Joe Gans: Lessons from the Old Master

[RightHandLead]

he makes boxing look so effortless. and the leverage he gets on those right hands. look very painful. perfect balance. great jab.

looks like it all comes back to the stance again. your thoughts?

 

[fightingrabbit]

he makes boxing look so effortless. and the leverage he gets on those right hands. look very painful. perfect balance. great jab.

looks like it all comes back to the stance again. your thoughts?

Yeah the leverage he got on his blocks and deflections were crazy. Pretty much a display of all the defensive techniques shown in Edwin Haisletts old boxing manual.

 

[RightHandLead]

Yeah the leverage he got on his blocks and deflections were crazy. Pretty much a display of all the defensive techniques shown in Edwin Haisletts old boxing manual.

gonna have to open that book up again.

Gans had a remarkable ability to stop his opponent's punches and he is considered, by many, as perhaps the best fighter ever at blocking and evading blows. Ben Benjamin wrote, Sept 7, 1907 San Fransisco Chronicle, that he "blocked blows in his incomparable style" and commented, "It is as a blocker that Gans is at his best. There never was a fighter who could block with such skill and precision as Gans. He is a perfect marvel at stopping, using either hand with equal facility. He rarely wastes a blow, his judgment on distance being almost perfect." The BI article This was Joe Gans describes his uncanny ability to block punches with the following, “Gans was born with a sixth sense. They tell the story of how one of his opponents, after Joe had "carried" him for six rounds, asked The Old Master, "how do you do it?" And Joe just grinned and said, "I really dunno. I tried to figure it out, but I can't put it into words. I guess I just see what you're thinking and when the thought gets down around the elbow I just reach out and stop it.”

from coxcorner article on joe gans.

that seems to be a lost art too. parrying and reaching out and stoppin punches before they get close to you. i think foreman was the last person i seen do that. nowadays the only parry taught is against the jab.

 

[fightingrabbit]

gonna have to open that book up again.



from coxcorner article on joe gans.

that seems to be a lost art too. parrying and reaching out and stoppin punches before they get close to you. i think foreman was the last person i seen do that. nowadays the only parry taught is against the jab.

Yeah stop hits are things you see in mcdojo kung fu training, but i've never seen a practical execution of it in actual hand to hand except in boxing. And mostly in older clips where defense wasn't oriented around taking punches on the glove. Definitely a lost art.

The techniques in Haisletts book are what initially got me interested in boxing not as a sport, but a martial art. Akin to every little kid wanting to learn karate or kung fu. For me it was boxing.

 

[barnowl]

Yeah stop hits are things you see in mcdojo kung fu training, but i've never seen a practical execution of it in actual hand to hand except in boxing. And mostly in older clips where defense wasn't oriented around taking punches on the glove. Definitely a lost art.

The techniques in Haisletts book are what initially got me interested in boxing not as a sport, but a martial art. Akin to every little kid wanting to learn karate or kung fu. For me it was boxing.

I think you probably see it alot more than you realize. It is rarely as clean as the picture makes it look though. Anytime you are using an attack to the limb or body to stop/disrupt the opponents attack is a stop hit. Teeps are used often to stop hit round kicks in Muay Thai, as an example.

 

[Azam]

It's insane how similar - extremely similar old school boxing is to old school karate.

Regarding the reaching out to parrying - I think the reason its not as common anymore I'd guess is because if you don't get it right you get clocked - I think in the past it was more common because exchanges were a bit different - by that I mean in the past there seemed to be less volume/combinations - at least when I compore boxing footage from those eras.


You still see the reaching out to parry in Karate though - hell I do very often in sparring. The stop hit not as much because it's I feel dependent on an advantage in reach over your opponent.

 

[WillW]

I think you probably see it alot more than you realize. It is rarely as clean as the picture makes it look though. Anytime you are using an attack to the limb or body to stop/disrupt the opponents attack is a stop hit. Teeps are used often to stop hit round kicks in Muay Thai, as an example.

Yep. It is usually called a check or control in boxing gyms. But you essentially touch the opponent shoulder, bicep, hand, etc to stop it before it even starts.

It's insane how similar - extremely similar old school boxing is to old school karate.

Regarding the reaching out to parrying - I think the reason its not as common anymore I'd guess is because if you don't get it right you get clocked - I think in the past it was more common because exchanges were a bit different - by that I mean in the past there seemed to be less volume/combinations - at least when I compore boxing footage from those eras.

Yep, thats what got me into MMA. a lot of the things Machida was doing in MMA was credited to karate (angles, feints) yet i learned the exact same things in boxing.

the extended arm blocks, extended lead arm defense, or cross parries are definitely something that takes time to get down, but effective none the less. Its amazing how many of the same principles are taught across different arts like MT, boxing, and Karate

 

[YamaTsukiBoy]

You still see the reaching out to parry in Karate though - hell I do very often in sparring. The stop hit not as much because it's I feel dependent on an advantage in reach over your opponent.

I've been able to prevent longer and taller guys from throwing overhands, so I don't believe a reach advantage is necessary.