Tunney was only floored once by alltime puncher Dempsey,and scored 50 stoppages,so maybe his defence and his lack of body torque are somewhat underestimated?
Were talking technical skills. If you walk into a boxing gym and spar with your hands low and chin high.......they are going to laugh you out of the gym. Boxing 101 teaches you high gaurd with chin tucked, thats the basic fundamentals of boxing. Boxing modernized in the 1940s...styles changed, no longer did fighters keep low gaurd and chin high.....no longer did they throw loopy punches, they were taught properly to throw straight punches.. twist proper body torque into punches and throw combinations rather than 1-2 punches at a time. Someone that fights with hands low and chin high i could never regard as one of the most technical fighters ever
Im a big fan of Arguello's he punches like Louis in his precision and correctness ,but we are talking about technicians here ,Loughran was a master boxer who also didnt have a highguard neither did Jim Driscoll another master boxer,throw in Jimmy Slattery who fought with his hands down by his sides .Good ring mechanics are people like Napoles ,Ortiz,Sanchez,Delaney,Buchanan,imo.Billy Conn was a fine boxer.Jimmy Mcalrnin, Barney Ross was one of the best,another name that never gets a mention,Sammy Mandell terrifc boxer.Kid Chocolate.Miguel Canto.
If you asked the same question about current guys, you would say Hopkins is a tech guy and so is Calzage, Floyd is a young Tech, but skilled
good one john T, I agree. How bout your buddy harold johnson? have you seen that johnson vs jones fight yet?
Ive walked into a gym many ,many times.Some fighters of the 20'S and 30,s and earlier who were as technical as any of the 40's and beyond.Loughran Labarba,Sharkey,Mclarnin,Ross,Leonard,Mandell,Welsh,Lynch,Chocolate,Driscoll,Delaney,Tunney,Britton,Conn,JH Lewis,Gans.
Yeah. Fundamentals would be textbook methods. Pep was technical in that he was a thinking fighter with many tricks up his sleeve, he was an innovator, but he wasn't conventional.
Actually Mike Rossman Had a very Textbook Approach to his Boxing, Hands up , Elbows tucked in, Worked behind a stiff left Jab, and when he opened up with a few heavy Shots he then slipped back behind the Jab Again, His display againt Galindez in fight 1 to take the title was Pure TextBook ( Albeit Victor going through the motions at this point in his Career, but it is still good to watch How Mike skillfully Defuses the sudden Bomb that was Victor, Cut a wire here Cut a Wire There remove the timer sort of thing)
Very good post. It's as clear as day on film as well, people just refuse to see it. Though certain fighters were predecessors in the 30's, such as Barney Ross. Someone like Willie Pep is not a good mention for this thread though, for reasona already pointed out. Lopez is the best choice, and I think it's pretty clear.
