why did the old timers keep their hands low?

With those smaller, or no gloves, body punches are more lethal than punches to the head. They also used a lot more headmovement than today´s fighters. "Protect the body the head can take care of itself" was a common proverb back then, or so I heard.

 

bohdi you talk out of your shop-worn chocolate starfish, mate

 

Roberto Duran.

 

Yeah, smaller gloves I think. You could clasp your gloves to your head and it would do little or nothing to cover yourself against an incoming blow, so you might as well keep them down and try and slip/parry. This is in contrast to nowadays where fighters can build almost impenetrable defences on holding their bigger gloves up constantly (Winky).

 

Obviously, different fighters hold their hands in different positions for different reasons. (That might be a nice idea for a thread at some point, actually.) You sometimes get more power with lower hands, you'll find - depending on your punching style.

 

I am not so sure I go with this theory. A high Guard also protects the body, people often tend to forget this.

A low guard does conserve a lot of energy. Also, it seems to me that a low guard allows the fighter to put a lot more power into his shots. Also i wonder, with the smaller gloves and even moreso, with bareknuckles, the lower guard would mean that the fighter is always punching up, which means that there is less of a chance to break a knuckle on the top of the skull. I wonder whether this might explain the low guard a lot.

Also, today a right glove on the chin is a good defence. With the smaller gloves, there are stories of at least a fighter or two, scoring the knockout blow, by hitting the fist that is resting on the chin. I am not sure if this forced the fighters to drop their hands more often.

 

I've heard a variety of theories. Whatever the right answer is, it's NOT that the old timers "didn't know better". Because really, it doesn't take that much intelligence to figure out that you're getting hit a lot and need to keep your hands up. A complete novice could figure it out after a sparring session or two, and I really doubt that an entire generation of fighters from all over the world couldn't understand the value of a high guard.

 

I don't think Louis truly held his hands low. He always had his right hand up to parry the jab, as for example Roberto Duran did, while keeping his left lower. There were also some fighters who held their hands high. Blocking punches with a high held guard was more difficult with smaller gloves, but most fighters were adept at parrying punches. Louis used a high guard to attempt to block punches from Conn and Pastor, but they were able to get through his defense.

I'd say that almost anyone starts out by keeping their hands high, until settling down to a style that fits them best. The "old timers" had hundreds of fights and were very relaxed in the ring, having faced all kinds of styles and knowing all the moves. Look at old James Toney, he still gets away with the shoulder roll even though his reflexes aren't what they used to be. It's because he knows what to anticipate, and it'll have to take him by a real surprise if he ever gets knocked out.

 

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[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctdjVr-kRsg[/ame]

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It also meant it was easier to finish a guy back then, which may have flattered Louis' abilities to an extent.

 

A lot of the opponents Louis fought were difficult to finish though.

Classic finishing job against Arturo Godoy:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nzZUwFvF6s[/ame]

4:10 onwards.

The only time Godoy was KO'd.

 

Is Vitali an old-timer? Haye? Ward? Mayweather? They all variate on where they keep their hands. Depends on the situation. It can be advantageous if you know what to anticipate and how to react.

 

Pre 1940,

Old timers kept there hands low. Most of them did. After 1940, You will notice gaurds started to raise up.

Watch Benny Leonard, Tunney, and Loughran. All kept very low gaurds.