drop bear
Sr. Grandmaster
Supposedly, separating punching from stepping and breathing allows fast, free timing of punches unrestricted by the timing of your steps and breath.
This is true, but it comes at a price.
The result is often weak, ineffectual punching that won't stop a tough, determined attacker. As soon as your attacker or opponent realizes that your punches can't really hurt him, you have a real problem.
The two solutions to this problem are:
A. Develop an incredibly powerful WC short-punch using arm-power only, with perfect kinetic linkage, timing, relaxation and qi.
B. Develop a good, heavy short-punch coordinating good kinetic linkage, stepping and bodyweight transfer.
Years ago, as an impressionable and gullible young student, I opted for A., the "incredible" result. Now age and experience has taught me what the word "incredible" actually means ...literally beyond belief. So I now favor option B. and try to develop good power!
There is a whole thing in boxing about how hard you hit someone and when.
Because it generally takes a volume of strikes to overwhelm a person's defence.