You may feel like punching him will solve the problem, but it could end up killing you.   In our self defense systems, we avoid punching for two reasons.One reason is that it is really easy to break your hand by punching someone.  It is pretty common for boxers to break their hands, even when they are wearing gloves and have been trained to punch properly.  You are likely to hurt your hand or wrist if you punch someone without any hand protection.  Most people focus on training to punch the head, especially the face.  The problem is the human skull is really hard.  While punching a softer part of the body may be ok, the head is problematic.  If you break your hand, you may not be able to strike again, control your attacker, hold a weapon or pull a trigger...