Which Techniques or Tactics do you Find Most Impressive/Interesting?

So, I'm asking for things you've seen fighter(s) do which you've just had to stop and go "wtf was that?!" but I'm not talking about an incredible show or reflexes or power or speed. So a bit more of a conceptual question than one about any specific fight or fighters, I suppose. Naturally though, examples from fighters is welcome. Anything goes really, stuff you've stolen and used or stuff you've looked at and just been absolutely baffled by.

I'll start with a beautiful piece of footwork from Ricardo Lopez against the southpaw Mongkol Charoen. You'll see him duck under a left hand with his foot on the inside of Charoen's; then he pivot towards the open side. You see briefly that Charoen is left in an orthodox stance. Cool sort of proof of concept, being able to control your opponents stance with positional relativity.

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5:08.

 

Buster Drayton throwing his right hand so wide that he was able to hit Said Skouma even though Skouma was behind him at the time. Look at the point of contact and the angle of Drayton's arm when the punch connects on the slow-mo replay.

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Probably not a recommended tactic by any means.

 

Two things come to mind
Jersey Joe Walcott's footwork
Dempsey bobbing weaving crouching off an on the balls of his feet while sparring Bill Tate from 1919

 

body punching and footwork

 

Two attributes come to mind.
#1 Instinctive and precise combination punching. Unlike so many " world class" boxers today, who's combination punching is more robotic, than Instinctive ( Like repeatedly hitting the opponents guard, as opposed to Instinctively finding the openings where the guard or gloves are not protecting)
There was a time professional boxers like Louis, Sanchez, Duran, Robinson, Leonard and many other Atg's could adjust mid combo, and find the openings in the opponents defense, while in the process of there attack.
They were trained until there actions were instinctive .
#2
The double and triple left hook, with speed and power.
Very few pro fighters could get away with it consistently against world class competition.
The ones that could are some of my favorite boxers to watch.

 

I'm going with the old ball change which is switching stance while defending and countering. James Toney was a master at it. Below are two examples, one against Nunn and the other was years later against Jason Robinson. The one against Robinson is so subtle and deadly. It appears at first to be a left hook from a conventional stance but it is actually a left hook from a southpaw stance. I saw the Robinson fight live and in person.

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So there's this move that Archie Moore did. He suddenly brought his hands up in what almost seemed to be a high guard, problem is that the hands were actually pretty far apart, leaving Moore completely open down the middle. I was confused by its purpose at first. I thought it was a one time thing that Moore did to be quirky, but then I saw it a 2nd time, and then a 3rd time, and a 4th time. And he almost always followed this sudden change of guard with a nasty overhand.

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5:45 and 6:16 in the Bivins video. 20:03 in the Maxim video.

I'm pretty sure there are other instances (probably in both fights too) but these were the ones I noted down. I think that wide high guard served the purpose of giving Moore a sense of where the centre line was, so that in the case the opponent threw a straight shot to take advantage of the opening, he could catch him with the overhand. Plus, dropping his left hand all the way down when it used to be so high up certainly gives the shot some extra leverage.

****ing eccentric genius, man.

 

Right now, I am most interested in the way old boxing books guard/parry the straight left (jab). Today, you would be instructed to catch it or maybe parry it inward. Books from around the year 1900 (and before) generally instruct to raise the right arm to parry the blow upwards and outwards. I have seen both Billy Edwards and Mike Donovan perform this parry in their sparring session in 1905. Jack Johnson does it on occasion. In the Corbett and McCoy "sparring" footage, McCoy demonstrates it twice, throwing the right hand off of it. I think this is a big reason as to why the hand was held around the left breast rather than up and to the side. Below are some examples from books of what I mean:
The Science of Boxing by Mike Donovan (1893)

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Boxing for beginners, with chapter showing its relationship to bayonet fighting, by William J. Jacomb (1918)

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How to box to win, how to build muscle, how to breathe, stand, walk, or run, how to punch the bag : a book of health and strength / by Terry McGovern, James J. Corbett, J. Gardner Smith [and other]. (1899)

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The Art of Boxing and Manual of Training - William Edwards (1888)

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Boxing, by D. C. Hutchison... (1913)

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If you remember filmed examples of this parry being performed, I would be pleased to see them. I need to rewatch Fitzsimmons and Gans to see whether they did it. Oddly, I have seen Carmen Bassilio do something similar on occasion. The difference in instruction on how to guard a left straight then vs now is the most interesting change I have seen in boxing textbooks. By the 1920s, it seems the shift to catching and inward parrying as the primary method of guarding against the jab was complete (please feel free to provide examples to prove me wrong).

 

Quality thread idea George.

I'd like to mention one of my favourite body shot set ups ever - Penalosa vs Gonzalez. Watching in retrospect, you can see Penalosa setting up the eventual stoppage earlier on. Around round 5 is where he really starts to time under Jhonny's right hand which, in usual Penalosa fashion, he also managed to come off from one of his smooth right hook counters. Quality bout for anyone who loves tricks and set ups.

https://youtu.be/cQDaseZ0-Ak

Another bout I have mentioned several times recently is Arbachakov vs Sasakul. Absolutely beautiful how Sasakul shuts down the soviet style with his right hand counters to the body. Really comes to fruition in round 6 where Arbachakov starts getting beat up. Throughout the bout he also constantly counters Yuris right with a left hook as soon as he throws, which he lands over and over again. Ring generalship master class imo, especially considering Arbachakov was the faster and bigger puncher. Shows how much good ring iq matters!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L60sMSJj8Ss

You can also use this type of movement to block / stop hooks. I've used it myself. Great technique to stop momentum too, if you can pull it off. Quality post mate

 

Ability to fight off the ropes. And being very comfortable there.

 

Not the most impressive but certainly interesting - Liston and Foreman have a really interesting quality in their combination punching in that even when you can see their punches a mile off, they seem to land flush anyway.

They can change trajectory of punch whilst throwing it (both actually quite adept at tracking a moving head), obviously throw very powerful punches but what I find interesting is that both fighters have deceptive handspeed on hooks and uppercuts. It says something that they knock down/out fighters with punches that seemingly don't seem like they put significant steam on them, but when you watch the punch impact in slow motion, the reaction of the man they've just clean clocked is all the evidence that you need.

 

I saw some of Henry Armstrong's pressure fighting and immediately thought how much a nightmare he must have been to fight.

Also liked Wlad's extended arm extension when setting up jabs to keep guys at range. I haven't seen many tall heavyweights use it like that.

 

James is one guy I can pretty much watch all day. His bouts with McCallum is like earning your masters degree!