Are Ad Wolgast and Battling Nelson obsolete by modern standards?

Bowe's defense was every bit as bad as Gatti's. It's a big reason (along with his laziness and appalling conditioning) why he was washed up at 28 and punch drunk as badly as he is today.

He simply didn't move his head and chose to fight and brawl in close rather than use his physical tools. Watch the 3rd Holyfield and both Golota fights (hell even the Tubbs fight too) and you'll see how ridiculously easy he was to hit. Certainly the poorest heavyweight champion defensively that I've seen and that includes young Foreman and Frazier (who was half blind).

 

This is key, Too many dummies in this and every thread who do not understand boxing, The high guard was put in place not as an evolution of technique but because fighters over time did not know how to control the distance. The reason the hands are down is not because these fighters didnt know any better, they hands are actually in a position to punch you if you took a step to close the distance. They had control of the distance, how many modern fighters give away distance AND INITIATIVE , when they slap a high guard up from 6 feet away and allow their opponent to close distance unimpeded and fire shots ,you would never be able to do that in the 1920s and earlier eras, you had to feint your way in and win the battle of the feints to get your turn, and still you better hope they didnt bait you into a check hook (ted kid lewis vs johnny basham) boxers back then knew what to do AFTER they punched too, they would tie up (to prevent the return shot and reset the battle of intiative all over again) or would jab and angle off to the side . Dummies need to start asking How were they able to do what they did and why were they able to do what they did.

 

Exactly. We have to bear in mind the number of rounds those guys had in mind while training, among other factors, when evaluating the skill levels in these old films.

 

Are you telling me that Joe Gans didnt know how to control the distance ? Hell he was successfully throwing the lead right before people knew what a lead right was .... Barney Ross didnt know how to control the distance,??, Have you ever seen him fight ?/watch him fight behind his jab . a true technician, master of controlling distance .. And since Packey McFarland is credited with mentoring Ross for his first 2 years before Packey joined the commission . It would be safe to think , Packey probabaly looked a lot like Ross , as he was described to fight that way ... B Leonard?? ....and btw Holmes through his jab from the hip/mid body and so did hearns

 

All I know is Ma and Pa Nelson didn’t give their baby boy a lot of choice in career path when they named him Battling.

 

this is where you ask me what era I am talking about instead of assume, Gans is same era as wolgast Nelson , Ross knew how, Mcfarland knew how , Leonard knew how ..you see fighters post 1950s who demo they dont know how to control distance(high guard)

 

Wolgast and nelson would take most of today's amatuers apart