"...but they grew up on the street. Shouldn't they be better street-brawlers than Korra?"
I guess to clarify, what I meant by "street-brawls" was "fights were hurting or killing the other person is assumed to be one of the likely option." :)
At least from what we've seen so far, there's not much sign (in my opinion) that either Mako or Bolin were either seeking out those kinds of fights or training for 'em. Mako said that he 'ran numbers' (aka not fighting) for the Triads. Bolin did the absolute worst out of the three of them in the street fight and he's younger than Mako, so we may be seeing signs that Mako deliberately did his best to keep his brother out of any kind of physical fights.
Plus, we don't know when they got off the streets and into the gym. If they didn't have any bending instruction before they got off the streets, I could see both Mako and Bolin not knowing how to use their bending in an alley fight. They might be good at a non-bending fist-fight against other non-trained people, but neither of them have any reason (or probably even the ability to dedicate the time or energy) to have gone through the training program that Korra did - namely, what looks like intensive, continual training for incapacitate-or-kill fighting against other benders.
That kind of training doesn't really result in being able to make money unless Mako and Bolin were acting as enforcers, and from what we've seen, Mako made a strong effort to not do that kind of thing himself, and keep Bolin from doing that kind of thing.
Re: Fighting vs. Pro Bending
I guess to clarify, what I meant by "street-brawls" was "fights were hurting or killing the other person is assumed to be one of the likely option." :)
At least from what we've seen so far, there's not much sign (in my opinion) that either Mako or Bolin were either seeking out those kinds of fights or training for 'em. Mako said that he 'ran numbers' (aka not fighting) for the Triads. Bolin did the absolute worst out of the three of them in the street fight and he's younger than Mako, so we may be seeing signs that Mako deliberately did his best to keep his brother out of any kind of physical fights.
Plus, we don't know when they got off the streets and into the gym. If they didn't have any bending instruction before they got off the streets, I could see both Mako and Bolin not knowing how to use their bending in an alley fight. They might be good at a non-bending fist-fight against other non-trained people, but neither of them have any reason (or probably even the ability to dedicate the time or energy) to have gone through the training program that Korra did - namely, what looks like intensive, continual training for incapacitate-or-kill fighting against other benders.
That kind of training doesn't really result in being able to make money unless Mako and Bolin were acting as enforcers, and from what we've seen, Mako made a strong effort to not do that kind of thing himself, and keep Bolin from doing that kind of thing.
I am having thoughts on this! :)