Old Tapes

[Chris Nagel]

There's definitely plenty to be learned by watching good fighters. Watch their fights intently, learn from them and you'll be able to steal the steel off of the battlefiend. You don't need to micro-analyze the fights, just watch closely to see what each fighter is doing, and what they're trying to do. Your powers of observation will get better with the more fights that you watch, and in time it'll start to click. A lot of situations repeat in many different fights and you can see how fighters respond to the various changes that occur and pick up what works.

Anyways, here are some old-time fighters that are worth studying, Gene Tunney, Tommy Loughran, Joe Louis, Archie Moore, Charley Burley, Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ray Robinson, ad infinitum... There are many more good fighters and it would too innumerous to list them all here. Watch as many fights as you can by different kinds of fighters, both old and modern and don't stint yourself in this regard since you can download most fights for free.

One thing that you can do is take an 'al la carte' approach and pick up moves as you're watching and incorporate it in your style. For instance, take a look at Bernard Hopkins's recent dismantling of Kelly Pavlik, and see how he avoids Kelly's punches. Watch the moves that he makes to avoid punishment and establish his offence, a little slip here, a little dip there, move this way, jump that way, throw a quick combo and then tieing Kelly up. You can study how they throw a certain punch, how they defend against their opponent's leads and so forth. Have several moves and strategies is a good idea as you'll come across reoccuring patterns just like on the fight tapes.

Consider that some moves might not work for you, while others may take a lot of practice to master. When you start practicing you won't have it down at first, but the fights will serve as reference material that you'll continue to work on.

Here's an interesting quote by James Toney:

"Bill Miller, he was a great old man, he sat me down and showed me tapes of old fighters," Toney recalled. "Ezzard Charles, Albert 'Chalky' Wright. Battling Siki. People like that. Jersey Joe Walcott. Archie Moore. He would say, 'This is how you learn. This is the correct way of fighting.' So I would sit there and watch tapes over and over again, and try those things in the gym, and I would get murdered. But I kept coming back, kept coming back, kept working, kept learning my trade. And then one day it was like each of those fighter's spirits entered my body and made me fight like that."

“I developed my style by watching tapes of old fighters. I watched Ezzard Charles and Jersey Joe Walcott constantly, and Tommy Hearns , Marvin Hagler . I learned a lot from watching these guys and studying. Some of it just comes naturally.“

Pick your heroes and watch them closely. There's one guy at my gym that has modelled himself after James Toney. He's devilishly hard to hit as a result of studying Toney and paying his dues. It takes time and dedication but watching fights will pay off.

[donnydarkoIRL]

You don't have to watch a grainey black and white antique to learn from old school fighters.

If its defense your after why not investigate Pernell, offense then check out Roberto Duran.

Identify an element of your game that you wish to improve and then identify a fighter that topped the game using just that.

[Rocky Balboa]

Thanks guys. I often have spare time and don't know what to do with it. Now I should be watching fights which isn't a bad thing

[Chris Nagel]

Thanks guys. I often have spare time and don't know what to do with it. Now I should be watching fights which isn't a bad thing

Go for it.

A while back I thought it'd be great if we had a sort of study group for this thing. It'd be like a book club-- except with fights. I'd to give it a go soon.

[Rocky Balboa]

Thanks guys. I often have spare time and don't know what to do with it. Now I should be watching fights which isn't a bad thing

Go for it.

A while back I thought it'd be great if we had a sort of study group for this thing. It'd be like a book club-- except with fights. I'd to give it a go soon.

sounds cool count me in

[Howlin Mad Missy]

just thought I'd dip in, I'd actually recommend picking a fighter and watching as many of his fights as possible. At the moment I'm watching Aaron Pryor, before that John Mugabe. By watching a fighter back to back I think you can start to 'see' what they do more clearly rather than a one off fight.

[Rocky Balboa]

Mayweather I have watched I think almost every one of his fights. Even the small ones noone knows about. I love his style. I'm gonna need to stretch my horizons pretty soon though