Old timers' technique/style descriptions

1904-08-13 The Globe and Commercial Advertiser (New York, NY) (page 5)
Now that Frankie Neil and "Tommy" Murphy are matched Harlem sports will begin to save their coin. Not a man of them but what thinks Tommy is the peer of any bantam in the world, and when he and Neil come together in Philadelphia on the 24th of this month, the Quaker City will be flooded with Harlem money.

...

Murphy and Neil fight after the same style. Neil is a rusher and uses, almost entirely, a left-hand punch, which he drives to the stomach with tremendous power. Occasionally he whips the left to the jaw, but this is only done to make his opponent raise his guard. He seldom uses the right hand, and when he does he inflicts very little damage with it.

Murphy, on the other hand, is a natural two-handed fighter, hitting as hard with either hand. His crouch is also natural. By assumising the stooping position he does not lose any of the force of his punches. He can take a good punching, if it comes to him, but no lad yet has been able to land on him effectively.

Murphy says he will carry the fight to Neil, and will win by a knockout. That shows confidence, and confidence is always half the battle.

 

1899-02-15 New York Evening Journal (New York, NY) (page 8)
STUDY OF FITZ, BY RIGHT CROSS.
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First of all, Robert Fitzsimmons is the most scientific hitter of them all. Second, he is the hardest hitter. Perhaps the second attribute is a result of the first. However that may be, every punch Fitz starts has his weight behind it and goes for a vital spot. He never slaps or hits with the side or palm of his hand. His knuckles land fair. He is a jolter always. Every man he has beaten has gone to sleep or to the floor under a jolt that travelled less than a foot. Again and again he has won in a bewildering bit of infighting. His opponent was trying to knock his head off with swings. Fitz was waiting for a little clear opening at the jaw. It came, and the little short-arm jolt went home. It was over. The public asked how it was done, and no one knew until Fitz told.

He is cunning. His eyes are clear. The faster the swings come the more closely he watches for a chance at the jaw. He knows that the minute a man begins to use both hands hard there is sure to be some opening worth while. The faster his opponent goes the cooler Fitz becomes. He has his mind and eye set on a certain spot, and his one aim is to induce his man to uncover it. He will take punishment without a whimper or a sign of weakening. If his man is a mixer he humors him into a close bit of work and drops him suddenly. If he is against a clever, elusive fellow, he throws aside his caution and goes hunting him. He is the champion to a certainty, is this Fitz.
RIGHT CROSS.

 

1899-02-20 New York Evening Journal (New York, NY) (page 8)
It is altogether likely that Jeffries is the first ambidextrous fighter who has ever come into prominence. There is with him no difference between right and left in punching the bag, fighting, throwing, working, writing or eating. Both hands look alike to Jeffries. This is perhaps responsible for his wonderful improvement from his first fight to the present time. Always good on foot, he has perhaps grown to be the shiftiest man of his weight that ever fought. In spite of his showing with Armstrong, whom he fought with a broken hand, and had him on the run for ten rounds, Jeffries can fight much better. Every minute he puts in at the bag and every round he boxes improves him. Today he has two equally good hands, either one of which can drop any man alive once it lands fair. He likes to exchange compliments at close quarters, and the fellow who tries fighting at long range will find that Jeff knows things about getting past the jab and in, which are exceedingly bothersome.

Another thing in his favor is that he can stand punching. Punishment simply makes him fight harder, and the hardest raps on the jaw fail to daze him. Joe Choynski hit him fair with his right hand on the spot, but Jeff's eyes never saw a star or blinked. Ruhlin got to him fair with two right swings, yet it never feazed him. Fitz has a job on his hands, rest assured, and before it is over he will long for Sharkey.
RIGHT CROSS.

 

1899-02-27 New York Evening Journal (New York, NY) (page 8)
Fitzsimmons is a fighting machine. As they build torpedo boats for speed only, without giving thought to beauty or comfort, so this man is built to fight. Where muscles are necessary he has them in bulging abundance; where they would detract from his speed or ability to punch they are dispensed with. His shoulders are perfect; his arms are built for fighting all the way to the finger tips. Across his back and under his arms the muscles lie like tangled serpents. His neck is short and strong, while his small, peculiar head seems to have been built to be knocked about.

He tapers from arm pits to waist like a Parisian model. Again all superfluous flesh is dispensed with, while the muscles lie across and protect his body like a cable wrapped with wire. His upper works are absolutely flawless, and his eyes the clearest and most discerning.

Fitz's legs look weak, and are the one feature of the machine in which it appears a mistake may have been made, but they can carry the champion a hundred yards in very close to eleven seconds, and go to make him one of the best wrestlers at the weight living--and there can be no mistake in that sort of legs.

In action he is tricky to the last degree. The same peculiar, ungraceful gait which marks his walk remains with him in the ring. It seems to be an effort for the man to move about. He works in, half crouching, with a noiseless shuffle which is fascinating in its awkwardness. His feinting suggests nothing dangerous, and his habit of holding his hand with the knuckles down and palm up makes him appear slow. There is nothing fancy, brilliant or bewildering about his feinting or long-range fighting. His feints are short, half of them being bluff leads to confuse his opponent as to his reach. He gets away from left leads or blocks and counters until he has the lead studied. Then he draws it and crosses with a savageness and lightning-like movement of the right hand that startles one.

If the effort is successful he is after his man like a fiend, stabbing his left straight at the head and jolting his right into the body, then over at the jaw. If the cross fails to land he goes on patiently with the left, prodding at the stomach until the head is open to a jab. If he can concentrate his opponent's attention on his left, the right whips over at the jaw like a flash.

