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When the aforementioned people are told to make fists with their extended hands and to keep their wrists straight, the first two knuckles of the fists are naturally in a straight line with the wrists and the forearms, therefore, when punching an object with the wrist straight, the first two knuckles will naturally strike first. Any force applied to the front of the knuckles will be transferred in straight line down the hand and through the wrist to the elbow and on to the shoulder. If the fist misses its target slightly so that the last three knuckles strike the target first, since the wrist is locked and straight, the line of force through the wrist has only a slight bend in it, so the off-center punch will probably have no adverse affect upon the wrist.

Ask any non martial artist to push his or her hands against a wall. In which direction are the fingers and knuckles of the hands pointed? They are always pointed upward! This is not a behavior learned from training in a martial art, it is the natural way the body is constructed. To turn the hands so the fingers are pointed outward takes a conscious effort and it feels unnatural and awkward. If the same person were told to make tight fists and push against the wall, he or she would push with the knuckles upward in horizontal fists, not with the knuckles outward in vertical fists.

Vertical punchers say striking with first two knuckles is dangerous

Some posit that, even though striking with the first two knuckles concentrates the power of the punch in a small area to cause more damage to the target, the concentrated forces would also damage the knuckles. If this were true then their would be more fractured hands during board breaks than broken boards. 

Stand in front of a wall, get into your fighting stance with clinched fists, extend your lead arm in horizontal punch, and move forward until the fist makes contact with the wall. Usually the middle knuckle makes contact first, with a slight adjustment the first and second knuckles make contact. If you rotate the punch to a vertical fist, the first and second knuckles make contact. The only way the last three knuckles make contact is for you to consciously angle the wrist.

Any supposed benefits gained from striking with the last three knuckles are negated by the bent wrist. To change the striking point of the punch to the last three knuckles, you must bend the wrist toward the thumb side. With the wrist bent, the line of force from the last three knuckles is again in line with the wrist and forearm, but it takes a conscious effort to bend the wrist and keep it bent. If the fist misses its target slightly so the first two knuckles strike the target, the bent wrist will put a large bend in the line of force through the wrist that may result in an injury to the wrist. Since it takes a conscious effort to keep the wrist bent in the vertical punch, any lapse in concentration will allow the angle of the bend to decrease, resulting in something between a vertical and a horizontal punch, which will probably be useless.

Some vertical fist punchers also use an upward tilt of the fist on impact as a supposed way to increase power. Let me understand this, to increase the power of the punch:

• You powerfully, snap tilt the fist upward just before impact (as it this small range of movement will add any significant power)

• The tilt takes the wrist out of alignment with the forearm (which weakens it and makes it more susceptible to injury)

• The tilt makes the smaller, bottom two knuckles the impact point instead of the larger, top two knuckles

Sounds like a great idea!

Vertical punchers say the vertical punch hits more of the target

Another argument is that the vertical punch permits more the target to hit by the punch. For example, a horizontal punch to the mouth would only damage the mouth, whereas, a vertical punch to the mouth would also damage the nose. Using this logic, the a vertical punch to the nose would also mean half the punch would be wasted due to it head the forehead.

Since the head is vertically oriented, it makes a small target for a vertical punch. A horizontal punch has a greater probability of hitting the head than a vertical punch would have.

Vertical punchers say the palm-heel strike illustrate the superiority of the vertical punch

When performing a palm-heel strike straight forward against a vertically oriented target, such as to the solar plexus, if the wrist is bent backward with the fingers oriented upward, the wrist is stressed and the technique feels unnatural. Whereas, if the wrist is bent backward with the fingers oriented outward, the stress on the wrist is eased and the technique feels natural. Vertical punchers think this evidence that the vertical punch is superior to the horizontal punch since, if the hand in the first unnatural feeling instance is folded into a fist, it forms a horizontal fist while, if the hand in the second natural feeling instance is folded into a fist, it forms a vertical fist.

If the palm-heel strike is executed downward, such as to the back of the neck of downed attacker or to break a stack of blocks, the palm is held with the fingers oriented upward, if they are oriented outward, the wrist is stressed and the technique feels unnatural. Does these mean this is evidence that the horizontal punch is best?

If someone throws an object at your face, your hand instructively moves in front of your face to protect it. How does the hand naturally position itself, palm upward or palm outward? The natural position is palm upward or inward, not outward. Tell someone to push against a wall. Do they push with the palm turned upward or outward? The natural position is palm upward, not outward.

The truth is that neither palm-heel hand position example proves anything about the superiority of either the vertical or horizontal punch. The hand position in a palm-heel strike is totally unrelated to the hand position during a punch.

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