I've never seen anyone bring up the implied parry system. Only seen some clueless people mention shielding the iron knuckle, but it's clear the player has to respond to it shortly after the red flash. Gohma also produces this red flash, but noticeably Link takes damage and is thrown back. With the iron knuckle you can see this wind gush, it's similar to previous Zelda games which allowed a shield bash.
