The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-13

left fist upheld so that it could be brought
down with a chopping or smacking effect.
The scheme was to chop or lib" at a mans
across the auctioneer that is, the right
first, which knocked him down and out.
heat fhis gniers tnoHgnt up paN 70
the arms flew like piston rods The fists
We're lunged forward as straight as sword--s
thruStS. Wrestling was still allowed unders
the London rules, but it was not of nsucns
avail against q swift clean, straight kit
ter. Probably Mike Donovan and Billy Ed
wards were and are the finest examples OF
this dashing style of boxing.
When John l.. Sullivan, the noblest Ro-s
man of them all, came into the ring he i'm
vented new style. His game was to rush
at his enemy, chop down bis guard with
the left and swing the right at him like a.
DaSehall bat. This plan had the grand SIM
plicity. of genius. James ]. ICorbett im~s
proved on 1t, though. He relied on the hook
blow. This was still swing, but much
his left fist held far forward. He swung 10
inward with a quick, hooking motion. The
blow bic WAS not SO heavy and crushing as one.
OF Sullivan's swings, but 1t Travelled such a.
short distance that it landed oftener,
Mccoy apparently studied the history oGs
Work ks. suliivan's awful right had to trave1l
four or five feet before it strzick the victim
Corbetts hook travelled less than two feets
tance and in time. The quicker q blow is
the more effective it will be.
Could anything be evolved quicker thans
CorbettS hook? Yes; q corkScrew blow
That was McCoy's invention. His indus
triouS use of it has put him away up in the
front rank of pugilists and may make hiE
champion.
What is the corkscrew blow? Mccoy adj
vances, sparring nimbly and with many
fiourfshes that conceal his plan and dis
concert his enemy. He works around his
man until his left fist is within six or eight
inches of the victino's jaw. Suddenly the
left fist twists inward and forward. IL it
lands on the eye 1t closes the eye III 1t
lands on the jaw, the jawbone is very apt
to break. 1t with a blow of this sort
that Mccoy broke Jim Days jaw in the
first minute of their bout before the Man
haitian Athletic Club.
How does Mccoy get such crushing force
into the blow? From the supinator longu5
alone. That, in my estimation, Is what
makes his work so marvellous. The old :
style straight hitterS drove the weight or
their bodies in behind a blow by sprlng1nS
off the ground as they punched. sullivan
and the other swingers hurled all their
weight into the round-arm blow. Even
Corbett swung from the hips and got all the
Impetus of his body into his hook blows.
But Mccoy is different from all these. lie
uses his long legs and long arms to bring
tim. At the moment he discharges the blow
he is rigid as far as his left elbow. he sends
in the blow by making twisting motion or
his fist, just as If he were driving cork
screw into a cork. The power comes from
flexing the supinator longuS. Probably NC
Coy gets little of his body weight into the
blow, but this cannot be very much. Con-
slant use of this wonderful muscle In this
way is what has made it so big in McCoy'S
arm. BY relying on it he Is able to DO all
his fighting away out at ms sklrmisn nne:
What would happen if his opponent should
be able to rush inside of this line do not
pretend to say. 1t is certain that no one
can beat Mccoy lighting at long range.