Tuesday night’s second lesson was my regular “Learn from the Fight” class. We returned to the career of Joe Louis for tonight and his first three fights/title defences after he finished his service in World War 2. The last time we saw Louis was in a rematch that retired Buddy Bear in one round. He dedicated his entire purse to the war effort before fighting Abe Simon two months later in another rematch that also saw Louis claim a knockout […]
27.07.21 I began my second lesson of the evening – my fight history teaching – with a step back to 1940. This was the last footage I have been able to currently find of a full Henry Armstrong fight. Henry Armstrong vs Ceferino Garcia 01.03.1940 Ring Magazine declared this to be their Fight of the Year. This fight was billed as the World Middleweight Championship but was only recognised by the California State Athletic Commission. When last we left Ceferino […]
20.07.21 Tuesday night’s first lesson was a pre-class rehearsal for Forest School of Karate. Continuing our experimental lesson last month, they will be streaming me into their lesson and we will be using footage from past masters of certain classic boxing punches. By having this private lesson with their head teacher and his son, they will have extra assistance on the day. Tonight we looked at rear hand variations on punches that go straight to a target. After a warm […]
13.07.21 We picked up with Joe Louis’s boxing journey when he faced Jacob Henry “Buddy” Baer, younger brother (by six years) of Louis’s former opponent and the former world heavyweight champion Max Baer. Joe Louis versus Buddy Baer 1941 Although a 10-1 underdog, Buddy Baer was a legitimate contender for the world title. Like his brother, he was a pure slugger in style and had an impressive 85% KO record. Some records have him fighting 58 times, others 62. All […]
15.06.21 Tonight’s fight history lesson looked at the emerging career of Joe Louis in relation to the five world heavyweight champions that preceded him. Joe Louis had disproportionately large fists, like Dempsey he had wide shoulders and a narrow chest. He had an all over athletic physique with particularly muscled limbs. Many, including his own trainers, considered him to be a manufactured fighter. He stood in shoulder width stance with lead toe in line with rear heel for stability and […]
08.06.21 Tuesday night continued fight history and analysis in my teacher consultancy/training service. As far as the 1930s heavyweight division goes, there appears to be two distinct stages. The first stage was a battle between five world champions and several rising stars. This could be charted from 1930 when the vacant title was first contested to 1937 when a sixth king claimed the title and held onto it and actively defended it for the longest period of time in the […]
