Favourite Technique Wells?

McCallum: Roll under a right and return with his own right hook/uppercut to the body. Countering body punches with body punches.

Kronk gym: Chopping right hand, jab/long left hook mix up and left hook to the body.

Foreman: Big right hook to the body/big right uppercut to the head mix up. Gotta make sure the guy is wary of your power shots first.

Holmes: Jab Feints, long guard/controls, pivoting right hook while cross stepping to the right.

 

HG.

 

Ali: Most people highlight Ali’s reflexive slipping, but Round 5 against Liston in the first fight is the ultimate display of his tactile defence under fire.

Visually impaired, allegedly by the liniment on Liston’s shoulder or gloves, Ali couldn't rely on visual range-finding or his typical head movement. He had to fight predominantly by feel.

What Ali pulled off in that round is from the same instinctive inside principles as Duran or classic catch-as-catch-can mechanics. When you lose sight, touch becomes your primary radar. By making and maintaining physical contact, you instantly read your opponent's balance, weight shifts, and can guage their intention to strike before they launch. Hours and hours of practice in the gym, control of space and muscle memory hones the instincts as to what punch will be thrown next.

A few specific mechanics Ali used to survive and control Liston:

Forehead Framing & Center-Line Control: Ali posted his left hand straight onto Liston’s forehead as a physical distance marker. Pushing/making contact with the forehead manipulates the opponent's spinal alignment and Ali used this to affect Liston's center line, affecting the leverage of his hooks, and forcing him to reset his feet.

Underhooks & Biceps Control: In close, Ali used underhooks to control Liston's upper-body frame, or draped heavy overhooks over Liston’s biceps. Controlling the biceps gives immediate sensory feedback: the second a muscle flexes or shifts to load a shot, you feel it through your grip, pivot your opponent and neutralise the leverage before it develops.

Elbow & Forearm Shields: With his guard pulled high, Ali caught Liston’s hooks directly on his elbows and forearms, absorbing power into his frame, using the ropes to dissipate force somewhat rather than retreating blindly into space. When the elbows didn't block shots, he was pulling down on Liston's head affecting the leverage that he could really get onto the body shots.

It’s a masterclass in reading opponent intent through physical contact rather than visual cue. Ali survived what should be an impossible round by shutting down a terrifying puncher entirely through touch, leverage, and posture control.

Evan Fields: Most people remember Holyfield for his heart, chin, or engine, but his subtle, tactile inside game was elite, in addition to him being highly skilled on multiple levels at all ranges. There are aspects of his medium to inside range fighting that are rooted in the same trap and pin mechanics used by the likes of Duran, Louis, and Moore.

A clear example of this is the fifth-round finish against Tillis in Holyfield’s heavyweight debut. With Tillis pinned against the ropes, Holyfield didn't just throw over-zealous combinations at a closed guard; he systematically stripped Tillis’s defense using hand traps to create openings for power shots with little, almost goose neck-like, traps of the forearm to open up room for his shots.

A breakdown of how Holyfield manipulated Tillis’s guard in that final sequence:
Right-Hand Pin to Left Hookercut: Holyfield posted his right glove directly over Tillis’s left wrist/forearm, pinning his lead defense low and pulling his guard off its center line. With Tillis's left hand temporarily neutralised, Holyfield fired a short, tight left almost hookercut shot that landed clean.
Left-Hand Trapping to Right Hook: Switching sides, Holyfield used his left hand to sweep or pin Tillis’s right glove downward, allowing Holyfield to drive a right hook to the body, followed by a left hook straight past the split defense into the temple. A little bit of manipulation and a split guard finalised by a snapping uppercut down the middle.
Controlling the Guard to Force Openings: Just like Louis’s subtle wrist-slaps or Moore’s cross-guard manipulation, Holyfield wasn't waiting for Tillis to open up voluntarily. By physically touching, trapping, and steering the lead hands, he manufactured the openings himself, leaving Tillis dazed and unable to come out for Round 6.

It’s classic old-school hand fighting - taking away an opponent's defense by controlling their limbs at close range before they can react.

 

Orson. Though, technically, it's a Welles.

 

I assumed George made a typo, no disrespect to him.

 

Harry Greb? Yeah, if only we had a Time Machine to go back and actually see that man fight.

 

Orson “Butterbean” Welles. Good fighter that one. Well rounded.

 

Wonderful choices. Glad you got my guys Sandy and Archie on the list.

I like to watch how both Larry Holmes and Sweet Pea Whitaker put their hands on people. Larry will lay that left forearm on a guy’s neck to frame him and target the right hand. Pea did all kinds of things — I know I saw him once when a guy (I forget who) was about to throw a right lead and he just reached out with his left and barely touched the guy’s right shoulder and inched it back a nudge … Pernell didn’t move and the right came within a whisker but fell short of his chin, haha. Masterclass.

I need to watch more of him, but I discovered the joy of Sammy Angott some years ago and his spoiling tactics are sublime. How he makes a miserable night for opponents, and all of it teachable.

 

Too bad Orson Welles wasn’t around to film his fights.

Citizen Greb would have been a blockbuster.

 

Or, instead of the character Harry Lime, Harry Greb plays himself as The Third Man in the movie of the same title.

As to filming Greb’s fights, I wonder if Harry would get annoyed with Orson constantly yelling “cut” to tell Greb that he needed more windmill.

“Explore the studio place Harry, explore the space!”