Wim Demeere's Blog

Martial Arts, Self Defense and a Whole Lot More.

Archives for December 2014

Boxer hospitalized after confronting burglars

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I just read a story about professional boxer Anthony Crolla. How he got into a fight outside of the ring and it ended badly. All the details aren’t out just yet, so take everything with a grain of salt until more details are released.

What seems to have happened is this:

  • Anthony Crolla noticed burglars climbing over the neighbor’s fence into his yard.
  • He chased them and managed to get a hold of one of them.
  • The other one grabbed a brick (or slab of concrete) and hit him over the head with it.
  • Crolla suffered a broken ankle and fractured skull and was taken to a hospital.

That’s pretty much all we know so far.

I’d like to make two specific points here. Neither one is related to Crolla as an individual. Before I do, take a look at this highlight and keep in mind that Crolla was scheduled for a world-title fight next month.

You can argue many things, but you can’t argue that Crolla is a poorly skilled boxer. He’s a professional, young and in awesome shape, especially given his upcoming title bout. Yet all that wasn’t enough to avoid getting his head bashed in and as a result, he might never fight again. At the very least, that title bout is gone and he’s in for a long recovery.

The first point I want to make is this:

If a professional, world class-level boxer can’t make boxing work in such a situation, why would you think you can pull it off?

You can again argue many things against this statement, that he is a lightweight and maybe the burglars were heavier. That it’s two against one, or some other issue you might want to bring up. If you do, you precisely make my second point: [Read more…]

Street fighting mistakes: being an innocent bystander

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One of the things I’ve written about a lot is that street fights and violence are chaotic and unpredictable. If you have some experience in this area, then you know what this implies. If not, then chances are you don’t have a realistic idea of what I mean. Just to be clear, I don’t blame anybody for not having this knowledge. Not having to face violence is a good thing. If I can go my entire life without ever having to do so again, I’ll be a happy man. But violence can pop up any time, any place so it’s best to prepare.

That aside, there’s a fundamental flaw in human nature: we are intrigued by violence and want to watch it.

I’m going to leave the explanations to the scientists, but to the best of my knowledge and after plenty of research, I think this is a fair statement. People are intrigued by violence, men as well as women. You find public executions and torture in all cultures, all over the world throughout the ages. In Saudi Arabia, public beheading is still the norm and somehow there are always enough people willing to watch. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say humans want to watch other humans suffer violence.

For the point I want to make now, let me put that differently:

People who don’t understand violence and haven’t suffered enough from it will put themselves at risk to watch it.

Once you understand the true danger, you don’t want to get involved with anything that could end your life. Once you come face-to-face with your own mortality, have lost loved ones to violence or have had to take somebody’s life, the allure tends to diminish significantly. Like a friend of mine likes to say: “The cost of it.” Those who have not experienced this cost sometimes consider themselves an innocent bystander and assume this keeps them safe from harm. Why should they do anything to avoid becoming collateral damage? After all, they’re just watching, so they can’t get hurt, right?

Wrong.

Street fights are living things, they change and evolve constantly:

  • They add numbers to the active participants in an instant and decrease them just as fast.
  • They start in one spot and then move several yards in a few seconds, to swing back to the original spot (or another) right after.
  • One side may be wining when the dynamics suddenly change and they start losing.
  • They start as fisticuffs and stay that way until somebody starts shooting or stabbing his opponents.

In short, they are chaotic and unpredictable. Making assumptions about your safety because you are just a bystander is a dangerous game. You can be very, very wrong.

Here are some examples of the chaos and unpredictability of real violence: [Read more…]

From self-defense to excessive force

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Here’s a great example of how your actions can take you from self-defense to excessive force in the eyes of the law. I’ve written many times about why this is important, but this video is a perfect illustration of the many factors involved in street violence. I’ll comment after the clips, but first a caveat:

I have no idea what started the confrontation.

I also don’t know if the man survived the beating he took.

There is the obligatory idiot screaming “Worldstar!” the whole time. You might want to turn down your sound.

That said, here are the two videos:

 

Some thoughts on all this: [Read more…]

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