Did these early heavyweights fight on the front foot or backfoot?

Louis-primarily front
Carnera-front, in which case he might be winning, back, in which case he's most certainly losing
Charles-could do either very well, but was best as a defensive fighter imo
Jersey Joe Walcott-back. The greatest defensive fighter of all time.
Schmeling-good offensive/ defensive fighter. I would say more front than back though
Johnson-primarily front

 

agreed, except Carnera was against Sharkey and Baer-or I should say vs. Baer, he was forced onto the canvas.

 

Louis did have to get a bit defensive in Schemling I, Charles, and Marciano, although I realize the last two were a long ways down the hill.

 

You have got to be kidding me.

 

Louis - both, mostly front but he was an excellent all-rounder. His fight with M. Baer show how light he could be on his feet.

Carnera - big out-boxer. Primarily back-foot, although I don't watch too much Carnera.

Charles - at HW? He mostly circled left, or stood his ground and countered. He supposedly swarmed a bit when he was younger.

Walcott - back, master out-boxer.

Schmeling - pass, I've only seen the Louis fights and he stood his ground a lot in the first fight.

Johnson - again, he mostly stood his ground but was pretty versatile too. I've seen him move back more than forward though.

 

Not exactly. I am not studied enough to say that, but he's one of them.

 

Maybe I am misunderstanding the prose ? Johnson primarily a front foot fighter REALLY , ok so he did go forward sometimes ( when he had an opponent hurt for instance ) but surely his ethos was defense, leaning back to avoid punches, then to counter no ?

 

Well, I guess so. I've read very little about Johnson, just watched. It's more likely that I'm just going off of the fights I've watched. You must admit he was the chief aggressor in fights with Burns, Jeffries, and Moran.

 

Don't confuse a lot of fancy steps as being effective, efficient footwork.

 

I don't. Look here:

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The fancy footwork of Walcott, Robinson, and Ali can qualify as good footwork, but is deceptive as a whole to what good footwork really looks like.

 

"Good defence always beats good offence." Jack Johnson

 

often that is the case