Sam McVey v Jim Johnson video adjusted for real time

How does that add up? I will agree that it's hard to see anything (which would include feinting), but in general i think they look rather primitive (excluding the in-fighting), and as a said, they fight in a transitional style of bare knuckle boxing to gloved boxing. As one would expect them to do after centuries of bare knuckle boxing before only 15 years of gloved boxing, with no tv or Youtube to see the pioneers of new technique.

 

Agreed, although they display some higher end skills that most today dont, using footwork to control the distance (better than most today), timing, straight compact punching, excellent balance, head movement, countering, fast hands

The footage is very poor quality, the frame rate is very low and it is blury. Hard to see whats going on and I dont know who is who???

Whoever said they weren't throwing combinations must not know what a combination is because there were a few combos that let fly. And just because they didnt throw many combinations doesnt mean they couldnt, they potshot and control distance similar to Floyd Mayweather and I don't hear anyone calling him primitive

 

Why would bare-knuckle boxers not have good footwork? Or counter-punching? Also, bare-knuckle boxing was more body-punching orientated than modern boxing, for clear practical reasons.

As for my point about footwork, it is one thing to be able to see boxers moving around the ring and another thing to see the details of it. That is obvious.

 

Looking at this film I think that McVea was utimately miscast.

He had an impresive set of tools but did not use them as well as he might have. He drew in his oponent and counterpunched when he could have got serious results by pressing the fight.

The right trainer could have done a lot for him.

 

Langford is another realm above McVey. Langford is another realm above damn near anyone else we discuss.

According to what I have read McVey used that jab as a probe/rangefinder and then opened up, trying to land what was supposed to be a power left hook. Of course, I am sure he changed tactics between Langford and Jeannette and Johnson.

 

Alright, so you agree that they have a style that is close to bare-knuckle boxing? Because that's why i called them primitive. Perhaps an unfair insult given they didnt (and couldn't) know better, and still fought under rules that were somewhat reminiscent of bareknuckle boxing, but still.....

 

Exactly what do you see in them which would have been seen in a bareknuckle fight?

The only thing that I can identify is the way McVea places his feet.

 

That's a reason to be conservative in one's footwork, not to ignore footwork altogether. If you don't have gloves (so glove-blocking is out of the question) then your feet and your reflexes are your primary defensive tools.

 

I'm trying to work out what you're actually trying to say. We've gone from them being utter cavemen to "Having a style that's somewhat suitable for their rules" in just a few posts.

 

[FONT=&quot] McVey had no real jab, and didn't have a good right cross either. What he had was a clubbing left hook, and an uppercut.

When I first saw pictures of McVey, I thought he was a bas @ss, but in truth, he complained often to the ref, and really was not as tough as his out shell might indicate[/FONT].

 

Langford spoke of McVea using the jab quite a bit, and of backing away from him as he did so. But definitely, the hook was his money punch. And yes, looks can be deceiving. If ugly won boxing contests, McVea would have been undefeated.

 

Both are true in a sense. They're utter cavemen compared to modern (i.e. post 30's) gloved boxing, but it fit a bareknuckle ruleset well i suppose.

 

Would you agree that the rules of the 1910s were signficantly different from those of today?

 

Of course.

 

Not bad.Boxing in those days seemed to have what I would call a "one punch strategy".It seems more like a combination of fencing and wrestling.Combinations and ring generalship weren't as well developed.The fighters ,of the time,are clearly very good at what they are doing.

Check out the middle rounds of Mike Tyson-Pinklon Thomas for a comparison.

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