Around the turn of the 19th - 20th century there was a defensive technique you can see in the few bits of footage we have from that time. A boxer would catch the crook of his opponents arm as his opponent threw a punch. To do this his hands would often not be covering his face, but rather partially outstretched in preparation to catch punches in just such a way. Now, I can understand why this technique might have died A) it leaves your chin exposed if you don’t catch the punch B) Modern gloves have a stationary thumb where as older gloves let the thumb be more mobile. That said, many boxers were fantastic at it (eg. Corbett, Johnson, etc), And were able to avoid a lot of damage in this way. The last boxer I’ve seen that seemed to use this strategy particularly effectively was George Forman (in the first half of his career). Is this art dead? No longer effective? Modified? Being used by someone today that I just didn’t notice?
