nowadays pretty much every fighter uses the high guard shelling up defense, from P4P guys to low level amateurs. but the further back we go into boxing history we see the high guard used less and less. It gets to the point that even the crossguard (used by the likes of Max Schmeling, Paulino Uzcudun and Archie Moore), which is damn near extinct today is used more than the high guard. My question is for any classic members, who is the first fighter to utilise the high guard that we can find in history? And are there any ideas about why the defense became so popular?
" And are there any ideas about why the defense became so popular?" I don't think it was viable defensive technique with older types of gloves, where it was much harder to cover up fully. There is a video on YT named "Boxing gloves through the ages" from fella named Tommy Moore which shows those changes pretty well. As for who was the first fighter - Livingstone Bramble and Marlon Starling come to mind - but I'd also like to know if there were some earlier examples, I'm not a true historian so I'm sure I'm missing somebody.
https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/612173 The Shimek's Bohemian Hall fight. Earliest you can find anyone mentioning it.
