The Hook and The Uppercut - Two angles of a clock

When first learning how to fight we're taught six different distinct punches. The Jab, the cross, the lead and rear hook, and  the lead and rear uppercut. The interesting thing about the hook and the uppercut is that their mechanics are fairly similar with regards to execution. As we progress through boxing/kickboxing training you start being taught to throw a hook that has a hint of uppercut in it and vice versa. There are fighters who even throw hooks in a downward motion, as Jack Slack has mentioned in his writing, such as former light heavyweight boxing champion Matthew Saad Muhammed, who used it by throwing a jab , downward hook, uppercut. More recently, although not that recent, Rory McDonald had used the same combination against Tarec Saffiedine to finish the fight.

In my mind a round punch is more of a concept than being a pair of techniques.  If flexible enough there is almost 180 degrees that one can rotate the shoulder to throw a round punch. It's not hard to see fighter being able to get a good deal of these angles by also tilting the upper body. Maybe making it completely parallel with the ground wouldn't be such a good idea but non the less it's there if anyone ever dares to try it.

This leads to one way of thinking about throwing round punches. Envision, a clock, and there is 360 angles from which one can throw a round punch to the face of an opponent. Of course, there are limits to how much a person can rotate the shoulder but that's why we have to hands. This same idea can actually be applied with other strikes that also involve a rotating motion to strike, i.e. the round kick. We often think of the Muay Thai round kick coming around like a baseball bat but there is also another version of it that people sometimes use but has a well known name, the Brazilian Kick. it's a round kick of sorts but come from a downward-diagonal angle. There are all the angles in between a soccer punt-ish type kick and Brazilian. Of course if you really wanted to land a downward round kick I don't think it would function in the same as the rest of the round kicks but if you're a fancy pants Taekwondo practitioner or karateka then you could just throw an ax kick to get that downward angle.

Of course I want to mention that not all targets are practical targets for every angle of attack, especially if you soccer punt the body since that's really just a strike to the beans. That's the wonderful thing about different types of kicks and punches. Some of those might be able to get targets not easily accessible with some strikes or get through areas that aren't often defended.