"Fool's Guard" absolutely beautiful boxing video

[Sinister]

I did a film study on Dom before his fight with TJ.

Dom based his footwork on a lot of classic boxers and specifically talks about studying Willie Pep, (among other greats) and incorporating footwork from his boxing style.

Specifically his V Step or "Pep Step" and using it to create angles and shift in and out of both stances.


You can see it. The crouch and pop and the sidestep Dom used are straight out of the Willie Pep playbook.

Check out the other Willie, if you never have before, Willie Pastrano. He was one of the guys with heavy influence on Ali's movement. He was taught by Whitey Ensault out of Louisiana, along with Ralph Dupas. Ensault never wanted to be a Professiona trainer, so he always sent his prospects to the Dundee Brothers:



Ali, as a Pro, essentially combined what he learned from Pastrano with that of Luis Angel Rodriguez, El Feo. One of the guy's in Ali's entourage with heavy gym influence that no one knows had much to do with his boxing was Luis Sarria, trainer of Rodroguez as well as Florentino Fernandez. Sarria was never credited as a trainer for Ali despite that Dundee was well-known to not be a gym trainer. Rumor has it Ali was protecting Sarria as he was an illegal immigrant.

 

[jeff7b9]

Check out the other Willie, if you never have before, Willie Pastrano. He was one of the guys with heavy influence on Ali's movement. He was taught by Whitey Ensault out of Louisiana, along with Ralph Dupas. Ensault never wanted to be a Professiona trainer, so he always sent his prospects to the Dundee Brothers:



Ali, as a Pro, essentially combined what he learned from Pastrano with that of Luis Angel Rodriguez, El Feo. One of the guy's in Ali's entourage with heavy gym influence that no one knows had much to do with his boxing was Luis Sarria, trainer of Rodroguez as well as Florentino Fernandez. Sarria was never credited as a trainer for Ali despite that Dundee was well-known to not be a gym trainer. Rumor has it Ali was protecting Sarria as he was an illegal immigrant.

Cool video, I'll have to check out more about him.

Great lateral movement, head movement, movement from the hips to slip and crouch too... seems like he mixed up his guard too as I noticed 1 or 2 clips in that highlight that looked like he may have dabbled with cross guard in additional to some shoulder roll low guard stuff.


I am sure Ali incorporated a lot of techniques from a lot of guys. Great boxers tend to study film and have a keen interest in learning from their predecessors. I have heard Ali mention studying Ray Robinson and attempting to bring that style of movement to heavyweight which no one had done or even been physically able to really attempt at that time. (And few if any since)

I do notice similarities between that Willie Pastrano jab and Ali's flick / rangefinder jab. Similar motion and trajectory and seemingly similar concept of trading power for speed and quick recoil.

 

[Sinister]

Cool video, I'll have to check out more about him.

Great lateral movement, head movement, movement from the hips to slip and crouch too... seems like he mixed up his guard too as I noticed 1 or 2 clips in that highlight that looked like he may have dabbled with cross guard in additional to some shoulder roll low guard stuff.


I am sure Ali incorporated a lot of techniques from a lot of guys. Great boxers tend to study film and have a keen interest in learning from their predecessors. I have heard Ali mention studying Ray Robinson and attempting to bring that style of movement to heavyweight which no one had done or even been physically able to really attempt at that time. (And few if any since)

I do notice similarities between that Willie Pastrano jab and Ali's flick / rangefinder jab. Similar motion and trajectory and seemingly similar concept of trading power for speed and quick recoil.

Indeed. The fighters I mentioned, and Sarria, Ali was a young man in the gym with them as they were all under the Dundee banner. But Ali definitely had a ton of regard for Robinson, which is why when Dundee told Ali he HAD to work Jimmy Ellis' corner against him (Ellis was his guy first), Ali brought in Harry Wiley Sr., Robinson's trainer. Ali always credited Wiley Sr. with his ability to roll right hands with his shoulder:



Wiley is in the dark blue shirt with the while towel on his shoulder and the "Droopy Dog" look on his face.

He also was in the corner for the Buster Mathis fight:



Wiley in the white jumpsuit.

Ali was so impressed with Wiley as a trainer he straight up told Dundee that he was keeping him on full time after the Ellis fight. Being as Wiley and Ali had just defeated Dundee and Ellis, Angelo didnt see much reason to argue. Ali would have likely made Wiley's name more famous than ever before, but unfortunately Wiley passed away not long after the Mathis fight.

 

[jeff7b9]

Indeed. The fighters I mentioned, and Sarria, Ali was a young man in the gym with them as they were all under the Dundee banner. But Ali definitely had a ton of regard for Robinson, which is why when Dundee told Ali he HAD to work Jimmy Ellis' corner against him (Ellis was his guy first), Ali brought in Harry Wiley Sr., Robinson's trainer. Ali always credited Wiley Sr. with his ability to roll right hands with his shoulder:



Wiley is in the dark blue shirt with the while towel on his shoulder and the "Droopy Dog" look on his face.

He also was in the corner for the Buster Mathis fight:



Wiley in the white jumpsuit.

Ali was so impressed with Wiley as a trainer he straight up told Dundee that he was keeping him on full time after the Ellis fight. Being as Wiley and Ali had just defeated Dundee and Ellis, Angelo didnt see much reason to argue. Ali would have likely made Wiley's name more famous than ever before, but unfortunately Wiley passed away not long after the Mathis fight.

Awesome. Love the back story. I still watch boxing but I really love boxing history and "old time" boxing.

I'll check these out later when I have time to properly go down the rabbit hole.