Could Jim Corbett win a professional title today.

All this points to is one Irish American giving a boost to another.If you want to give this credence then you must perforce give credence to his opinion of Jeffries, ie,"
" A younger slugger beating older ,smaller men."

 

I do not consider Tunney to be an exceptionally reliable observer, but what he says has a bit too much detail for a casual lie.

It is not just Tunney though, we could dig a lot deeper, and just find more of the same.

 

On feinting:

I never fought professionally, but boxed as an amateur for many years. I started out in my teens, before that, I couldn't throw a correct punch. It was something I had to learn. Feinting, however, was not. its the natural thing to do, you feint with your left and throw your right. Young kids who haven't boxed a day in their life do it. You don't have to be able to throw a proper punch to do it. Of course I got better at it as I became a better fighter, in the way to you don't leave yourself open when you do it, but what I mean to say is that feinting is not a sign of refined boxing technique.

 

:deal Great post!

 

I am not convinced!

You are asking us to believe that feinting is an indicator of a crude boxer, while being able to double the jab is the sign of a master!

 

Feinting is considered a lost art in boxing. As is slipping, bobbing and weaving, parrying, blocking. Plus doing all of this cohesively and in addition countering to vital areas of an opponents body. It's not to say that these tactics are not done at all....they are just not the all encompassing technical aspects they once were.

Fleischer wrote that the old timers were masters of the finer aspects of the sport. This is one reason plus the inherit toughness that era produced he rated men like Johnson, Jeffries, Fitz and Corbett so highly.

Burns looks impressive in his nicely filmed bout with Moir. He is balanced, throws multiple jabs, combinations, feints. Yet he during his time was much lower rated than Johnson, Fitz and Jeffries. The poor quality of the films makes it very difficult to see the very high level skills these men possessed.

 

Theres a difference between instinctual feinting, and the art of feinting.

A complete amateur can also punch! But obviously there's more to punching then just being able to do it.

 

For today's standards he is small, not strong enough, slow in all aspects.
He understood the game but the difference, especially in speed in all ways, is absurd.

 

I can see a lot of guys today doing all the things you said are lost.
Maybe you lost all the fights that are aired today.

 

Time machine? I see him out pointing Cloud at least.

Realistically, the guy was a pioneer, given a modern environment he'd definitely be a great.

 

No, I can't speak for Kevin, but that was not the point I was trying to make. A crude street fighter feints, as does a master boxer. Throwing a double jab does not make a person a master, but it means that the person can throw a double jab.

The point is this: feinting in itself is no indicator of skills, but the fighter that feints may of course still be very skillful. Throwing a double jab is an indicator of at least some sort of basic skills.

 

I'd say you start doing it in playground s****s,I did .

 

Exactly. It's instinct.