Punch
Striking blow with the closed fist
パンチング · 주먹질
- Type
- Punches
- Martial arts
- Kickboxing, Judo, Capoeira
- Meaning
- Straight punch
- Classified as
- strike, violence
- Listed in
- Kobushi-ate-waza: fist techniques (judo techniques), Bimba's new techniques (capoeira)
A punch is a striking blow with the fist. It is used in most martial arts and combat sports, most notably western boxing, where it is the only type of offensive technique allowed. In sports, hand wraps or other padding such as gloves may be used to protect athletes and practitioners from injuring themselves.
The use of punches varies between different martial arts and combat sports. Styles such as western boxing, Suntukan or Russian fist fighting use punches alone, while others such as kickboxing, Muay Thai, Lethwei or karate may use both punches and kicks. Others such as wrestling (excluding professional wrestling) and judo (punches and other striking techniques, atemi, are present in judo kata, but are forbidden in competitions) do not use punches at all. There are many types of punches and as a result, different styles encompass varying types of punching techniques.
Other Kickboxing punches
- Bob and weave
- Check hook
- Jab
- Kosoto gake
- Nami juji jime
- One-two combo
- Overhand punch
- Punching power
- Shovel hook
- Slipping
- Uppercut
- Cross
- Russian hook
- Hook
- Rabbit punch
- Ko-uchi-gake
- O-soto-gake
- O-uchi-gake
- Counterpunch
- Bolo punch
- Ushiro-tsuki
- Tsuki-dashi
- Atama-tsuki
- Ryogan-tsuki
- Ryote-tsuki
- Ushiro-sumi-tsuki
Japanese terms for punches
| Term | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 正拳 | seiken | seiken (karate proper fist); straight punch |
| 四つ身 | yotsumi | cross-grips (situation in which each rikishi has an underarm grip on the other) |
| 引っ掛け | hikkake | hook; gab |
| 腕を返す | kainaokaesu | to place one's arms under those of the opponent and lift them up, in order to prevent an overhand grip on one's mawashi |
| 上手投げ | uwatenage | overhand throw |
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q1973927 (CC0); text quoted from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.