Once again I am unimpressed with LaBarba, and I don't want to be. I cannot wrap my head around him. Both his career results and all the write ups of him are definitely top class - he was the definition of amateur prodigy equalling and toppling world level fighters (guys on film and who actually look aesthetic) from the debut. Yet whenever I have seen him on film I have been underwhelmed, not that he is completely unimpressive here (his centre footwork is good as his feinting ability). Other footage of him was overweight and shot against an (near) ATG, but those reasons don't apply here. I understand the theory and application of his classic style thoroughly, yet other guys with similar grounding like McFarland and Driscoll very much impress me whereas he doesn't as much. He just seems like a type who was somehow very effective and probably had to have been seen live.
I've not looked into the Olympic bouts specifically, but the ref would be out of the ring in a lot of the old British bouts, as long as controll was maintained. I would presume it was something similar. The refs wouldn't be in the ring for the old bareknuckle bouts either for that matter.
I disagree. Smith from South Africa was very good. He obviously was well-schooled and had a natural aptitude for boxing.
I think LaBarba and Smith are definitely the standouts of those shown. I think he looks decent, but from the sounds of it, I don't think my expectations were as high. He looks a bit raw, but he was still young, he showed some nice hooks and uppercuts. The Olympics of 1924 had come on leaps and bounds since the utter farce 20 years previous, but they weren't nearly as big as they became. I think it's telling just how few of the Olympians even became decent contenders. As the group I think the early olympians were probably less successfull in the professional ranks than the Olympic club fighters of California considering that that included James J Corbett, Joe Choynski and Jimmy Britt, though I've not done a full comparison so my impression could be wrong.
