I hit as hard as any fighter ever did..But I broke my brittle hands three different times...I was a former champ who in spite of my splintered fists dropped almost every opponent...Too bad I couldn't punch as hard as I could for fear of shattering my hands...Who am I ?
Correct as usual Clay...When I was growing up I would hear oldtimers rave about the hitting powers of Al Hostak, called the "Savage Slav , for a good reason. But his "Achilles Heel " was in his brittle hands which he broke several times fighting the great pre WW2 crop of great middleweights as Freddie Steele, Fred Apostoli, Tony Zale, the forgotten tough guy Solly Kreiger, Ken Overlin etc. A "Golden Age " of middleweights.:good
My grandfather saw him fight at Sicks Stadium in Seattle and always said he was a vicious body puncher Burt. I got a chance to meet him in person when he was about 73 and he was kind enough to meet me at a local boxing gym to show me a few things. Very nice guy.
A, I believe Johnny Bratton had his jaw broken several times. Not his hands. No one had the flair of a healthy Johnny Bratton . Beautiful to watch.
Al Hostak lived til the age of 90. What a quartet of bangers in the MW division fighting each other OFTEN ,composed of a Freddie Steele, Al Hostak, Tony Zale, Fred Apostoli, and a Solly Krieger. ? Throw in the rising handsome MW Billy Conn and others, in the 1930s MW "golden age "... And beautiful boxers as Teddy Yarosz, Billy Soose, and the "poor man's Harry Greb ", Ken Overlin... What an era, along with Britain's Jock McAvoy, Len Harvey, and France's Marcel Thil...And today's posters think that boxing is so much better now...NAY I say...
I knew the answer wasn't McLarnin, because while Jimmy broke his left hand three times, he broke his left hand five. People today assume that if less than half of some historic fighter's wins are by knockout that their power is questionable. Like Griffith though, Babyface's power was not ever in doubt. As with Hostak, McLarnin's hands just couldn't stand up under the full force he was capable of generating with consistency. [Emile of course, like Pastrano, made a volitional choice to box rather than opt for stoppage wins.] A lower than expected knockout ratio can be due to brittle hands, wearing the cuffs or otherwise holding back [which Mickey Walker freely admitted to at the outset of his autobiography], bad timing, poor punch placement, lack of speed, telegraphy or some other factors. [Mel Turnbow reportedly had lethal power, but couldn't use it effectively in competition. In 22 fights, he only had nine wins with two stoppages, one in his debut. Eight months before Cleveland Williams challenged Ali though, Turnbow decked the Big Cat in rounds two and three before dropping a close ten round UD in his best career performance. He was then coming off a one round blowout loss to a 4-0 Frazier, ultimately Joe's fastest career win after Ziggy. Moe Joe was not going to get a title shot at his boss and sparring partner if he'd somehow upset Cleve in Houston. Smokin' Joe made Mel badly damaged goods, and pretty well scuttled any career aspirations Turnbow may have had.] Loughran avoided the fate of Hostak and McLarnin by converting himself into a master boxer. Tommy's natural power was not questioned, but the brittleness of his hands was also very well known. [He decked Jack Sharkey in their rematch, and can be seen in extant footage unloading on Carnera.] Conversely, Benny Leonard and Gene Tunney reversed their lack of inborn power through assiduous training. Tunney is probably the definitive example of an ATG reversing hand brittleness through concentrated effort during the 20th Century, through his lumberjack work. Surprised guys like Hostak and McLarnin didn't pursue Gene's example strenuously, but they had to fight for a living, while Tunney was aiming to acquire Dempsey's huge payoffs.
I met Al Hostak and Billy Soose on the same night. Great guys! Hostak was really energetic. Like that uncle that everyone is happy to see at holiday parties. Brittle hands makes me think of Ad Wolgast. Sammy Angott also had mitt problems.
