Contemporary reports on the poor punching technique of Jim Corbett

Corbett is a lot of things… A pretty extreme racist even for the late 1800s early 1900s… short tempered… prone to fits of violence… a bit of a ego maniac at times? something of a con man at times? even a bit of a street thug in his youth… once he told Fitz they’d meet every day in the street till they had a rematch, Fitz told Jim if he hit him he’d shoot him…. Is reading his book a bit of a PG American Psycho (American Dandy?) unreliable narrator and all? Yes… but a weirdo… sort of, not really, he was a social wonder people loved him.

 

No matter how **** he looks on film there is no absolutely doubt that he had the finest arse-cheeks in all of Christendom.

 

Fantastic.

Also, this made me think of Oscar Dela Hoya... Oh, how things never change...

 

Both of these reports reminds me of guys like William Scull, who recently stunk out the joint against Canelo. A highly negative, spoiling style retreating constantly and throwing pitter patter blows with little weight on them with the intent to score and get away rather than actually do damage.

 

A fictional example popped in my head: a boxer from the anime Hajime No Ippo: Kobashi Kenta.

He fights exactly the way you're describing: circling, only throwing light punches, safety first, and spamming clinches multiple times per round. He nearly beat the main character of the show with his annoying style. Prime Erislandy Lara fought similarly leaving many people confused who won between Lara and Canelo.

Nobody would ever agree to fight someone like Corbett if he fought today, it's a lose/lose situation. He is either going to embarrass you with his spoiling tactics, or you're going to go through hell attempting to impose your will on him feeling like you lost even if you win. Either way, the audience will be booing and the promoter is going to be pulling his hair out. If he didn't have the belt, people would do everything in their power to freeze him out, and if he became champion no one would unify.

 

This fight exists on film for Joyce in a way. Check out his WSB fight with Usyk (side note, I've almost forgot that Usyk used to be a legit speedster). Joyce looks like he's in slow motion trying to catch Usyk and land anything, while Usyk bounces around and uses his face as a human speed bag. The fight is a video answer to the question of "how can a fast smaller man beat a slower bigger man?"

 

Is any of this surprising?

 

Look, he was a transitionary figure ... he had natural good size, conditioning and excellent speed but his punching was stiff armed from what I've seen of him .. like he was fencing ..

 

He was the Billy Banks of his era. What would you expect?