Thumbing and eye gouging is an oft mentioned dirty tactic of the detached thumb 'era', especially for the old timers. Yet I struggle to really think of a blatant filmed instance off the top of my head. Any examples?
One of Pedroza's fights he was accused of thumbing repeatedly. May have been Laporte, but I'm not sure. Duran was accused of thumbing Moore intentionally if I remember right. Holmes also had the reputation of thumbing. Back in the day , it was expected, just like a cut eye, or lip, or a clash of heads. fighters were expected to fight through it. Many did, went on and won with the injury. It was seen as part of the game.
I thought of Duran-Moore too but only because it was mentioned in the past but I don't know if there's any clear evidence on the film. Particularly as it's harder to thumb with those gloves than it would be with the ones the old-timers wore.
I recall Pedroza hitting low, rabbit punching, lacing, holding and hitting and butting but don't remember thumbs. Some things are easily enough lost in the shuffle of course.
I'm pretty sure Foreman was accused of this is somebody. I know he's definitely admitted to doing it.
Were any legal tactis lost when they stitched the thumb to the rest of the glove? I've heard boxers had more leeway with parrying and clinching movements before the gloves became essentially club ends. 1920s boxing gloves almost look similar to current MMA gloves.
Yes, some tactics were lost . It was far easier to control an arm with the old gloves, using it to get the opponent off balance and take advantage of an opening created by a subtle hold or pull/ push. We've all heard the term " Sweet Science " . But at one time their was a" Science to infighting ". A part of the game that has been lost, even more than body punching and the slip and counter.
...very true , I've seen some of those gloves and you can grapple with them and actually grab an arm. I believe those type gloves really drove some of the tactics and styles you see on the old footage.
