At what point did heavyweight "giants" learn to punch with correct technique?

What you're not grasping is that there are variations and that doesn't make them incorrect.

I ask again -- is George Foreman's jab the same as Muhammad Ali's?

Your basic Foreman "shotgun/poleaxe" jab is thrown moving straight ahead and stepping into the punch (which you earlier cited as the correct technique).

But Ali often throws his from the side and moving laterally or away from the opponent. NOT stepping into the punch. Same with Larry Holmes.

Now Holmes and Riddick Bowe were schooled by Eddie Futch. Surely we can agree that Futch knew how to teach the most basic punch of all. And you will find that both often, quite effectively and with great snap and power, plant the left foot (rather than stepping into it) and push off of the back (right) foot and lean forward when throwing.

You can see those and others here:

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So no, they are not the same. By your reasoning, only one of those can be correct if others use the jab differently. I'm saying they are all effective thus all correct. There's not just ONE way to throw a jab.

 

I trained boxers, amateurs and pros, for about 8-10 years. I've spent more hours in gyms than I can count. I've talked boxing with many noted trainers -- people who trained Olympians and world champions.

You keep backtracking -- first it's "there's only one way to throw each punch" and say the jab involves stepping forward into it ... and I show you that it can be thrown other ways correctly and you then backtrack to the definition ... but if there's only one way to throw it, then we're talking technique, not definition.

I've had world-class trainers show me variations of the jab -- shotgun, up-jab, etc. They are thrown differently. What you do with your arm is different. Weight distribution is different. So there is NOT one correct way to throw each punch, there are numbers of correct ways to throw each one.

Again, if your fallback is "a jab is an extension of the lead hand" and "a straight right is the right hand thrown ... um, straight" -- that's definition, not how to throw it.

If you can throw an uppercut leaning to the right as Tyson did in your gif, using shoulder and torso rotation to generate power ... and you can also throw it straight up the middle with no shoulder rotation and instead bend the knees and just drive them upward (straighting up, pushing off the canvas) -- that is TWO DIFFERENT WAYS to throw an uppercut. No way you can argue differently. So tell me, is one of those ways incorrect?

 

I've spelled out several examples of various punches that can be thrown more than one way. I've showed you deviations (variations) of jab, uppercut and left hook. Tons of different ways to throw the right hand (straight right vs overhand vs cross, for example).

So I completely disagree with your thesis.

I got an idea. Go to a boxing gym, find the head trainer, and tell him there's only one way to throw a jab. Demonstrate that way to him. Challenge him to show you a different way to throw it.

(To repeat an example, Ali can throw it moving laterally, NOT stepping into the punch, from the side; Foreman most often throws it straight (not to his left side, but in front of him) while stepping into the punch. NOW TELL ME that those are the same way of throwing it.

And this is pointless. You've basically conceded my position that there are "deviations" of how to throw punches and backtracked on the "there's only ONE WAY to throw each punch and all other ways are incorrect," so I'll let my posts speak for themselves. Not much to accomplish here.

 

Nearly every fighter throws their shots different to the next man, are you for real?

 

Did Ray Arcel ever talk about having to evolve his training methods with the times?
Did he coach Larry Holmes with revolutionary knowledge he hadn't possessed when he trained B. Baer?

Did Arcel look like someone frantically trying to keep up with the evolution in the sport? Or did he lament about the inability of contemporary fighters to live up to the legends of old?

 

Did guys like Bob Foster,and Jesse Burnett throw the jab the same way as say Holmes ? Nope ,it came up from the waist, Ali often jabbed on the run and from the side,Foreman jabbed through his opponent and said he deliberately discarded that to throw soft jabs at Moorer to set him up for the follow up.There are plenty of variations of the jab and other punches.

 

hang on, you've argued many times that today they have technique today over past ones.

So, why are you being facetious towards Dag?

You've argued it a million times!

 

Is your first sentence missing a word? In any event, I have no idea what that has to do with the discussion in this thread. I asked him to clarify what "correct technique" meant to him. I took no substantive position on technique (or techniques) whatsoever.

 

There is such thing as technique, as I've made clear in my many posts. There are multiple, different techniques.

For the fourth time: Does Muhammad Ali throw the jab the same when moving laterally and throwing it from the side as George Foreman does when stepping forward?

If by "the same" you mean they both extend their left arm to hit the target, your definition of "correct" is so wide as to be meaningless.

I know plenty about boxing. So do others. To suggest that anyone who disagrees with you should be banned and doesn't know anything about the sport is utterly ridiculous.