As Joe Louis was one of the best textbook boxers ever, why are there no boxers now using his method?

I've worked with a few trainers in different cities over the past 15 years or so, and they've all taught the same.

 

Sometimes the opening left for a telephone comedian by someone who just doesn't get it must not be driven through for fear of dulling your game.

 

Great frickin post. And right on idea.

 

Well I only got taught by one old fella, but he had the basics down pat ,imo.I just wasn't good enough!lol

 

Is this a thing with other sports as well? The notion that some very valuable practices are just forgotten for some reason, even when there's plenty of film of them?

Louis had beautiful mechanics and great balance in his punching, but he's not the most complete HW technician for me. Holy, who could do everything, looks good for that honour, as does Holmes. Actually the 10-15 years post Ali saw quite a few pretty astute technicians in the HW ranks. From the mid 90's onwards the emphasis has been more on size. Lewis, the Klits etc were athletic for their size, but technicians they were not.

AJ has his flaws, but I like him partly because he's so fundamentally sound for such a big guy. Fury is also skilled for being so huge, but his punching mechanics aren't too pretty. Wilder has that god given explosiveness and leverage, but is quite horrible from a technical standpoint. Parker, Ortiz and Ruiz all have good fundamentals, I'd say. Ruiz looks to be the Mathis or Tubbs of this era. Very talented but naturally overweight and on top of that not very disciplined. Actually, contrary to them he has a strong chin and a good punch, but it won't be enough without proper dedication.

 

Interesting point of view but who teaches a fighter to square up ?

 

Yeah, but the trick is to bring forward the right in a very small motion when you parry/block the jab, so as not to expose the chin to a left hook.

 

We've had many threads on it. Basically, I'd say with a lot of old timers, that they have brilliant techniques that simply don't suit the current rule system / implementation.

I would also say Lineage is important, but not as important as some make out. Especially when you've got guys today like Anatoly Lomachenko who actually reverse engineer old techniques and styles and trainers.

Mind you, there are also unimpressive fighters technically, like Jim Corbett IMO.

 

I'd like to see you and PATM continue your discussion, particularly concerning the major elements which define FMJ's style. I have a sense of the Gans/Blackburn/ Louis and the D'Amato/Patterson/Tyson styles, but not so much what distinguishes Mayweather's approach.

 

Yeah, that was what I wrote in the last paragraph of the post your quoted, so...

But I don't think it's that effective to be honest, and that's why I think it disappeared. Some, like Toney, has used an head-off-centre stance in recent years, but in those cases the use of the shoulder is more pronounced and even then it's far from for everyone. Norton is one of the last top HWs I can think of that had his head off centre in the 30's/40's style, but inspired chiefly by how Moore used it (Kenny also frequently used the crossed arms defence).

 

To me it looks like the somewhat crouching head-off-centre stance that was used by many HWs in the 30's, 40's and early 50's faded away quite quickly. Apart from Moore, I can't come to think of any top HW from the late 50's onwards that really used it until Norton come along. For example Pastrano and Johnson, who were perhaps the chief technicians among the bigger boys in the late 50's early 60's, had the head on centre.