Just finished reading it, i found it very intriguing, how much of what he writes about applies to boxing today?

how much applies now?

all of it

some of what he says is very good, and his wealth of experience etc shows as he has some good insight on things


but in todays amateur system for example, a lot of the stuff dempsey did as a fighter and talked about in his book wouldnt really score points

Dempsey hated the powder puff punches that dominate the amateur system. His book teaches mainly about fist fighting and a powerful offense. It is valuable if you want to hurt/ko the opponent which obviously still very much applies today. The only thing that might be a downside is that with todays amateur system, you may find yourself quickly outpointed by someone just flicking repeated soft jabs at the top of your headgear.

Just finished reading it, i found it very intriguing, how much of what he writes about applies to boxing today?

What is the book actually called, the real name of the book, anywhere you can buy it ?
I'm from the UK so if your from the USA dont recommend American websites as i wont be able to order from there. Cheers lads !

how much applies now?

all of it


QFT... :boxing:

What is the book actually called, the real name of the book, anywhere you can buy it ?
I'm from the UK so if your from the USA dont recommend American websites as i wont be able to order from there. Cheers lads !

How to fight tough (http://cgi.ebay.com/HOW-TO-FIGHT-TOUGH-JACK-DEMPSEY-HAND-2-HAND-COMBAT-BOOK_W0QQitemZ320358422763QQcmdZViewItem) by Jack Dempsey.

or

championship fighting (http://www.amazon.com/Championship-Fighting-Explosive-Punching-Aggressive/dp/0913111007) by jack dempsey

Dempsey hated the powder puff punches that dominate the amateur system. His book teaches mainly about fist fighting and a powerful offense. It is valuable if you want to hurt/ko the opponent which obviously still very much applies today. The only thing that might be a downside is that with todays amateur system, you may find yourself quickly outpointed by someone just flicking repeated soft jabs at the top of your headgear.

lol, soft jabs to the top of the headgear wont score, you need to put weight behind the shots and i hardly ever see jabs scored, unless they snap the head back

lol, soft jabs to the top of the headgear wont score, you need to put weight behind the shots and i hardly ever see jabs scored, unless they snap the head back

Not at all, I've seen quite a lot of these am fights. There's even a gym near where I live that teaches its ams to aim for the top front of the head gear as opposed to the face, so as to snap the opponent's head back. Not much power just continued flicks and they seem to do well in the competitions.

What is the book actually called, the real name of the book, anywhere you can buy it ?
I'm from the UK so if your from the USA dont recommend American websites as i wont be able to order from there. Cheers lads !


I think on amazon or whatever they want like $300 for it, if you want to just read it and not own it, its available in pdf on many different websites,

i found it by searching for it on google.... i think the best quality version I found was on a site called something like fullcirclefighting.com

I still remember him saying to use to last 2 knuckles when punching. Makes sense to me.

dempsey is writing about boxing as a self defence system. not simply a competitive sports view. that is why perhaps some here are confused about how some things relate in am boxing, etc.


some/much of older school boxing training was closer to self defence training.


and yeah, championship fighting is a classic. i first read it maybe 7 or 8 years ago.

Not at all, I've seen quite a lot of these am fights. There's even a gym near where I live that teaches its ams to aim for the top front of the head gear as opposed to the face, so as to snap the opponent's head back. Not much power just continued flicks and they seem to do well in the competitions.

umm okay then, you dont know what you're talking about, soft jabs do not score, if the punches are flicks then they wont score either

umm okay then, you dont know what you're talking about, soft jabs do not score, if the punches are flicks then they wont score either

I've seen it mate, don't agree with it but they hold lots of bouts round here between gyms and they favour the powder puff guys.

forr developing fast and powerful punches it is one of the best books you will find. the parts on defence are also good

I have the PDF.

Its a great book and at the time it was published it was instrumental in helping pull boxing boxing away from snake oil salesmen that were pretending to be trainers.

And the title is

Championship Fighting Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defense
by Jack Dempsey

it's the boxing bible but you need to take it with a grain of salt. For example, dempsey discourages lifting weights or performing a "double shift" as he calls it with hooks, however he did both successfully during his career. The "punchers are made" section is inspiring and not misguided, the last two sentences "weight is ultra important in fist fighting. get your weight right and you'll have happy, explosive landings" are great. At his peak, dempsey knew how to fight about as well as anyone ever has, pound for pound. If you were bigger he'd tear you apart, if you were smaller you'd be insane to fight him.

