The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 17, 1904, Page 14

14 MY o.owing tendency ef prize- fighters to cultivate new blows, poses and hes is chiefly responsible broken bones and maimed hands the ring. In the re- cent battle between Young Corbett and Jimmy Britt the latter's most serious injury was self-inflicted. st about the middle of the contest while siving- ing at Corbett he broke his right arm between the elbow and the wrist. This was the second time in his career that he had his chances of winning spoiled by a like injury. The reason for the In “accident” is plain. It is his pecullar crouch. Britt, like many other boxers of the same school, fights from a position that does ot give him the best use of his hands. The crouch may have all sorts of advantages as a defensive attitude, rendering it difficult for an opponent to reach either head or body with a damaging biow, but at the same time it is almost equally impossible to strike an effective punch from this attitude. Not only is the driving power impaired, but the aim is bad. The fighter with a crouch cannot hit as straight and sure as the one who stands more nearly erect. The reasons for this are ob- vious to those who have studied the game and ought to be doubly so to those who take an active part in it. For instance, in a straight left-hand punch one of the simplest but at the same time most effective blows known to the prigzering, the arm should be shot out, palm upward, with all the weight of the body behind it. It should be and when delivered properly is just what its name implies, a straight arm THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. PAOTOS BY SORRECT WAY TO LAND Rb.-HT HARD_PONCH. é‘%«'&cfih&s B! ED blow, executed with the elbow turned slightly inward toward the body. In this way the full impact of the blow is given with all the knuckles of a tightly closed fist. There is no danger whatever, unless the fingers of the hand are out of proper proportion, of breaking any of the bones of the fin- gers, wrist or forearm. The best fights ing hand is really a small hand, with short chubby fingers, like Young Cor- bett’s, for instance. (The small picture on this. page shows the proper way of holding the hand and arm in delivering & straight left hand punch. Also the picture of the lower right hand side of the page showing how the fist should land against an opponent's face.) . Now it is a physical impossibility to strike a correct left-arm punch from a crouching position. In the first place, the fighter with the crouch uses his left shoulder as one of his main defenses for his head and jaw. This necessarily compels him to turn his arm and hand over, palm downward. Therefore, when he strikes a straight arm blow, or rather attempts to—for 'Yfl = %UCKLE‘E that is about the best he can do—his arm is not only likely to veer off toward the right and miss the spot aimed at, but all the weight of his blow lands upon the joints of his fin- gers, thus doubling them into the palm of his hand instead of on the knuckles, as it should land.. The fingers bend and give, if they are not broken. There cannot possibly bk that solid impact of bone and muscle that comes when the blow is delivered properly, with the fingers upward. Moreover, and what is really the chief consideration in deciding a contest, the straight left arm punch from a crouching attitude becomes simply a blow with the arm only. There cannot be any weight be- -l PROPOS of the se- vere injuries receiv- ed by Britt in his ve- cent contest with Young Corbett, Professor De Witt C. Van Court, box- ing” instruetor at the Olympic Club, and one of the few men who have developed championship talent in such gladiators as Jim Jefirles, Jimmy Britt, Sam Berger, etc., has written for The Sunday Call the article herewith, demonstrat- ing how fighters more often break their own bones than have them broken in the prizering, and illustrating it with pictures of himself and Harry Chester, light- heavy-weight amateunr champion, also of the Olympic Club. * This, therefore, is one of the most timely and . in- structive articles ever published on boxinga. e ® dind it. The fighter uses nothing more than the strength of the arm alone, Instead of getting all the weight of his body. behind the punch, as he would o if he fought more nearly erect. (The photograph on this page shows the “wvrong way of striking, with the fingers fown.) Another and frequent source of broken bones ig both the right and left hand swing. Not one boxer in fifty lands efther of these blows properly, and the result is invariably a broken thumb. That used to be one of the great difficulties with Jeffries. In near- ly all his early fights he dislocated his thumbs, and it was not until he had been taught how to strike properly that he escaped injury and at the same time added Immeasurably to his punching power. The fault is that fighters do not learn, or else they forget, that the correct swing—correct not merely from the beauty and skill of the science, but because under all circumstances it is the most effective—should not be de- livered with the arms spreading wide from the body and landing like flays. It should not strike against the side of the hand, in full impact with :he thumb, as s0o many modern fighters land. In fact the thumb