[1902 article] Tommy Ryan discusses ko jab, big advances in boxing

Not entirely sure what to make of this article but I found this excerpt interesting. Despite the evolution he describes, Ryan apparently thought that only roughly 10 of the 500 or so fighters in the world were "scientific."

“T. Ryan and the Knockout Blow,” Democrat and Chronicle, April 30, 1902

“[…]The final blow used by the up-to-date boxers is not the old-time John L. Sullivan vicious swing. It is a scientific, lightening-like shot jab, delivered from a forearm action of not more than a few inches, and landed when a man is advancing to strike. The blow and its recipient meat halfway […]

Discussing the modern forearm jab which he and other boxers use in putting men to sleep, Ryan said: “It is a gentleman’s blow—not a bruiser’s. There are perhaps five hundred fighters in the world today of which perhaps ten are scientific men. These use the short arm jab. The vital points which a clever boxer tries to reach with this infighting jab are the point of the chin, the jugular vein, and the pit of the stomach.

“Boxing has changed wonderfully in the last ten years,” continues Ryan. “Nowadays a man fights with his head and feet. In the days of the old London prize ring rules, when Sullivan and his class of men fought, it was brute force that counted.

“In those days, a fifty-round fight was common. Now fights seldom last over fifteen rounds at the most. The scientific short arm work finishes them in short order when properly used. Jeffries fights with the close in, short, crouching methods that I use, and which was practically unknown ten years ago. In all the years that I have been fighting, I have never been in a brutal slugging match yet, and never will be in one.”

 

Yeah, that was strange. I saw another article where Corbett and Kid McCoy were going on about how Jeffries and Sharkey were basically just brute sluggers (I'll try to type and post some of it this week).

 

Yeah, I wonder about that any time boxers and fight people talk about late 19th/early 20th century boxers (whether they’re complimenting or criticizing them). I assume he’d probably read fight accounts and had conversations with people who had witnessed Sullivan fight.