Hey, thanks for the history and the old pictures. I don't know much about the history of boxing, but I find it very interesting that the old prints and drawings you posted (at least the ones that date back before Dempsey) show the rear or "chambered" hand held low, at waist level, rather than up, guarding the head. Was there a good reason for this, or was it a case of the art not yet being fully developed? Sorry if this is a bit off-topic, but I'm curious as to why they did that.
Yes, there was actually a specific reason for this.
Most of the old manuals say that the rear hand should be held covering "the Mark." This was specified as either the Solar Plexus or the pit of the stomach. Some manuals specify that the rear hand should be held somewhat slightly below the alternate pec. This also covers the mark.
Naturally the Solar Plex./Pit of the Stomach is a fantastic place to blast a person. Hard to get a Solar Plex shot with modern boxing gloves (not impossible though). They're just so big. Older gloves (mittens/mufflers) were often smaller (look at the ones on the Davies cards), and of course, bare knuckle... Well anyway.
So when you throw out that lead punch, the back hand pretty much goes somewhere, and it's common to retract it a bit down which puts it near the waist.
The reason that old style boxing didn't keep that rear hand up to cover the face as often was a function of the rules. No boxing gloves (or small) so that they had less surface area to act as a shield. Additionally, and more importantly, the inclusion of grappling in the rules led to a much more extended, distanced, game. There was still a lot of "punching the guy in the head" (it was still boxing after all), but once you got in close it was common to clinch and then try to throw, trip, or take a Chancery hold and whale the tar out of the opponent (see my book:
Banned from Boxing at
http://stores.lulu.com/lawson ). That's one reason why you see a more extended lead with the chin up. The lead was to act as both a "feeler" for grappling entries and as a shield to prevent it. You can see some of this "chin up - longer lead" creeping into NHB competitions. I recall the Sanchez/Koscheck fight (UFC 69) where the commentators were carping about one fighter not tucking his chin and keeping a longer lead. Kept claiming that he was "begging to be knocked out." He won that match and never took a serious punch to the head.
http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/122912/Diego_Sanchez_vs_Josh_Koscheck.html (On a side note, I'm gratified to see that The Rounding Blow is slowing being reintroduced by MMA too, though it's generally thought of as a looping swing or a very horizontal "Supperman" type hook.)
Natrually, there was some stylistic overlap between the London Prize Ring rules, which allowed grappling, and the Marquis of Queensberry rules, which banned grappling. A good example of this is Billy Edwards manual (free on my lulu page), which includes instructions for both amateur (which was Marquis rules) and professional (which was London Prize Ring). The cleanest "break," stylistically, between the two probably had to be by James Corbett, affectionately known as "The Father of Modern/Scientific Boxing (his manual is also available as free download on my lulu page). His stylistic differences are very clear and distinct from that of, say, Edwards. Well worth comparing them and thinking of it as an evolution in styles prompted by the evolution of rules.
Peace favor your sword,
Kirk
And exactly for the reasons quoted above.
