Is it better to spend 3 General points to open Brawling at B4, or is it better to spend those points to open Boxing, Brawling, and Martial Arts at there roots of B2 and then FoRK them?
Also, should Martial Arts be considered as a separate FoRKable skill from Boxing?
In my mind I can see a distinct difference, but the skill entry refers us back to Boxing.
(Personally, I would prefer to treat Boxing/Martial Arts as a Training Skill that opens up special combat actions in Fight! but we are doing this RAW)
Boxing is Martial Arts, as the both the skill entries say. You shouldn’t have both, and you shouldn’t FoRK them into each other. They’re the same field of knowledge.
I like the idea of Martial Arts/Boxing as training skill a lot too, incidentally.
From an optimization point of view, there’s reason to do it either way. Just getting Boxing up gives you the dice, no question. But there are conceivably times when you might want Brawling instead, so opening both is handy, and not having the dice built in makes it easier to advance the skill. Ease of FoRK is up to the GM, of course.