San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-10-28

might have been different. His vitali-
ty 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 may have
noticed that when Firpo put me down
| fell backward, not forward. That's
the way | was knocked through the
ropes, and came ris 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 up"
Leaves no Other Effects.
The shock punch that makes
boxer fall forward is not a crushing,
tifically- jar that instantly
second or a few seconds, and usually
leaves no after effect. Dempsey has
had no ring accidents. although he
nearly always wins with a clean knock
out. His victims are stunned and put
out, but they recover quickly when the
fight is over. Except Willard. none
of them have ever been badly cut up,
and Willard was soft.
The difference between shock
punch and a heav., crushing punch
might be illustrated like this:
A sack of flour dropped on n mans
head from a height of twenty feet
might break his neck. and would
crush him to the ground by its weight.
A one-pound sack of shot thrown on
a mans head from the same height
wouldn't knock him down. But the
shock would render him senseless, and
he'd fall down.
At Toledo Dempsey caught Willard
on the side of the head with a ire
mendous left hook. 1t was n shock
punch. Willard wasn't thrown over
backward. and didn't fall backward.
His brain stopped functio' ing for an
instant. his knees gave way. and he
sat down with a jar that shook the
pla torn.
Whenever you see boxer fall for
ward after being hit on the chin you
can know that punch was delivered
scientifically.
Broke Sharkeys Ribs.
Dial Hawkins had a great shock
punch in his left forearm. He could
deliver it without moving his hand
more than six or eight inches. Men
he hit fell forward. never backward:
all except Frank Erne. Frank sat
down.
saw Jeffries hit Sharkey and
knock him sprawling ten feet away in
corner of the ring That punch
would have made a great shot put.
If Dempsey had hit Sharkey on the
button the same way Sharkey would
have fallen on his nose. Jeffries broke
three of Sharkey's ribs, b t Sharkey
finished the % rounds.
l saw Gus Rubin knock Sharkey
down nine times in the National Sport
ing Club of London. Each time Shar-
key fell backward. One punch would
have done the trick II 1t had been a
sbocker.
1t is impossible for a slow man to
deliver a shock punch. He can only
hit heavy pushing blow. That's why
wrestlers never make good boxers.
They push their punches.
At the same time, boxer may have
all the speed in the world and not
be able to deliver a shock punch. Cor.
belt couldn't, and scores OF clever
boxers failed to become really great
champions for the same reason. 4
sharp, jarring punch may lack SILK
quality. The shock effect must come
from combination of speed and
strength and ability to time the punch
perfectly. Dempsey has natural
knack Of timing. He drives a tremen-
dous ball from the tee IN golf
course, although he has played very
little. That's forearm, wrist and tim
ing in his case.
Kid Mccoy combined ability with a
lot of speed and cleverness. But the
Kid knew the value of punch. He
never sacrificed the shock effect for
pretty boxing. I've seen many men
hit by Mccoy fall forward on their
knees.
Tom Carroll. the great professional
weight-throwing champion of the past
half century. once tried fighting. He
met a local champion in the opera