands rest atop the head and blows are deflected using the forearms. In ways, it reminds me of the Mendoza stance. However, King is quick to point out this is only one facet of the curriculum, and he presents it as an integrated system.
The stance is highly squared, for reasons of power generation and to address the needs of the MMA
athlete in countering take-down attempts. Likewise, Crazy Monkey does include elements from Muay Thai, but largely, it seems of Western influence.
King contends that evasive defensive tactics, such as bobbing and weaving, should actually be taught to the novice, at a latter date, after he has become accustomed to taking blows, using a more rudimentary non-attribute based defense such as the one he teaches. Otherwise, he's gonna get nailed too many times and lose heart.
As others have commented (perhaps Ken, Kirk, and company) that for boxing to be effective in the light-glove arena, it has actually had to regress, or return to an earlier point in its evolution. Hence, Crazy Monkey.
King reportedly forged his methods, in a variety of environments, but
namely, door work in Johannesburg, which as we all know is an extremely
violent city. He started out in Eastern martial arts as a lad, but
moved on to the Western Boxing, when he took note of its generally
superior combative utility.
Here's a link to the Crazy Monkey Defense YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CrazyMonkeyDefense
I feel this is actually of more use, for our pruposes, than the website (so expansive, it's difficult to navigate) in gaining an
understanding of the physical elements, but here's a link to the web site
as well:
Have any of you gentlemen had any experience with Rodney "Chico" King's Crazy Monkey Boxing? If so, what is your estimation of it, and what parallels do you...
Hello Andrew, Nice find. Now as far as this crazy monkey boxing being a new form of boxing, I'm just not so sure about that. After looking at your link and...
Thanks, Ellis. I am familiar with 52 Handblocks/Jailhouse Rock, having read of it, mainly through the Stickgrappler web pages and the work of Dennis Newsome....
Forgive me; I misspelt "independently" in that last message--not that anyone but I cares. I will say this. I am frightened at the thought of using of the Crazy...
I'd love to hear what he has to say on that. It appears that crazy Monkey Boxing has some 52 in it and may incorpricate other aspects to form a system of it's...
Can someone explain the skills of 52, and what makes it different to classical Western boxing. Thanks, Craig G http://defensedanslarue.wordpress.com To:...
... This is a big stink'n kettle of fish. 52 (aka, "52 Blocks," "52 Hand Blocks," "Jail-House Rock") is said to be modern(ish) system of unarmed fighting...
Hi Craig and list, a number of years ago I developed a strong interest in the 52 Blocks and managed to gain the trust of one of the few modern practitioners...
Very interesting. Thank you, Tony. Have you ever trained any of it, or was it strictly academic study? Andrew ... From: Tony Wolf <lone_wolf_9@...> ...
... or was it strictly academic study? Hi Andrew, only informally, and that in a rather backhanded way. My brother-in-law ran a medium-size street gang in...
Kirk, what did you mean by "this is a big stinkin' kettle of fish?" I don't follow. Are you saying 52 Handblocks is rubbish? Or is it a comment on this thread...
... I'm saying that it's origin, history, current practice, etc. are all highly controversial. I personally have no opinion one way or another (no, really... I...
Hello all, I haven't posted in long time but thought I would comment on 52. I am a corrections worker and can confirm it's existence. It is how ever like 'Tony...
It fascinates me how using dance as a cover for martial training is such a routine developement throughtout history and around the globe. Sent from my iPhone...
Ellis, I will report back as soon as I am able to contact Rodney. I would still like any of the bare-knuckle men on this list to comment on the similarities...
The similarities between the 52s and Crazy Monkey boxing (and the Keysi Method) have been noted before, but AFAIK there is no connection between them other...
Thanks, Tony. Andrew ... From: Tony Wolf <lone_wolf_9@...> Subject: RE: [classicpugilism] Re: Crazy Monkey Boxing To: classicpugilism@yahoogroups.com ...
Wow!! I must say I've never heard of this Keysi Method, but damn!! I really like it. I'm a fan of the 52's (having studied african arts) and I think I'll be...
... Hi Ellis, there are numerous KFM demo clips on YouTube, and they have also issued a number of instructional DVDs - http://www.keysikfm.com/pages/index.php ...
interesting stuff. cool clips. WHat do they do for body shots though? It's a veritable rib-fest :) ... Hi Ellis, there are numerous KFM demo clips on YouTube,...
Good question. That's what I'm wondering. Crazy Monkey addresses this; King talks about it in the YouTube video "The Myth of the Body Shot. Keysi is very...
I can't seem to find myth of the body shot. Do you have the link? The Keysi almost looks like they devloped the blows to fit the guard, and the damage that can...
Anthony, sorry. It's called Dispelling the Myth of the Body Shot. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R76KC-JkvyM&fmt=18 Andrew ... From: awm33@......
Again, the method of "hollow body" w/ the high guard is the same as was taught to me in Zipota. Cool, but nothing all that unusual. Dirk ... guard, and the...
Here's a link to the article that originally put me on to Crazy Monkey. It was composed with the help of a number of our list members, which is why I'm...
Honestly, this doesn't look a bit different from burmese boxing (thiang), and other indigenous bare knucks type of stuff many MMA guys train in. At first...
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