Fighting styles from the 30's vs Now!

[them_apples]

not knocking Ali, but he introduced a lot of Slap/whip hookers. In all honestly its a faster punch but it's wider arch kind of defeats the purpose. Before then Everyone threw with body weight. By slap hook I might turn the body a fraction before the punch as opposed to the same time, giving that whip effect.

I know around during the 70's certain Boxers started developing that "smooth" style of punching as well. Frazier, very "smooth" in the shoulders, if he missed it was rather his arm that went whipping past not his body stumbling like Dempsey or someone like Max Baer. I'm not really sure whats a harder shot. It looks like the old-oldschool type of punch is sort of impractical and energy wasting though.

Then as the 90's hit the scene, Boxers sort of combined both. Chavez, Whitaker etc very clean punchers.

Now a day we have a mixture of both. Mayweather throws those slapping left hooks, Cotto is a very clean puncher. Margarito throws bombs straight old school but they look very effortless and lobbed which I think helps with his whole "12 round fighter" game plan.

I think realistically some of these punching styles had pros and cons but in the newer era boxers chose the safe route. Like Frazier might have been able to dig and do a lot of damage, but you won't see anyone these days willing to mix it up like that in order to land those types of shots.

Also I'd like to point out so many boxers these days can't seem to shake the amateur style. It doesn't always seem like a fight anymore. Amir Khan looks straight out of the Am's.

overall, from about the 70's to the current day, A whole lot hasn't changed.

[them_apples]

I dunno, it seems like the other way round to me. Guys nowadays can be too jittery, they leap back after getting hit with anything, even jabs, instead of standing their ground. Holyfield more or less made an art of the bouncing stance, but there seems like quite a lot of useless foot movement involved with a lot of heavies today. It gets them out of danger, but it wastes energy and leaves them no room for counter shots. Look at someone like Huck from last night. In the opening rounds he was overreacting to everything Povetkin threw and he didn't really need to. Povetkin to a degree as well.



Compare that to Louis vs Baer where both fighters have their feet planted to the canvas most of the bout, and hardly ever move out of each other's range of punching.



Of course there are exceptions. Galento leapt in with everything and was just generally a bit of a wild man. Wlad on the other hand plants his feet very much like an old school guy, maintaining his distance as much as possible. On the whole though, I think the above two examples are representative of many of the fighters from their respective time periods.

so in other words they fought back then. By being a good fighter you got a shot. Now a days if you lose you know you won't even get a shot.