should never under any circumstances strike the opponent. It is not an effective blow, and self-injury is the invariabls sult. re- (To {llustrate more clearly what I mean, look at the Dpicture entitled “Breaking the thumb on the jaw,” on this page. Now contrast with It the picture entitled “Correct blow with the knuckles.”) The correct way to land a swing of any sort for either the head or the body, with either hand, in order to escape injury to yourself is to turn the hand over, palm down, crook the elbow so that the first knuckle will strike fair and square against the spot aimed at, and the blow is not only safe but terribly damaging. And to land this well so that it is something more than a mere blow with the arm only—a swing with the full weight of the body behind it, as every blow should have—keep the arms-as close to the sides as possible. If this rule is carried out it is next to impossible to strike with the thumb, It is the ,vlol-tlon of this rule that accounts for so many wild swings in the ring. A flay-like blow gives your opponent every chance in the world to duck under it; to step back so that it whizzes harmlessly past his nose or step in close so that it passes around the back of his head. It is more than likely that this s how Britt fractured his right arm; from a flay-like swing whereln the forearm instead of the tightly closed - [IOW FIGJTEDS = BREAK TAEIR BONES — AlaseiE L HOwW THE BLowW) ° SHOULD-HAVE LANDED) \ HOW THE BANDAGE SHOULD BECUT BEFTORE \ENTERING, THE FIGHT fist landed against the side of “Young Corbett’s” head. Had he observed the rule that a swing must be but a very slight variation of a straight-arm punch in its delivery, except that the elbow is crooked while the fist is turned over, palms down, he might have col- lided happily with “Young Corbett’s” Jaw. (Pictorially this dangerous way of breaking one’s own bones is shown at the upper left-hand corner of the page. The one entitled “Breaking wrist or arm on the back of the head” shows in all probability how Britt broke his arm. The other entitled “Correct way to land right-hand punch” shows how the blow should have reached its mark had he Frank Spearman’s Famous Stories Ten in All, . Commencing With the Thrilling Narrative of the “Million Dollar Freight Train,” Will Begin in — The Next Sunday Call - BNDT HAND crooked his elbow a little more and held his arm well in toward his side while swinging. In this way the arm shoots out more nearly straight from the body and even if it misses its ob- ject the arm Is not likely to injury of any sort.) Another grievous source of injufy is in breaking the bones of the hand against the elbow of your opponent in these flay-like swings—in body blows particularly. To fillustrate what I mean look at the picture entitled “Breaking hand on the elbow.” This is one of the most painful injuries that can be experienced. It is purely acci- dental, but yet maw be avoided if the swing is delivered rightly, with the knuckles turned well over, the elbow crooked and the arm kept well inward, close to the body. Then it will land as shown in the companion picture above, entitled “How the blow should have landed.” Still another means of self-injury Is found in the old style of gugrding with the forearm of either arm, which is still very common, instead of the new method of receiving the blow in the open palm. Severe bruising tif not act- ual fracturag) is hovnd tn be received 1 CORBEST PosiTion oF THe! -— X rs SWING TOR LEV in this way if the fight is at all viclous. But of all things the tendency of al- most every fighter of the day to wear bandages in the ring is the cause of more injured bones and ruined hands than anything else. It is all so need- less. Not one in a hundred fighters ever applies the bandages properly, or perhaps knows any good reason why he wears them at all, except on the much exaggerated theory that they are absolutely necessary to save the knuckles. Invariably instead of doing good work they work their own Injury. The reasons for this are plain. To begin with the bandages are usually applied in the dressing room, when the fighter is comparatively cool before en. tering the ring. His body ig at a ner- mal temperature. And in this stage the adhesive rubber tape is wound round and round the knuckles, the wrist and even the thumb, and allowed to remain thus all through the fight. ‘What happens. As soon as the excite- ment of the fight begins, and the boxer becomes overheated, his hands swell, and swell and swell, until the ban- dages, instedd of being & help, are a itive and dangerous hindrance. The es do not stretch one jot. They stick fast for just the purpose they were intended. If anything gives it is the bones and knuckles of the hand they were designed to protect. To obviate this difficulty, if bandages must ~- worf I always insist that they shall be cut through at the palm, after being applied and before the gloves are donned for the contest. This protects the knuckles fully, while leav- ing the hand free to expand as much es it will wilh the heat. The disregard of these simple little rules often works more injury to fight- ers than all the gruelling their oppo- rent is able to administer. As in Britt's case, self-ipjury is the very ‘worst sort since it often resuits in in- frrv fam 1 »