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So, the thing about mechanics is the mechanics are very different because fighting distance was very different. One of my favorite examples was a film of Tunney giving props to Corbett. Corbett throwing around in the range where most guys fight today looks god awful. Its also strange to an observer how he sets up these punches where he seems to variate speed as he follows through. Well...in Corbett's time guys didn't fight square, they were sword length...three feet out from each other, and usually on the back leg.
most of the work was either setting up an attack coming in, or fighting inside during the grapple. Today and from about the time of Dempsey on, the fighters were starting to develop technques and strategies where the distance to each other was closer, like today. One of the most seminal fights from a technical perspective would be the Tunney Dempsey fight, both really, but particularly the first one.
In Tunney one can see many shades of Corbett and the older ways. Tunney is always back from Dempsey when he can be, his hands are down, and he sets up from that distance while Dempsey tries to close the distance. Both guys are effective, Tunney catches jack from a distance and when Dempsey tries to close. Dempsey tries to maul Tunney who moves and uses the grapple to neutralize Dempsey.
In this fight one can see two generations of distance, fighting and timing. Dempsey wants to square up and use small body movements like bobbing and weaving, slipping punches, etc...Tunney wants to get back, come into the gap at a 3 foot distance and catch dempsey in this gap with combos before jack can square up on him.
In the older style the techniques worked off the greater distance and were based on a couple of primary things:
1) Not breaking the hand. bare knuckle bouts and small gloves were such that punches had to be thrown accurately, or to the body, or one could break a hand and that would not be good. fighters were constantly looking for ways to harden the hands for this reason. The solution was to set up punches so they caught the guy at the end of extension. this is a sweet spot, and the wrist is usuallt straight. The other solution was to use the hand in a natural unpronated position, and to just hit accurately at the tip of the chin, this was the lead and was a ko punch when done properly. This also kept the wrist straight...unlike a jab the hand was not turned and the punch was a natural movement like extending the hand for a handshake.
2) Neutralizing the other guy. Nobody wanted to slug it out in a war of attrition if it could be avoided. guys were not so much into slipping, more into parrying...For example, jack Johnson would use his hands to pick off punches, run inside and attack with his combos... If guys were slugging they were probably going to grapple rather than slide off line with the shoulders. Instead they would use a fake center by putting the front shoulder up and the head back at an angle. Remember that the boxing vocabulary at that time was still steeped in fencing technique from Figg, the original heavyweight champ. A fake center is still utilized to this day, watch where Bernard Hopkins head is on his stance, watch carefully! it is not over his shoulders, but it looks like it is! it is in fact over his far shoulder and his front shoulder is protecting his chin.
The newer techniques were based on these things technically speaking:
1) Staying in range and throwing punches as straight to the target as possible. A hook was turned at the last point where it could enter, punnches were often straight leads still, but the guy wanted to be square enough to throw them at punching distance with no space between...So Dempsey, again as our example, would not telegraph his punch, he would throw it from where his hand was and simply turn the body into the punch. Later we see guys like Louis with incredible punching technique, based on staying just in range and delivering shots, untelegraphed and explosively. Good punchers with technical proficiency did not telegraph punches...sugar could catch a man while he went backwards!
2) Guys were more squared up, though they still used off line center and fought off the back leg transfering on the hit (at times) but punches were now slipped, countered with other punches from different angles, and the body, instead of always moving as a whole, could move in segments, like moving the shoulders to avoid a punch, etc. Archie Moore is a great example, he would set a guard and use his elbows as fulcroms as he rotated his shoulders around his arms to set up his punches. he could go with a shot, taking it on the elbows and turn into his own punch, countering the blow in the middle of its delivery.
So in conclusion, different fighting distances did not make better or worse, just different ways of doing things. Gloves protected the hands more, guys could throw punches with more commitment and even with questionable accuracy, and consequently boxing developed a closer distance with more segmented body movement than before...
Incidently martial arts are very similar, being that boxing is a martial art...many arts of ancient times had much more precise footwork, as guys lost the subtlety, the art became more watered down and based on strength and force, instead of angles, precision and distancing...less whole body movement and more segmented abstract movements that simply allowed one to deliver blows.
