The Theory of the Sweet Science
The Theory of the Sweet Science
Standing at 6’1 ½ Joseph Louis Barrow was the most dominant heavyweight perhaps in the history of the sport and that dominance spanned over two decades from the 1930’s to the ‘50s. He was knocked down 7 times in his first amateur bout but ended up with a 63-3-0 professional record. He was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame 9 years after his death from a massive heart attack in 1981.
This is a very basic 64 page book penned by the all time great way back in the 1940’s. It’s nowhere near as comprehensive as The Complete book of Boxing for Fighters and fight Fans by Boxing Hall of Famer and former World champion Curtis Cokes but it might be worth your time nonetheless.
There are some good tips on what height to set the heavy bag and its main uses and benefits
"After learning to hit the bag while it is stationary, try giving it a slight push to start it slowly swinging. Then when it has started to swing away, hook sharply with the left or right in the direction of the swing of the bag. This is a good practice as it accustoms you to hitting the side of an opponent who turns from a blow. "
He recommends skipping stating that it is
"Helpful in developing better foot movements and limbering up the muscles of the biceps, wrists and shoulders."
He also talks about where the power from the jab comes from which in this case he’s talking from the perspective of right handed boxer, and says that it comes from a ‘slight turning of the left shoulder to the right’. The method I was taught and the one I teach in the jab article I talk about the power coming from leaning into the punch. Jack Dempsey’s book talks about making use of the falling step.
I’ve seen it taught and used both ways effectively. I haven’t seen a jab delivered with a turning of the shoulders only, there has to be some amount of body weight invested. Whether you use the falling step or you lean into the punch really doesn’t matter, the main thing is that is has to be effective and it has to work for you, if one style of boxing isn’t comfortable or isn’t working for you, choose another.
The same reasoning goes for where to hold your hands. Some teach to hold high, some prefer to keep the left hand low and block with the shoulder, perhaps in a similar vein to the technique of Lenox Lewis and Floyd Mayweather.
I was instructed to hold the hands high in a 'peek-a-boo' style along the lines of that taught by Cus D'amato. But at any rate always use the style that is first effective and then the one that suits you or whatever comes first! Louis says:
"If your opponent should lead with a blow to the chin, use your shoulder to block it, by dropping your arm and turning your body enough so that your shoulder will receive the blow."
He goes on briefly talk about the jab-hook combo or hooking off the jab particularly against the opponent who is slow to catch your jabs. And also using the jab to block the opponent’s vision then following in with a right hand.
There’s brief mention and simple illustrations of blocking, parrying citing in this instance that precision is more important than force, slipping, clinching, weaving, sidestepping (which to me seems to be a similar, although a somewhat more subtle version of a technique to sidestep a blade taught in ‘Surviving a Street Knife Attack’ by Mac Young) feinting, drawing an opponent in and of course infighting
"From the proper stance, draw a left lead from your opponent, then slipping inside and placing your head on his chest, push forward throwing him off balance"
He finished the book up with some general advice for stepping into the ring and boxing different sized opponents and at the back is a chronology of pre 1950 holders of the different weight class world titles. Throughout you’ll see pictures of a handful of his bouts that are meant to be didactic aids, however in this age of you-tube and having access to a plethora of instructional material in all its different formats the age of this book will become apparent. However, the basic contents of this book are good sound and timeless. You can get a copy at either Paladin Press or Amazon.com
