I have known a few. I imagine we all have. These guys were untrained, they often won their fights on strength and grit.
My daddy was best friends with such a street fighter. He never looked for fights but always seemed to end up in one. He had a sense of humor which did not spare halfwits. No reason to; he was not afraid of them. Why hold his tongue?
He was literally pure muscle. One look would tell you he was probably the naturally strongest guy of his size you ever saw. Except he always wore long sleeved shirts. His size was about 5' 11" and 210-215 lbs. His arms were unnaturally long as well.
To give you some idea of his grip strength, Bob could pulp a young, hard potato in his hand. He had a muscle in both wrists that popped up under his skin the size of a well defined marble.
Now of course there are trained fighters who would have beaten him badly, especially the way he fought. However, he even surprised a few of those and whipped them.
Pride gave his style a fatal flaw that he never had to pay the ultimate penalty for, as far as I know. He would always let the opponent land the first blow. As he explained to my father: "I would feel awful bad, Harv, if I hit them first and they still won." So he always gave the other man first choice of the meat, as he called it. He never wanted to fight anyway, he was always out for a good time. But he seemed able to take any punch they could throw at him. Then he whipped their butts. He landed thudding body blows that literally broke ribs and made grown men cry and beg. If they were still standing, his coup de grace was the throat grab. Once he got holt of their throats, the fight was completely over in one second. The throat grab was his specialty. He would take anything to get it on you.
On top of his weird value of letting the other man strike first, he had another affected stylistic element. His boxing stance was that out of which fighters from Corbett's era posed for pictures, and of course was never meant to be fought out of.
He never lost a fair fight. Like I say, though, that only means he never came up against the right man. But as a pure street fighter he must have been the toughest guy you ever heard of. He could take any punch, it seemed, like a Marciano.
The fact that he was completely untrained and completely raw, is the reason I use him as an example. No one can say Bob knew anything technical about fighting. Other guys may have been half assed trained somewhere along the line. They picked up some fighting ideas and techniques--a jab or something...how to hold your guard. Not Bob. He was pure primitive. Of course he did beat some boys who were boxers in he ring and figured they were pretty tough.
Lads, do you have anyone completely untrained who can stand in there with Bob Johnson, who never even lifted a weight in his life and would have laughed at the notion. The weight he lifted was lumber he loaded into boxcars by hand for a living.
RIP, Bob. I never even heard of a tougher man. Joined the merchant marines at 16 during WW11. Then later signed up for the army, where one day you were crushed between two tanks in Germany when an emergency brake slipped. All those guys you beat had no idea you were not even half the man you once were by the time they encountered you.
Bob fought an experienced amateur boxer the same week he got out of a full body cast for six months. They fought for over an hour at a dance before an old man who was an ex sheriff finally made them stop.
Who you got?
My daddy was best friends with such a street fighter. He never looked for fights but always seemed to end up in one. He had a sense of humor which did not spare halfwits. No reason to; he was not afraid of them. Why hold his tongue?
He was literally pure muscle. One look would tell you he was probably the naturally strongest guy of his size you ever saw. Except he always wore long sleeved shirts. His size was about 5' 11" and 210-215 lbs. His arms were unnaturally long as well.
To give you some idea of his grip strength, Bob could pulp a young, hard potato in his hand. He had a muscle in both wrists that popped up under his skin the size of a well defined marble.
Now of course there are trained fighters who would have beaten him badly, especially the way he fought. However, he even surprised a few of those and whipped them.
Pride gave his style a fatal flaw that he never had to pay the ultimate penalty for, as far as I know. He would always let the opponent land the first blow. As he explained to my father: "I would feel awful bad, Harv, if I hit them first and they still won." So he always gave the other man first choice of the meat, as he called it. He never wanted to fight anyway, he was always out for a good time. But he seemed able to take any punch they could throw at him. Then he whipped their butts. He landed thudding body blows that literally broke ribs and made grown men cry and beg. If they were still standing, his coup de grace was the throat grab. Once he got holt of their throats, the fight was completely over in one second. The throat grab was his specialty. He would take anything to get it on you.
On top of his weird value of letting the other man strike first, he had another affected stylistic element. His boxing stance was that out of which fighters from Corbett's era posed for pictures, and of course was never meant to be fought out of.
He never lost a fair fight. Like I say, though, that only means he never came up against the right man. But as a pure street fighter he must have been the toughest guy you ever heard of. He could take any punch, it seemed, like a Marciano.
The fact that he was completely untrained and completely raw, is the reason I use him as an example. No one can say Bob knew anything technical about fighting. Other guys may have been half assed trained somewhere along the line. They picked up some fighting ideas and techniques--a jab or something...how to hold your guard. Not Bob. He was pure primitive. Of course he did beat some boys who were boxers in he ring and figured they were pretty tough.
Lads, do you have anyone completely untrained who can stand in there with Bob Johnson, who never even lifted a weight in his life and would have laughed at the notion. The weight he lifted was lumber he loaded into boxcars by hand for a living.
RIP, Bob. I never even heard of a tougher man. Joined the merchant marines at 16 during WW11. Then later signed up for the army, where one day you were crushed between two tanks in Germany when an emergency brake slipped. All those guys you beat had no idea you were not even half the man you once were by the time they encountered you.
Bob fought an experienced amateur boxer the same week he got out of a full body cast for six months. They fought for over an hour at a dance before an old man who was an ex sheriff finally made them stop.
Who you got?
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