In one of my old notebooks I found some numbers from an experiment I did measuring how fast a punch will get to a person's face from hands-to-the-side position. One experiment was done with a direct punch from the hips (no cocking the punch back), and the other was done with cocking the punch back before striking. I was curious to see how fast a person has to block a punch from complete surprise (sucker punch). I had students, using a stopwatch, start the time when they began the punch and then ended the timer as soon as they made contact with the punching bag (focus mitt, etc.) I didn't want the numbers to be skewed by the students slowing their punch down at the end, which is why I had them punch through focus mitts or on heavy bags. Take these numbers however you'd like, I know there could be many things that would throw the numbers off, such as variances in students' punching speed and timer stopping, lack of emotion, etc. Most times, however, were similar and there definitely seemed to be a pattern or similarity in speed. These numbers represent only hundreds, not thousands, of punches. Take them however you'd like.
The average time it took a punch to get to the face (no cocking back): .24 seconds
The average time it took a punch to get to the face when cocking the punch back: .46 seconds
Essentially, based on the non-official numbers, the brain has about a quarter of a second to identify and react to an attack. Again, take these numbers with a grain of salt, as it was just a bunch of us timing punches in a controlled environment. I just wanted to share them in case you can take value from them.
The average time it took a punch to get to the face (no cocking back): .24 seconds
The average time it took a punch to get to the face when cocking the punch back: .46 seconds
Essentially, based on the non-official numbers, the brain has about a quarter of a second to identify and react to an attack. Again, take these numbers with a grain of salt, as it was just a bunch of us timing punches in a controlled environment. I just wanted to share them in case you can take value from them.