Lost Arts and Crafts of Boxing

[The Old LefHook]

I wouldn’t describe them as lost, merely not used anymore; but that’s being a bit pedantic on my part.

The extended guard is a very old tactic that you rarely ever saw beyond the earliest years of gloved boxing back when it had more in common with wrestling. Some of the later famous examples of someone employing this guard was George Foreman and Larry Holmes, but even then it was considered a long forgotten tactic.

I’ve mentioned the cross guard a few times on this site. I’m still curious whether one day a new talented boxer will come along and not only bring it back but really make it work for them. We need diversity of tactics and styles.

I want to say the Gazelle Punch is another one that has fallen out of favor, but I’m pretty sure it was never that commonly used to begin with. There might also be more people using leaping gazelle punches, than I’m assuming; they definitely aren’t KO’s or KD’s with them though. It’s not like I can blame anyone for not bothering with this tactic though. It’s very high risk and tricky to use to its fullest effectiveness, you have to be 100% sure that it will land and that you won’t get countered if you’re ready to use it.

Never heard of it.

[billeau2]

I wouldn’t describe them as lost, merely not used anymore; but that’s being a bit pedantic on my part.

The extended guard is a very old tactic that you rarely ever saw beyond the earliest years of gloved boxing back when it had more in common with wrestling. Some of the later famous examples of someone employing this guard was George Foreman and Larry Holmes, but even then it was considered a long forgotten tactic.

I’ve mentioned the cross guard a few times on this site. I’m still curious whether one day a new talented boxer will come along and not only bring it back but really make it work for them. We need diversity of tactics and styles.

I want to say the Gazelle Punch is another one that has fallen out of favor, but I’m pretty sure it was never that commonly used to begin with. There might also be more people using leaping gazelle punches, than I’m assuming; they definitely aren’t KO’s or KD’s with them though. It’s not like I can blame anyone for not bothering with this tactic though. It’s very high risk and tricky to use to its fullest effectiveness, you have to be 100% sure that it will land and that you won’t get countered if you’re ready to use it.

If you look at the preclassical guard it is similar to fighting arts in Japan. The weight is set back, the hands... you want to put your elbows against your ribs and raise your hands gently fromn them then with elbows still in a natural but close to body position extend them out to about a 140 degree elbow bend (front arm) with the back covering the face and/or chest area. This guard is live... it does not just stay up like a Thai fighter, or a boxer is taught... you know when you are first told "keep your hands up" after getting plugged lol. The older guard works with the feet and can be extended, retracted, used for a quick rear punch where the fist is not turned... think like a piston. This punchgoes to the point of the chin.

The older guard you speak of was a more dynamic fighting technique.