I love that book
it gives you some interesting ways to generate power that you don't find anywhere anymore
thing is, his era was so different.
max baer came many years later and was literally swinging backfists at folks, looked like kung fu arm swingin - that type of stuff would get you dqed these days. So when jack recommends a defensive chopping backfist parry as a reason to use the speed bag, I take it with a grain of salt.
There are certain things in there that will get you in trouble - either with the judges or with your coach, keep that in mind and you can still gleam a lot from it. :)

I love that book
it gives you some interesting ways to generate power that you don't find anywhere anymore
thing is, his era was so different.
max baer came many years later and was literally swinging backfists at folks, looked like kung fu arm swingin - that type of stuff would get you dqed these days. So when jack recommends a defensive chopping backfist parry as a reason to use the speed bag, I take it with a grain of salt.
There are certain things in there that will get you in trouble - either with the judges or with your coach, keep that in mind and you can still gleam a lot from it. :)

hey bro,
on power generation...
actually, it is not too far from how us chinese boxers punch. we do, however, go into much more detail and have quite a few training methods for power, speed, etc that are not seen in boxing. we do also generate power differently so that any part of the body can have explosive power every second of a fight.

im sure u know what i mean. our methods just are not really out there in books or videos.

hmmm, a chopping backfist as a parry...i know of something similar. and it works every single time. but, it may be very different from what jack describes. i have not read his book for maybe 2 years.

what did u think about his power generation?


it's the boxing bible but you need to take it with a grain of salt. For example, dempsey discourages lifting weights or performing a "double shift" as he calls it with hooks, however he did both successfully during his career. The "punchers are made" section is inspiring and not misguided, the last two sentences "weight is ultra important in fist fighting. get your weight right and you'll have happy, explosive landings" are great. At his peak, dempsey knew how to fight about as well as anyone ever has, pound for pound. If you were bigger he'd tear you apart, if you were smaller you'd be insane to fight him.

gotta love that jack was really a fearless fighter. that intent was what helped him win. his opponents could sense that.

i believe his weight shifting is based on dropping into the front leg. that can be very very powerful. however, if u fight mma, or martial arts, that can be exremely dangerous.

and as far as lifting weights, my personal opinion is to lift weights maybe 2 times per week. and do bodyweight evercises every day or every other day. if you concentrate on weight lifting too much and dont warm up enough and do coordination exercise, u will become "square". that, btw, is not good.

the chopping back fist is for deflecting like some one throws a right and you chop it down with your left to your left side instead of parrying it over your right shoulder. i belive he said that some folk will use their wrist to whisk out the punch from the inside but this is dangerous against fast punchers as its a slower movement then the chopping backfist.

I like the part about how trainers teach their students how to block first instead of how to punch and more often then not they become defensive fighters that are afraid of getting hit....thats why he puts punching as the first chapters in his book instead of defending if some one learns to punch first they wont worry about defending and be more likely to take that chance that knocks down the opponent instead backing away to safety.

the chopping back fist is for deflecting like some one throws a right and you chop it down with your left to your left side instead of parrying it over your right shoulder. i belive he said that some folk will use their wrist to whisk out the punch from the inside but this is dangerous against fast punchers as its a slower movement then the chopping backfist.

I like the part about how trainers teach their students how to block first instead of how to punch and more often then not they become defensive fighters that are afraid of getting hit....thats why he puts punching as the first chapters in his book instead of defending if some one learns to punch first they wont worry about defending and be more likely to take that chance that knocks down the opponent instead backing away to safety.



thNKS for ur description. here is a secret - that chopping backfist is also a strike at a higher level.

i used to fight with gwa saus (cantonese for backfist), but even when working on not telegraphing, they still need at least a little one in order to create the elbow bend.

defensively, the way i was taught in southern kung fu styles would still leave me open to a big cross.

my beef was the elbow-flared sideways hammer fist looking technique that is used on the speedbag that dempsey says is a requirement for defense. Well I'm a big proponent of parrying and i've never used that one nor would ever recommend it.

as a side note - from xingyi, i've been able to consistently pull off pao quan and heng quan.