Joe Gans

[Rusty Tromboni]

- -Obvious that I rate gans very high, but...

Joe learned at the knee of Bobby Fitz as perhaps the earliest notable examples of what is colloquialized today as boxer puncher.

Joe did not throw McG. He got his legs taken out early in the fight. Back then McG was a Tysonesque terror, so the only thing Gans had to save him was power, swinging for the fences, something a fighter with Joes power would never do if he was throwing a fight.

A myth. He may have thrown others, afterall, boxing was and still is a game to lure in the suckers and scrappy fighters know where their bread is buttered best.

Not this one.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. This is why, despite all your baggage, we're happy to have you around, old gal!

I dunno what happened in that fight. But the excuse that the fight was thrown isn't terribly convincing. Gans got caught early. I can agree it looks odd seeing him drop to one of the punches, and his lack of offense is suspect. But he was caught early by a punch.

I frankly think he looks lousy on film. Was he better than most everyone of his day? Yes. Does that mean much? Not really. McFarland is probably the first "real" champion of Boxing.

[The Old LefHook]

Churls who normally decry the lack of video support for oldsters of the bygone era, are now coming out of the woodwork to jump on the bandwagon of Gans, of whom there is as little film as there is of any great fighter from his era, if not less. The need for video evidence has suddenly evaporated. When assessing Gans, apparently, apocryphal tales will serve the same purpose just fine.

I am told that a man who slaps and stomps his feet down is technically miles ahead of his contemporaries. Maybe that only proves how far behind today's boxing technology these oldsters were. I said maybe, churl, by Baal! Oh, yeah, the lost art of telegraphing punches with a stomp.

[ShoulderRoll]

The stomp was actually just the falling step performed to perfection. As per the instructions given in Jack Dempsey's book.

Gans would transfer all his bodyweight into his punches, delivering maximum power. Which is why Dempsey was a fan.

[BattlingNelson]

There is some good stuff in this thread here: https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/s...d.php?t=648656

...that is a must read for those who is ignorant of the greatness of Joe Gans.

[billeau2]

The stomp was actually just the falling step performed to perfection. As per the instructions given in Jack Dempsey's book.

Gans would transfer all his bodyweight into his punches, delivering maximum power. Which is why Dempsey was a fan.

Once again my brother from a different mother is absolutely correct. And technically the "stomps" were during practice, to maximize power no doubt.

Gans was part of a revolution that saw boxing move from a fencing paradigm to the technical development and assortment of punches. Punching technology in other boxing forms had shown that one needed the weight to settle as the punch impacted, for maximum impact. There were exceptions... One could store potential energy in the spine and tendons and explode the potential energy of the foward movement...

But when we look at ancient Indian punching arts and the root chinese system (out of three) that emphasized punching, we see the same "stomp" and drop of the weight as the punch extends. Hsing Yi was that art.

The work of men like Dempsey and Gans was eventually to culminate in the fluid and excellent technique of men like Louis.

[Rusty Tromboni]

Churls who normally decry the lack of video support for oldsters of the bygone era, are now coming out of the woodwork to jump on the bandwagon of Gans, of whom there is as little film as there is of any great fighter from his era, if not less. The need for video evidence has suddenly evaporated. When assessing Gans, apparently, apocryphal tales will serve the same purpose just fine.

I am told that a man who slaps and stomps his feet down is technically miles ahead of his contemporaries. Maybe that only proves how far behind today's boxing technology these oldsters were. I said maybe, churl, by Baal! Oh, yeah, the lost art of telegraphing punches with a stomp.

Yeah, it goes to show it's all about the story and keeping up with the fads.
last week they were at the backstreet boys concert, now they're screaming for justin bieber.


Gans' era was just a little too primitive. Starting with McFarland, moving to the brothers Gibbons, then the stars of the late teens and twenties we start to get modern boxers. still a little crude and comparatively primitive. But fighters are clearly more competent and professional.

tommy loughran was a true master. The film proves that. But again, his story doesn't sell today like Gans' does.