Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-02-28

it enables you to Withstand much harder
blow than you would otherwise, and an
ordinary blow will have less effect on you
as you are braced against it. Rembember
to keep your hands open at all times, until
you hit Then shut the han ds and shut off
the wind at the same time. 1t won't take
you long to find out the advantage this will
give you. A man who keeps his hands shut
during half an hour of lively boxing is
sure to lose the power of his grip. 1t is a
strain on the muscles of the arms and
shoulders to keep the hands closed all the
time and has tendency to weaken man
all over. You can test the advantage of
shutting off the wind when giving or receiv-
ing blow, by practising on yourself. For
instance, shut off your breath and strike
yourself good, sharp blow in the stomach,
then strike yourself in the same spot when
the breath is coming and going, and note
the difference in the effect of the blows.
After you have got so that you can break
ground (that is, drop your hands, walk two
or three PAGES away and then return and
take yolr proper position immediately, you
should commence the leg movements, ad-
vancing a step with the left foot followed by
the right. Then retire a step with the right
foot followed by the left. In all cases the
After this advancing and retiring, practice
the movement vice versa. When you can do
these things perfectly it is time to begin to
try the lett lead, whether it be with the left
or right hand you should spring off the ball
of the right foot slightly, lifting your left
foot from the ground as you start to lead.
This will throw the whole weight of your
body with your blow, and will enable you
to strike a much harder blow than you
would otherwise be able to do. In leading
off with your left you should turn the head
and body to your right, at the same time
guarding your face from your opponents
blow by bringing your right arm up across
your face and about two inches in front of
1t may take you some time before you will
be able to do all these things perfectly, but
if you spend the time of seven or even ten
lessons in getting the position and left lead
down perfectly it will be time we'll spent.
Don't Be Too Anxious.
Above all things don't try and advance
too fast, but make sure that you can execute
oae point well before going on with the next
one. Then if it is possible for you to do so
get some one to spar with you who knows
great deal more about boxing than you do.
By doing this you will find that you can ad-
vance much faster than you would sparring
with someone on the same level as yourself
or inferior in point of knowledge OF boxing.
By sparring often with quick and clever
man you will yourself gain quickness, while
if you spar repeatedly with a slow moving
boxer, you will without knowing it get
slower in your own movements. Look out for
this, for a slow boxer is an abomination.
The next point should be in my opinion
the lead, stop and return.
Tio a will faly in
front of your adversary and stepping in lead
your left at his head. This lead he must
stop with the palm of his right hand and
then stepping in himself he lets go his left
at your head which you must stop in the
same manner. Now a great many who are
learning to spar, in stopping blow bring
up the arm straight, catching the blow on
the back of the hand or forearm. This often
hurts the arm and makes one lame. In
order to avoid this, when bringing up the
right to stop blow turn the forearm about
so that the palm of the glove is outward.
Then the blow will land on the palm of the
hand and will not hurt in the least, while
YOU have an additional advantage of being
able to throw off his lead in direction
which will often prove advantageous to
yourself or course you must step in with
the left foot, followed by the right when
leading with the left and then Immediately
after the blow lands step back with the
right followed by the lett.
The Insane Desire to Uppercut.
Now, before 1 forget it, want to say
something about uppercutting. Some pugi-
lists seem to have an insane desire to upper
cut all the time when they are in fight.
Now this is wrong, and when in finish
contest L claim that a man should never
uppercut. Many a fight has been lost by
doing this, as you will miss many uppercuts,
and the strain of missing one is much worse
on a man and tires him out more than the
landing OF three or four would. OF course
if you are sure you have got your man it is
well enough to uppercut him, but 1 know a
great MANY of the best pugiiists in the
world who never think of upper-cutting
when they are in finish fight. The above
rush must not be done unless you are sure
your man is within reach of you, for if you
miss you will be very liable to be at his
mercy.
OF course, there are dozens of other blows
used by sparrers beside those L have already
described and some of them 1 shall tell you
about in another story on the tricks of the
ring. / Will close this article with de-
scription of the kidney blow which is very
effective. When your opponent leads with
his left, instead of stopping it, turn it off to
your left. This will turn your opponent
round to his right. That will expose his
back to you and leaves the kidneys, small of
the back or the back of his neck open for
you to strike with your right, which can be
sent in with telling effect In this point you
will have to lower your left, and when your
opponent leads at you your arm will be un-
der his and you will find 1t much easier to
turn him than you would otherwise.
ROBERT FITZSIMMONs