THE SLEEP-PRODUCING PUNCH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17246, 12 January 1924, Page 12

THE SLEEP-PRODUCING PUNCH.

: SHORT BLOW DELIVERED WITH TREMENDOUS SPEED.

£/Fhere ai*e three different kinds of used in boxing, and the ability ten vise one of these better than anyone ever did make* Jack Dempsey tho greatest heavyweight champion since gloves have been used in ring contests and Queensberry succeeded the oid London Prise Ring style of fightijfrg (writes Robert Edgren, the well|in<»wn American boxing critic). First- of these was the jabbing, wearW d«wn style once used, by Jim Corbett and others who followed the old English hit and get away idea. This ttaa good enough for a fast mav to t»f© when finish fights were the fa-hion #tid a boxer could take all day to vs in. Oorbett onoe fought over sixty Vgranda with Peter Jnckson, dancing And jabbing, and the referee finally itopped the bout when half the crowd WI gone home and the other half *er© asleep. ;' s He used the same style to beat John If, Sullivan, who was worn down by jda own rushes and Corbett’s constant #»e of light, fast punches, if The same style was useless against fogged Tom Sharkey, who rushed in fefadlqng and paid no attention to boxbog, luhd it didn't much more than anJU>y Jim Jeffries. ‘•fT’he next style of hitting is tho loavy, crushing punch that is driven clear through and delivered with a tremendous muscular effort, a “ push immeih." that knocks a man back. l**Jt was a good enough punch for JefIRgg, who was stronger than anv other ■jmn I J ve ever seen in a ring. It was a Mod punch for John L. Sullivan, who s|jh in, to swing his right like a club, Willard, Jack Johnson and many other powerful heavy-weights often used it. frrz HAD THIS BLOW DOWN PAT. if The third kind of a punch is the •{lock punch, as used by Dempsey, Bob Peter Maher, Carpentier, Stanley Ketchel, Mike Gibbons, and a fort others, who had the knack of deffrering a 6udden one-punch knockout. There’s a great difference between a •Lock punch and a push punch, v The shock punch is driven with tremendous speed, and tho whole muactil*r effort is delivered only at the intrant of impact. It is not driven Iferimgh like a push punch. • r A man hit on the chin or body with • shock punch falls forward. man hit with a push punch, no (jitter how hard, falls backward. JBob Fitzsimmons spent years practising the delivery of short blows with sjiook effect. **jHe often delivered knockouts with Mows that seemed to travel only a few niches. Fits used to say that he could ffeaoclc his man out with a six-inch SDqropsey 19 the first heavy-weight Since Fitzsimmons who has this trick S’ shock punching. have seen Dempsey in many fights. iJie only man I ever saw fall backward after being hit by Dempsey was (Pjred Fulton. This was because Dempgjjy knocked Fulton out in the usual Wfy He practically knocked Fulton out I Kljth a left hook to the body and. as | (fculton fell forward, straightened him I

with a left hook on tho chin. Fulton was then out, and falling downward again when Dempsey shot over a right to the jaw for good measure, and this last blow upset Fulton and sent him over on his back. Dempsey hit Carl Morris one blow in New Orleans, and Morris fell forward on his face. When they rolled him over they found that Oarl’n tongue was coated with resin from tho floor. He fell with his mouth open. Dempsey knocked Firpo down nine times in the two rounds fought at the Polo Grounds September 14 Every time Firpo fell forward. usually lauding on his hands and knees, but sometimes going bat at ull length. He fell forward in the knockout. Every Dempsey blow that dropped Firpo was so short that even from the Press seats at the ringside it was hard t-o see how Jack was putting tho giant down. Every punch was a short hook, driven only a few inches. Bob Fitzsimmons never knocked his man down with shorter blows. The shock punch, short and snappy, isn’t as spectacular as a full-arm swing or a long driven straight, right, but it is the greatest working punch in pugilism. The body is not driven far behind the punch, and doesn’t sway forward after the delivery NO BAD AFTER EFFECTS. Dempsey says that the shock of his punch comes largely from the strength of his forearm I put the tape on Jack's right forearm a few weeks ago. It measured 13$ inches, or just an inch bigger than Firpo's. Dempsey says that Firpo’s punches, although they dazed him. were more heavy, crushing punches than shock punches. When dazed, he felt Firpo’s punches “pushing him back," but ho felt a push, not a shock. The punches didn’t hurt. “Firpo will never beat me while I have more power in mv forearms, arms and shoulders," Dempsev told me. ‘T felt that I was stronger, and T knew that my blows were harder than Firpo’s. If he had been hitting me the same wav I hit him the result might have been different. “His vitality was amazing. You wouldn’t expect to see a man falling forward from punches on the chin—and getting up strong the way he did. “You mav have noticed that when Firpo put me down I fell backward, not forward. That's the way I was knocked through the ropes, and came right back A heavy blow that is half push puts a man down that way. When you see a man fall forward he doesn’t often get ud.” The shock punch that makes a boxer fall forward is not a crushing, bonebreaking punch. It is a scientifically delivered jar that instantly renders the victim unconscious for a second I or a few seconds, and usually leaves j no after effect. Dempsev has had no ring accidents, although he nearly always wins with a clean knockout. Hii victims are stunned and put out. but they resover quickly when the fight is over. Except Willard, none of them have ever been badly cut up, and W T illard was soft.