Aikido is a perfect example, the entire art which has refined footwork to a point where it is impractical but easy, is based entirely on the gross movements of a swordsman. yet no sword is used in the art and alllllll the tricky little movements that make swordsmanship a combat art are gone...in its place are whole body, unsegmented, big circular movements that any one can master.
most of the work was either setting up an attack coming in, or fighting inside during the grapple. Today and from about the time of Dempsey on, the fighters were starting to develop technques and strategies where the distance to each other was closer, like today. One of the most seminal fights from a technical perspective would be the Tunney Dempsey fight, both really, but particularly the first one.
In Tunney one can see many shades of Corbett and the older ways. Tunney is always back from Dempsey when he can be, his hands are down, and he sets up from that distance while Dempsey tries to close the distance. Both guys are effective, Tunney catches jack from a distance and when Dempsey tries to close. Dempsey tries to maul Tunney who moves and uses the grapple to neutralize Dempsey.
In this fight one can see two generations of distance, fighting and timing. Dempsey wants to square up and use small body movements like bobbing and weaving, slipping punches, etc...Tunney wants to get back, come into the gap at a 3 foot distance and catch dempsey in this gap with combos before jack can square up on him.
In the older style the techniques worked off the greater distance and were based on a couple of primary things:
1) Not breaking the hand. bare knuckle bouts and small gloves were such that punches had to be thrown accurately, or to the body, or one could break a hand and that would not be good. fighters were constantly looking for ways to harden the hands for this reason. The solution was to set up punches so they caught the guy at the end of extension. this is a sweet spot, and the wrist is usuallt straight. The other solution was to use the hand in a natural unpronated position, and to just hit accurately at the tip of the chin, this was the lead and was a ko punch when done properly. This also kept the wrist straight...unlike a jab the hand was not turned and the punch was a natural movement like extending the hand for a handshake.
2) Neutralizing the other guy. Nobody wanted to slug it out in a war of attrition if it could be avoided. guys were not so much into slipping, more into parrying...For example, jack Johnson would use his hands to pick off punches, run inside and attack with his combos... If guys were slugging they were probably going to grapple rather than slide off line with the shoulders. Instead they would use a fake center by putting the front shoulder up and the head back at an angle. Remember that the boxing vocabulary at that time was still steeped in fencing technique from Figg, the original heavyweight champ. A fake center is still utilized to this day, watch where Bernard Hopkins head is on his stance, watch carefully! it is not over his shoulders, but it looks like it is! it is in fact over his far shoulder and his front shoulder is protecting his chin.
The newer techniques were based on these things technically speaking:
1) Staying in range and throwing punches as straight to the target as possible. A hook was turned at the last point where it could enter, punnches were often straight leads still, but the guy wanted to be square enough to throw them at punching distance with no space between...So Dempsey, again as our example, would not telegraph his punch, he would throw it from where his hand was and simply turn the body into the punch. Later we see guys like Louis with incredible punching technique, based on staying just in range and delivering shots, untelegraphed and explosively. Good punchers with technical proficiency did not telegraph punches...sugar could catch a man while he went backwards!
2) Guys were more squared up, though they still used off line center and fought off the back leg transfering on the hit (at times) but punches were now slipped, countered with other punches from different angles, and the body, instead of always moving as a whole, could move in segments, like moving the shoulders to avoid a punch, etc. Archie Moore is a great example, he would set a guard and use his elbows as fulcroms as he rotated his shoulders around his arms to set up his punches. he could go with a shot, taking it on the elbows and turn into his own punch, countering the blow in the middle of its delivery.
So in conclusion, different fighting distances did not make better or worse, just different ways of doing things. Gloves protected the hands more, guys could throw punches with more commitment and even with questionable accuracy, and consequently boxing developed a closer distance with more segmented body movement than before...
Incidently martial arts are very similar, being that boxing is a martial art...many arts of ancient times had much more precise footwork, as guys lost the subtlety, the art became more watered down and based on strength and force, instead of angles, precision and distancing...less whole body movement and more segmented abstract movements that simply allowed one to deliver blows.
Aikido is a perfect example, the entire art which has refined footwork to a point where it is impractical but easy, is based entirely on the gross movements of a swordsman. yet no sword is used in the art and alllllll the tricky little movements that make swordsmanship a combat art are gone...in its place are whole body, unsegmented, big circular movements that any one can master.
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