🥋Karate & Boxing 🥊 Self Defence & Competition - By Sensei Liam Musiak

Every now and then, people see me training in a boxing gym or working combinations and get a bit confused. They ask me, “Sensei, you’ve dedicated your life to Jissenkō Ryū. Your main focus is realistic street survival. Why are you stepping into a boxing ring?”

The answer is honestly very simple: I just love boxing.

Make no mistake about it—my absolute number one priority, my main thing, and my life's passion will always be self-defence and my Karate. Jissenkō Ryū is my identity, and it is a complete system built for the unpredictable, no-rules chaos of the street. That will never change. But just because my main priority is self-defence doesn't mean I can’t compete as well.

I have a natural competitive drive, and I fully intend to step under the lights on both platforms.

Tying My Hands Behind My Back

When I step into the boxing ring for an actual match, the reality is very straightforward—there is going to be a lot I won't be allowed to use or do.

In a boxing match, a massive portion of my Jissenkō Ryū arsenal is completely stripped away by the rules. I can't throw a low kick, I can't land an elbow or a knee, I can't trap, and I can't execute a sweep or a takedown.

But that is exactly why I enjoy it so much.

Because the rules ban all those extra variables, I don’t have to worry about getting kicked or taken down to the concrete. It lets me completely turn off that massive self-defence radar and hyper-focus on just one area. It gives me a sport environment to test my hand speed, my timing, and my head movement against pure boxing specialists who do nothing else.

I just genuinely love the atmosphere, the hard work, and the unique challenge of the sport. It doesn't replace my Karate; it's just something I truly enjoy doing.

The Pure Joy of the Sweet Science

Beyond the technical benefits, there is a deeper reason I lace up the gloves: I simply love the way boxing is. There is a raw, beautiful simplicity to a sport that is stripped down to just two men, two pairs of gloves, and a ring. It has a completely different energy, a different rhythm, and a different kind of grind than anything else.

I genuinely enjoy the unique atmosphere of a boxing gym—the sound of the heavy bags, the snapping of the pads, the constant movement, and the relentless flow of angles and footwork. In boxing, you are playing a high-speed game of physical chess where the margins for error are microscopic. Trying to out-slip, out-feint, and out-time a highly skilled boxer who specializes entirely in that one range is a challenge that genuinely excites me. I love the hard work it demands, the explosive movement it requires, and the sheer fun of trading shots in a pure sporting environment. It’s an art form in its own right, and I box simply because it brings me joy as a martial artist.

Testing My Roots Under the Lights

While boxing satisfies that specific sport craving, I absolutely intend to test my true roots in a competitive setting as well. I want to have full-contact Karate fights under the lights.

When I step into that arena, it will be a completely different story. I won’t be restricted to just my hands. I’ll be able to let the rest of my foundation fly—freely punching, kicking, kneeing, elbowing, and throwing in a high-stakes, full-contact sports environment. It’s my opportunity to show that the explosive, multi-range tools we build for survival can absolutely dominate a sporting platform too.

At the end of the day, it’s simply two different ways of using the same underlying skills. Jissenkō Ryū is my complete survival system, boxing is a pure sport I am passionate about, and full-contact Karate fights are where I get to let the whole arsenal go.

I’m secure enough in my foundation to love the street reality, but still hungry enough to step into the ring and compete under any ruleset you give me.

Simple as that. See you out there.