Every blow landed by Fitzsimmons hurts. Striking with the knuckles down mecessitates that the wrist be rigid. The arm is directly behind the punch, and the body and its weight back of the arm. Every punch comes with the leverage of every muscle to the toes applied. Fitz is a purely scientific puncher, and for that reason has perfect hands still. He has one blow which is peculiarly his own. It only travels a few inches, and is made entirely with the forearm. It is peculiarly effective as two men close, as one Peter Maher will testify.

The champion's every effort is toward helping his opponent to beat himself out. He lays all sorts of traps to get his man in motion, so that he may catch him coming with a jolt. His mind is continually at work towar this end, and he gets many a jab while manoeuvering; but once his man falls into the trap the end is near. Men have rained blows all over Fitz and it looked that he must be dazed or at least confused. But it was only his way of finding a short route to the money and the championship. The machine was built to stand a bit of punishment until the range was reached. Then the torpedo was unslung and all was over.
RIGHT CROSS.

 

1899-03-20 New York Evening Journal (New York, NY) (page 8)
A STUDY OF FIGHTER M'GOVERN.
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In action he is the most persistent, savage and vicious rusher of his class. He is always crowding in regardless of punishment that he may reach a distance from which he can use his favorite blow, a right hand jolt at the body. Peter Jackson was the first to win his fights by hurting a man's body. Since then others have appeared who gave the big mark their first attention. Lavigne became a champion by punching men in the body.

McGovern pays more attention to the body than any of them. His eyes never look elsewhere than at a spot midway between his opponent's left armpit and belt. That spot he knows covers the heart, and blow after blow plugged in thereabouts, he is certain will finally hurt his man, weaken him and rob him of both strength and speed. But he knows other things besides jolting the body. Enough to keep his man wondering from what direction the next vicious jolt or hook is to come. McGovern's left hand is capable of making every blow known to fighting. He never taps or slaps. Whether it be a hook at the jaw, a straight stab at the body or a swing, McGovern sends it along.

He is the very best man in a mix-up the his blows being straight arm jolts which have the leverage of every muscle to the heel behind them. His hooking with the left is peculiarly savage, resembling that of Dal Hawkins more than any other fighter. He puts men out with a left hook, and that tells the story. He walks into left hand punches, drops his head and counters with the right at the body. Again he will let go a left hook by way of a counter, then getting close, jolt the right like a steam hammer on the body. An effort at the jaw with the right he blocks and first sends his right to the body, then as he closes, shoots it up inside to the chin.

He is the very best man in a mixup the class has seen for some time, and stands punishment without being distressed in a way which is next to phenomenal. He is as game as man ever grew, and as fair as justice itself. He wants no odds, nor will he take advantage of an accident, for which he is not responsible. He never boasts, struts or makes threats.

He is twenty years old, married, and lives a decent life. He has accepted boxing as a profession, and expects to make his fortune at it. He is in every way a credit to the game, and has done more to bring his class into popularity than any man since Dixon's day.

And to give a bit of credit where it is due, Sam Harris, his manager, is to be congratulated on the development of this boy. He has never outmatched him, has played absolutely fair, taught him much, and brought him to the front in a hurry.
RIGHT CROSS.

 

1899-04-14 New York Evening Journal (New York, NY) (page 10)
GANS AND M'FADDEN TO MEET TO-NIGHT.
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If he is that good and it is claimed he is even better, he is about as near perfection as any man in the class. It is true he lacks the aggressiveness of Lavigne, or Erne even; still he is a marvellously clever man and a hitter for true. The one criticism is that he will not make pace, and the wise men insist that to be a champion he must "go and get his man." It is certain that Gans "goes and gets them" like no other boxer. In fact, it does not appear that he is much on the go; still he wins and keeps winning and usually without receiving a mark. Winning is what makes a great boxer, and until some one appears who will beat him, he must be considered a championship possibility.

This soft-eyed, quiet negro has a system of his very own. Instead of rushing into a man, he sneaks slowly into the distance with few feints. Once there, one of two things happens, either he will lead or his opponent must. The latter is what generally happens, and Gans knows more about countering than any of them. If the left comes straight, he either blocks it off and counters straight or slips and crosses with the right. If the lead is a chop he gets under it with an inside cross that usually jars his man to his heels. Lunges he breaks ground to, and then, stepping back, rips something in. He takes care of the rough rushes like a past master. If his opponent comes with a left and then a right swing, Gans blocks one high and sinks down, letting the right pass over head.

He has learned that it is harmful to be hit with heavy swings on any part of the head or neck, so he just swings under them. He has perfect legs and feet; he is strong, tireless and cold as charity. He seldom wastes a punch and never lets go for general results. He is, in short, the most scientific and advanced fighter in the lightweight class. He has one fault, his desire to wait for the lead. Did he possess the aggressiveness of the present champion he would be the greatest fighter of the age.

The man he is to meet, McFadden, is exactly the sort of man who has a chance of beating him. McFadden is a fighter, fairly clever, a marvellous blocker and a man who never stops. It is this sort of a man, if any, who will beat Gans, but whether McFadden can even draw with him is a question. McFadden, though fairly clever with both hands, has not the knowledge of fighting Gans has. Gans knows it all, McFadden quite a bit. He will learn of Gans.

It is true McFadden has been fighting men who gave no true line on his ability. He has dropped a few, but not the sort who add much to the reputation of a man claiming championship calibre. Still, he may be a good thing under cover, but he must be the best ever sprung to win tonight. In fact, it looks that he is outclassed. Still it will be a slashing fight. McFadden has not yet been beaten and the first one a man takes is always a good one.
RIGHT CROSS.


P.S. The result of the bout was McFadden W-KO23 Gans