Learning from History – Studying Old Boxing Film
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By Tyler “The Miracle Man” White
Any fighter that truly wants to improve, will endeavor to be like a sponge when it comes to learning…
They will soak up all the lessons that they’re taught and they’ll go out of their way to find out more about the sport and the craft that they devote their life to.
Without continuously learning and without taking advice from the fighters who have stepped through the ropes before them, a fighter will never reach their full potential and that’s a reason why I will make a point to study boxing on a daily basis…
Not just because I’m a fan of the sport and because the “sweet science” is fascinating to me, but because I want to become the best fighter and boxer that I can be – whatever level I take it to.
With that said, a lot of other fighters in my generation will study film of modern day fighters and whilst I do this too, not too long ago I decided to delve further back into boxing history and study fighters from the early 1900’s.
As boxing has become more and more of a business and as it becomes more about perfect records, looking good as opposed to being good and impersonating Floyd Mayweather, JR. I opted to look back to the “old days”, when fighters would fight multiple times a month instead of once or twice a year.
Back when there was only the one World title in each division and when fights had to be made and couldn’t be so easily manipulated to favor one man over the other…
As much as I love boxing now, I can’t help but prefer boxing from back in the day, in the sense that there was simply no “BS” and fighters fought one another with their hearts on their sleeves.
Studying old boxing film has taught me a lot over the past few months, about a lot of the simple subtleties that can make a big difference in a fight.
There are ways that fighters will use different parts of their body to manipulate their opponents’ position, which is seemingly forgotten in a lot of modern day encounters. The art of in-fighting from old school boxing film is fascinating and beautifully brutal to watch.
Studying the way that Henry Armstrong used roughhouse tactics and his cranium to square off an opponent, seeing how Joe Gans would masterfully switch from boxing to wrestling and back to boxing once more. Watching Willie Pep glide around the ring as if on ice skates as he blitzed his opponents with fast combinations…
Old school boxing film should be the equivalent of gold to a fighter, as you can learn so much by simply watching the techniques, skills and tactics that the fighters of old demonstrated throughout their illustrious careers.
As history has told us in many instances, we can learn so much from the past – the same applies for any modern day boxer.
Study the greats who have come before you and whilst doing so, you’ll be standing on the shoulders of giants!
Check out Tyler “The Miracle Man” White who is part of a new podcast called “British Boxing Talk” on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
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