Foreword - Devoted as I am to popularizing amateur boxing and to improving the caliber of this particularly desirable competitive sport, I am highly enthusiastic over John Walsh's boxing instruction book.

No one in the United States today can equal John's record as an amateur boxer and a coach. He is highly regarded as a sportsman. Before turning to coaching and the practice of law John was one of the most successful college and Golden Gloves boxers the sport has ever known.

1. Introduction - The following chapter deal with organized and supervised boxing as conducted today in colleges, high schools, and recreational centers. They are in no way concerned with professional fighting, with which amateur boxing should at no time be confused.

Professional fighting is a business conducted for mone­tary gain. Amateur boxing is a competitive sport or recrea­tion. These distinctions should be kept in mind at all times.

2. Equipment - Proper equipment is a "must" in any boxing program. A capable, qualified coach would not send a boy on the football field without proper shoulder pads or headgear. Yet, I have seen high school boxers use worn-out gloves and a makeshift mat with no canvas cover; and I have known of boys who have not been provided with alumi­num cups. This is absolute false economy, and should not be tolerated

3. Precautions - In boxing, as in any other contact sport, close supervision is imperative to avoid unnecessary accidents.

In virtually every high school and college or university in the United States a boy intending to compete in basket­ball or football must have a certificate of physical fitness. The same precaution must be taken for a boy who wishes to box.

4. Conditioning - All boxing team candidates answering the coach’s first call should be expected to report in good enough condition so that they can go at top speed in workouts.

Early conditioning ideally consists of road work at least three times weekly for one month prior to the first squad drills. The candidate should be informed that the heavy roadwork is done before the season begins, and for a time immediately thereafter. Only infrequent roadwork sessions are necessary once the boxers have attained the proper physical condition.

5. Workouts - Just what constitutes "proper workouts" is one of boxing's most controversial topics. I refer now to work­outs just before the regular season and during the actual season, after the boys have become physically conditioned by plenty of early road work, and have drilled upon and thoroughly mastered the fundamentals.

Many of my college coaching friends believe in long workouts of 10 to 12 three-minute rounds each day, even though college-boxing rounds are two minutes. Under the same theory, they believe in working high school boys rounds of two minutes each, even though training for bouts of one-minute rounds.

6. The Hands - A boxer with a bad hand is just as ineffective as a left halfback with a bad ankle.

Let me stress here that a boy without bandages on his hands should never box or hit a bag.

The following procedure for bandaging is proper: Place hand outstretched with the back of the hand facing up, and fingers spread apart at least half an inch. This is very important to assure that the bandage will not be too tight when the fist is closed.

7. Fundamentals - I wish to stress in detail the all-important stance, or what we will call the "on-guard" position. When a boxer slides out from his corner at the sound of the bell, a trained eye can immediately ascertain the degree of his ability by the on-guard position he assumes. The boxer trained correctly will advance to the center of the ring and fall instinctively into a proper on-guard position, if his coach has stressed each fundamental that goes to make up that vital stance.

8. Practice - I have already suggested that the coach place all his boxers in a circle around himself while teaching the phases of the important on-guard position. We find that such mass instruction at the outset is much more bene­ficial than having the boys pair off immediately with gloves on. The time allotted to each athlete for this exercise should be determined by the amount of previous training he has had.

9. Left Hook - There is now only one more necessary punch to be mastered by the prospective champion. It is the left hook, which we will call Number Five.

Boxing is not a difficult sport to learn or to coach. It is a matter, for the pupil, of mastering a few fundamental punches and blocks; for the coach, of being able to teach the necessary technique in these punches. A left jab and a right cross, interspersed with a few left hooks, com­prise the necessary repertoire.

10. Punch - I stated that the coaching job was over, as far as fundamentals are concerned, when the boys were carefully drilled in executing the left and right to the chin and body, and the left hook. I am an advocate of perfecting the simple fundamentals, using them at the right time, and then letting the opponent make the mistakes. How­ever, following are some of the most effective variations which are not difficult to master.

11. Opponents - Scouting is of great value in team sports. The same is true in respect to scouting in boxing. Looking over a future opponent engaged in a boxing match with a third team does not present the same problems inasmuch as you must watch only one man at a time.

The primary purpose of scouting is to determine the strong points of each man on a team to be met at a future date. You must then figure a defense to combat the of­fensive strength of each man, and at the same time pick out his weaknesses so that you can show your boxer how to take advantage of them.

12. Boxing Tips - It is generally agreed that a southpaw has a distinct advantage in a three-round amateur bout. The reason is simple. A southpaw is accustomed to boxing a right­hander, whereas most right-handers are unfamiliar with southpaw tactics.

Normally southpaws are strictly left-handed punchers, and use their right hand merely to offset the right-hander's extended left hand. It is for this reason that, when we get a southpaw on our squad, we immediately teach him how to deliver a right jab and a right hook.

13. Father-Son - Each father at some time or other during the "growing" years of his sons sees fit to instruct his protégés in the art of self-defense.

This chapter is designed to help you, as a father, give the right answers to the many questions that will be di­rected toward you during this procedure. With a little careful study and digesting of this and the past chapters, you can get right down on your knees and be a "coach" of whom your son will be proud.

14. Community - Summertime Community Recreation programs are growing in popularity and scope throughout the nation as the residents of the communities become more and more conscious of the need for supervised recreational activity as an outlet for the energy, inclinations, and talents of the young people who live in their midst.

A model project of this nature is that sponsored by one of the great metropolitan dailies of our country, the Minne­apolis Star, under the guidance of its executive sports edi­tor, Charlie Johnson. It is an outdoor boxing school con­ducted annually in Minneapolis' Logan Park, a municipal recreation center.

Apendix - One of the most thorough, anthentic, and significant studies of a sports activity ever undertaken on a highly aca­demic plane is the Report to the Faculty on the Study of Intercollegiate Boxing at the University of Wisconsin, pub­lished on October 2, 1950.

It was enthusiastically hailed by all proponents of amateur boxing as a decisive victory for them over the many prejudiced individuals who have over a period of many years singled out amateur boxing (not to be confused with professional fighting) for malignment based on personal opinion and hearsay.

Illustrations - 1. Proper start of the bandaging. Loop through the thumb, starting high on the wrist, fingers apart, wrist rigid, and wrapping away from the body.

2. Wrap in form of an "X" to fully protect the bones of the fist and work down to the knuckles, wrapping three or four loops over the thumb joint, and three layers over the knuckles.

3. Bring the last loop up to the wrist; tear the end into two strings to enable you to tie a knot. As in the illustration, the bandage must be high on the wrist, affording the thumb and bones of the hand full protection.

THE END

Who Else Wants My Best Boxing Tips? Just enter your first name and valid email - then click the "Sign Me Up" button to start receiving my boxing training mini series. (All information kept 100% confidential and you can unsubscribe at any time). Name: Email: