This is an image of Koichi Wajima doing his famous "frog punch", he would squat all the way down to the canvas and spring up, it looked just like a from jumping. It was a crouching, uppercut-style punch, described as a hook similar to Joe Frazier's but with a unique leg movement that allowed Wajima to generate power and precision from an unusual angle. It was quite a site to behold and a quite a vicious punch.
This is one of my favorite boxing images, Koichi Wajima jumping in the air after defeating Carmelo Bossi for WBA Junior Middleweight championship in 1971.
Koichi Wajima was an enigma of a fighter, he really didn't do anything technically correct in a boxing sense, but his style, which consisted of coming forward and throwing non-stop punches, worked for him because of his sheer Heart, determination, relentlessness, and will to win.
"Two Ton" Tony Galento, gotta love this guy, he was a heavyweight in the 1920s-40s. He had a few nicknames, most notably "Jersey Nightstick" and "One-Man Riot." He was notorious for drinking beer, eating too much, and not training properly, and smoking cigars. There's actually photos of him smoking a cigar while hitting a speed bag, and drinking beer during training. Despite his poor habits, he was one of the toughest men to ever grace a boxing ring, had an anvil for a chin, and a murderous left hook. He was also one of the most colorful characters in boxing history. He came up on the rough streets of New Jersey, always getting into fights and he naturally gravitated to the world of boxing, he just loved the pain and violence of the sport, whether it was dishing it out or taking it, didn't matter to him. Interesting story, Tony Galento and Jackie Gleason, the famous actor and comedian, had an encounter one night at a club where Gleason was doing a stand-up comedy routine. So Gleason was doing his routine and he kept getting heckled by someone in the audience, so Gleason calls the guy out and challenges him and they end up taking it outside. The next thing you know, Gleason is out cold and wakes up and doesn't even realize what happened. It turns out, the guy in the audience who was heckling him was none other than "Two Ton" Tony Galento, and Galento had knocked Gleason out with a brutal left hook, one shot. That's a famous story and Jackie Gleason himself recounted the story on Rocky Marciano's TV show. Anyway, Tony Galento was crazy as hell, during a fight with Max Baer in 1940, Galento almost drowned on his own blood but he refused to quit, the referee had to stop the fight to save Galento from himself. There's all kinds of crazy stories about him, he wrestled an octopus and a bear to try and promote his fights. There's another incident that is famous, it happened the night before he was going to fight Max Baer. Galento owned a nightclub in Orange county New Jersey called The Nut Club, and Galento and his brother got into a shouting match in the bar and Galento's brother smashed a beer mug into Galento's face, cutting his lip and tongue up real bad. While the doctor was stitching up his lip, Galento sat there drinking beer, and despite his wounds, Galento still fought Max Baer the next night. In 1939, Galento challenged the great Joe Louis for his heavyweight crown, and you have to give credit to Galento, he went for it, the guy crashed in like a bull in a china shop, determined to get his best punches in to see if the champ could stand up to it, he even managed to floor Louis with a left hook, but it wasn't meant to be, Louis was too much. One other thing about Galento, he treated the rules of boxing as a mild suggestion, he thought nothing of thumbing you in the eye it using his elbows if it hit him and advantage, like I said, Galento came up in the rough streets of New Jersey, and he was basically a street fighter in a boxing ring.
This is the fight with Max Baer, Tony Galento almost drowned on his own blood in this fight but wouldn't quit, the referee finally had to stop the fight.
Tony Galento promo photo, they called him the "Orange Night Stick" and the "Jersey Night Stick", Tony Galento was nicknamed the "Jersey Night Stick" because his opponents often ended up knocked out, as if "put to sleep," by his powerful left hook.
Short highlights video of "Two Ton" Tony Galento. At the beginning of the video, the famous actor and comedian Jackie Gleason recounts the story of Tony Galento knocking him out.
Also want to say RIP to Greg "Mutt" Haugen, we lost him back in February, he was a true gladiator, a great all-around technical boxer with an iron chin, tough as leather, and tremendous heart, always came to fight. He beat Ray Mancini and Hector Camacho, was a three-time world champion in two weight classes, having held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) lightweight title twice between 1986 and 1989 and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) light welterweight title in 1991. RIP Champ.
Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, won the gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics. He competed in the light-heavyweight division and won all his fights, including the final against Zbigniew Pietrzykowski. This is an iconic image of Ali standing atop the podium alone.
Fritzie Zivic, "The Croat Comet", welterweight in the 40s and 50s, one of the dirtiest fighters in the history of boxing and he made no bones about it.
Despite sometimes fighting dirty, Fritzie Zivic was one hell of a fighter, he had an edge to him, a certain nastiness. Fritzie Zivic was nicknamed "The Croat Comet" because he was of Croatian descent, and he was known for being fast, aggressive, and unpredictable, likened to a comet. He had a good jab, was tough as nails, and could box or brawl. Very cerebral fighter, always came up with a superb fight plan which took away his opponents game plan. God help you if you fouled him because he would foul you back far more effectively and viciously. He would be a dangerous opponent for any welterweight that ever lived. How good was Zivic? He wasn't good, he was great. He beat the great Henry Armstrong twice, the second time being by KO, Zivic was one of only two fighters to ever KO Armstrong, and he also beat Jake LaMotta, Al "Bummy" Davis, Sammy Angott, Kid Azteca, and Charley Burley. He fought 233 fights in his career, this guy was a battle hardened war machine. These guys were a different breed from today's fighters, for example, Zivic fought a 10-rounder with Kid Azteca in San Antonio and after the fight hopped a plane to Beaumont, Texas because he was signed for another 10-rounder the next night with Pat Saia. BTW, Zivic won both 10-rounders on points. Also, he did that while on leave from the Service. Today you'd be lucky if a fighter fights twice a year never mind over 2 days.
Fritzie Zivic shakes hands with a battered and bruised Jake LaMotta after defeating him by decision in 1943. Now, Jake LaMotta was one of the biggest and strongest middleweights in history and Zivic was a welterweight when he defeated LaMotta, that's crazy.
Fritzie Zivic won the welterweight championship with a 15 round unanimous decision over "Homicide Hank" Armstrong at Madison Square Garden in 1940. Here is a fight report from a newspaper at the time.
An INS report read:
"For the first seven rounds they stood head to head with Henry banging away from outside and Fritzie stabbing, cutting and slashing at Henry's eyes. Henry was on his way out as early as the 8th round when Zivic, fighting a cool, heady battle, cut both of the fading champion's eyes and never let up banging away at them. In ten different rounds Fritzie knocked the rubber mouthpiece from Henry's mouth. Zivic did just what he said he'd do--cut the old scar tissue over Henry's eyes, blind him and then finish. Then came the final round and Zivic stood off and banged Henry at will. Just before the bell, Zivic landed a corking right and Henry went down on his ear just as the bell rang."
It just shows you how methodical Zivic could be, he said he was going to target the old scar tissue over Armstrong's eyes and that's what he did, this was Henry Armstrong after the Fritzie Zivic fight.
Jack Dempsey: “Nobody owes anybody a living, but everybody is entitled to a chance. I was a miner and I was a cowboy but mostly I was a hobo. I fought wherever I could, in school halls, outside saloons, any place they were putting up a purse. I once walked thirty miles across the desert to a town called Goldfield in Nevada so I could fight for twenty dollars.
“I got beat a lot. I improved, but I remember the beatings I took. Once got beat so bad they had to take me out of the ring in a wheelbarrow. I was a pretty good fighter. But it was the writers who made me great.
“I took out other guys quick. That much is true. I got more one round knockouts than anybody, sixty knockouts in the first round. I beat a good Heavyweight in New Orleans once in fourteen seconds. I knocked out Fred Fulton, six-foot-four, 250 pounds, in nineteen seconds. How come? Not because I was a killer, other way round, I was always afraid that l'd be the one who was killed. Get them quick and you live to fight another day.”
Boxers chop wood as a form of training to build strength, improve coordination, and enhance their punching power. It's a functional movement that engages multiple muscle groups, including the back, core, and shoulders, while also improving grip strength and stamina. The rotational movement involved in chopping wood also mirrors the kinetic linking motion used in punches. Let's get a few photos in here of some boxers chopping wood, shall we? This is a famous photo of Earnie Shavers holding an axe after chopping some wood.
Muhammad Ali chopping trees. There's actually a funny story with Ali chopping wood, there was a video of Muhammad Ali chopping a tree down. He had been working on it for a long time and it was almost chopped. It looked like just one or two more whacks and the tree would fall, but Ali kept swinging the axe over and over and over and the tree was still standing. Ali, out of breath, breathing hard, puts the axe down for a second, looks at the camera and says, "This tree is tougher than Joe Frazier!"
Teddy Yarosz, "The Monaca Mauler", he was a great pound for pound fighter, one of the best technical boxers I've seen on film, won the Middleweight championship from Vince Dundee in 1934 and moved up to light heavyweight where he beat Billy Conn and Archie Moore, two of the best ever at light heavy. He also holds wins over Ken Overlin, Lou Brouillard, Ben Jeby, Solly Krieger, Tommy Freeman, Babe Risko, and Pete Latzo, that's quite a list of scalps.
At Madame Bey's camp, the great boxing trainer Ray Arcel with his 3 charges: heavyweight champ Primo Carnera, light heavyweight champ Bobby Olin, and middleweight champion Teddy Yarosz.
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This is an image of Koichi Wajima doing his famous "frog punch", he would squat all the way down to the canvas and spring up, it looked just like a from jumping. It was a crouching, uppercut-style punch, described as a hook similar to Joe Frazier's but with a unique leg movement that allowed Wajima to generate power and precision from an unusual angle. It was quite a site to behold and a quite a vicious punch.
Another shot of the "frog punch."
Koichi Wajima training.
Koichi Wajima on the mic after a win.
This is one of my favorite boxing images, Koichi Wajima jumping in the air after defeating Carmelo Bossi for WBA Junior Middleweight championship in 1971.
Koichi Wajima was an enigma of a fighter, he really didn't do anything technically correct in a boxing sense, but his style, which consisted of coming forward and throwing non-stop punches, worked for him because of his sheer Heart, determination, relentlessness, and will to win.
Koichi Wajima, you can see his famous "frog punch" at the 0:32 mark in the video.
Bet you didn't know that Tommy "Hitman" Hearns, was actually a part of the Detroit police reserve. Here is a photo of the Hitman in his uniform.
"Two Ton" Tony Galento, gotta love this guy, he was a heavyweight in the 1920s-40s. He had a few nicknames, most notably "Jersey Nightstick" and "One-Man Riot." He was notorious for drinking beer, eating too much, and not training properly, and smoking cigars. There's actually photos of him smoking a cigar while hitting a speed bag, and drinking beer during training. Despite his poor habits, he was one of the toughest men to ever grace a boxing ring, had an anvil for a chin, and a murderous left hook. He was also one of the most colorful characters in boxing history. He came up on the rough streets of New Jersey, always getting into fights and he naturally gravitated to the world of boxing, he just loved the pain and violence of the sport, whether it was dishing it out or taking it, didn't matter to him. Interesting story, Tony Galento and Jackie Gleason, the famous actor and comedian, had an encounter one night at a club where Gleason was doing a stand-up comedy routine. So Gleason was doing his routine and he kept getting heckled by someone in the audience, so Gleason calls the guy out and challenges him and they end up taking it outside. The next thing you know, Gleason is out cold and wakes up and doesn't even realize what happened. It turns out, the guy in the audience who was heckling him was none other than "Two Ton" Tony Galento, and Galento had knocked Gleason out with a brutal left hook, one shot. That's a famous story and Jackie Gleason himself recounted the story on Rocky Marciano's TV show. Anyway, Tony Galento was crazy as hell, during a fight with Max Baer in 1940, Galento almost drowned on his own blood but he refused to quit, the referee had to stop the fight to save Galento from himself. There's all kinds of crazy stories about him, he wrestled an octopus and a bear to try and promote his fights. There's another incident that is famous, it happened the night before he was going to fight Max Baer. Galento owned a nightclub in Orange county New Jersey called The Nut Club, and Galento and his brother got into a shouting match in the bar and Galento's brother smashed a beer mug into Galento's face, cutting his lip and tongue up real bad. While the doctor was stitching up his lip, Galento sat there drinking beer, and despite his wounds, Galento still fought Max Baer the next night. In 1939, Galento challenged the great Joe Louis for his heavyweight crown, and you have to give credit to Galento, he went for it, the guy crashed in like a bull in a china shop, determined to get his best punches in to see if the champ could stand up to it, he even managed to floor Louis with a left hook, but it wasn't meant to be, Louis was too much. One other thing about Galento, he treated the rules of boxing as a mild suggestion, he thought nothing of thumbing you in the eye it using his elbows if it hit him and advantage, like I said, Galento came up in the rough streets of New Jersey, and he was basically a street fighter in a boxing ring.
Here's an advertisement for Tony Galento wrestling a bear, he did stuff like this to promote himself.
Tony Galento hitting the speed bag while smoking a cigar, this is one of the coolest boxing photos ever taken.
Tony Galento drinking wine and smoking a cigar while training.
Tony Galento drinking beer at his bar in New Jersey.
This is the fight with Max Baer, Tony Galento almost drowned on his own blood in this fight but wouldn't quit, the referee finally had to stop the fight.
This is the fight with Joe Louis, Tony Galento actually floored Louis with a left hook in this fight.
Tony Galento promo photo, they called him the "Orange Night Stick" and the "Jersey Night Stick", Tony Galento was nicknamed the "Jersey Night Stick" because his opponents often ended up knocked out, as if "put to sleep," by his powerful left hook.
This is also one of the coolest boxing photos ever taken, Tony Galento looking into a crystal ball.
Short highlights video of "Two Ton" Tony Galento. At the beginning of the video, the famous actor and comedian Jackie Gleason recounts the story of Tony Galento knocking him out.
Also want to say RIP to Greg "Mutt" Haugen, we lost him back in February, he was a true gladiator, a great all-around technical boxer with an iron chin, tough as leather, and tremendous heart, always came to fight. He beat Ray Mancini and Hector Camacho, was a three-time world champion in two weight classes, having held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) lightweight title twice between 1986 and 1989 and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) light welterweight title in 1991. RIP Champ.
Great book about Greg Haugen.
Greg Haugen, beautiful technical boxing.
Roy Jones Jr., one of the greatest to ever do it, living up to his nickname, "Captain Hook "
Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, won the gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics. He competed in the light-heavyweight division and won all his fights, including the final against Zbigniew Pietrzykowski. This is an iconic image of Ali standing atop the podium alone.
God I love this sport, this is what it's about right here. This intro still gets me pumped to this day.
Fritzie Zivic, "The Croat Comet", welterweight in the 40s and 50s, one of the dirtiest fighters in the history of boxing and he made no bones about it.
These are a few quotes from Fritzie Zivic about fighting dirty.
Despite sometimes fighting dirty, Fritzie Zivic was one hell of a fighter, he had an edge to him, a certain nastiness. Fritzie Zivic was nicknamed "The Croat Comet" because he was of Croatian descent, and he was known for being fast, aggressive, and unpredictable, likened to a comet. He had a good jab, was tough as nails, and could box or brawl. Very cerebral fighter, always came up with a superb fight plan which took away his opponents game plan. God help you if you fouled him because he would foul you back far more effectively and viciously. He would be a dangerous opponent for any welterweight that ever lived. How good was Zivic? He wasn't good, he was great. He beat the great Henry Armstrong twice, the second time being by KO, Zivic was one of only two fighters to ever KO Armstrong, and he also beat Jake LaMotta, Al "Bummy" Davis, Sammy Angott, Kid Azteca, and Charley Burley. He fought 233 fights in his career, this guy was a battle hardened war machine. These guys were a different breed from today's fighters, for example, Zivic fought a 10-rounder with Kid Azteca in San Antonio and after the fight hopped a plane to Beaumont, Texas because he was signed for another 10-rounder the next night with Pat Saia. BTW, Zivic won both 10-rounders on points. Also, he did that while on leave from the Service. Today you'd be lucky if a fighter fights twice a year never mind over 2 days.
Fritzie Zivic shakes hands with a battered and bruised Jake LaMotta after defeating him by decision in 1943. Now, Jake LaMotta was one of the biggest and strongest middleweights in history and Zivic was a welterweight when he defeated LaMotta, that's crazy.
Fritzie Zivic won the welterweight championship with a 15 round unanimous decision over "Homicide Hank" Armstrong at Madison Square Garden in 1940. Here is a fight report from a newspaper at the time.
An INS report read:
"For the first seven rounds they stood head to head with Henry banging away from outside and Fritzie stabbing, cutting and slashing at Henry's eyes. Henry was on his way out as early as the 8th round when Zivic, fighting a cool, heady battle, cut both of the fading champion's eyes and never let up banging away at them. In ten different rounds Fritzie knocked the rubber mouthpiece from Henry's mouth. Zivic did just what he said he'd do--cut the old scar tissue over Henry's eyes, blind him and then finish. Then came the final round and Zivic stood off and banged Henry at will. Just before the bell, Zivic landed a corking right and Henry went down on his ear just as the bell rang."
Zivic laid a vicious beating on Armstrong.
It just shows you how methodical Zivic could be, he said he was going to target the old scar tissue over Armstrong's eyes and that's what he did, this was Henry Armstrong after the Fritzie Zivic fight.
Fritzie Zivic and his brothers, who were all boxers as well, having lunch with famous inventor Nikola Tesla.
Good shot of Fritzie Zivic in his later years.
1948 Leaf Boxing Fritzie Zivic.
Fritzie Zivic, "The Croat Comet."
Jack Dempsey: “Nobody owes anybody a living, but everybody is entitled to a chance. I was a miner and I was a cowboy but mostly I was a hobo. I fought wherever I could, in school halls, outside saloons, any place they were putting up a purse. I once walked thirty miles across the desert to a town called Goldfield in Nevada so I could fight for twenty dollars.
“I got beat a lot. I improved, but I remember the beatings I took. Once got beat so bad they had to take me out of the ring in a wheelbarrow. I was a pretty good fighter. But it was the writers who made me great.
“I took out other guys quick. That much is true. I got more one round knockouts than anybody, sixty knockouts in the first round. I beat a good Heavyweight in New Orleans once in fourteen seconds. I knocked out Fred Fulton, six-foot-four, 250 pounds, in nineteen seconds. How come? Not because I was a killer, other way round, I was always afraid that l'd be the one who was killed. Get them quick and you live to fight another day.”
Boxers chop wood as a form of training to build strength, improve coordination, and enhance their punching power. It's a functional movement that engages multiple muscle groups, including the back, core, and shoulders, while also improving grip strength and stamina. The rotational movement involved in chopping wood also mirrors the kinetic linking motion used in punches. Let's get a few photos in here of some boxers chopping wood, shall we? This is a famous photo of Earnie Shavers holding an axe after chopping some wood.
Muhammad Ali chopping trees. There's actually a funny story with Ali chopping wood, there was a video of Muhammad Ali chopping a tree down. He had been working on it for a long time and it was almost chopped. It looked like just one or two more whacks and the tree would fall, but Ali kept swinging the axe over and over and over and the tree was still standing. Ali, out of breath, breathing hard, puts the axe down for a second, looks at the camera and says, "This tree is tougher than Joe Frazier!"
Max Baer chopping wood.
George Chuvalo chopping a tree in the snow, this image reminds me of Rocky 4, when Rocky was training for Drago in Russia, chopping wood in the snow.
Jack Dempsey chopping wood.
George Foreman takes a break during a wood chopping session and lifting a piece of log after chopping it.
George Foreman used to do all kinds of things to build up his strength and power, here he is seen carrying a cow in a training session in 1975.
Teddy Yarosz, "The Monaca Mauler", he was a great pound for pound fighter, one of the best technical boxers I've seen on film, won the Middleweight championship from Vince Dundee in 1934 and moved up to light heavyweight where he beat Billy Conn and Archie Moore, two of the best ever at light heavy. He also holds wins over Ken Overlin, Lou Brouillard, Ben Jeby, Solly Krieger, Tommy Freeman, Babe Risko, and Pete Latzo, that's quite a list of scalps.
A Teddy Yarosz cartoon in the newspaper.
Teddy Yarosz and Billy Conn.
At Madame Bey's camp, the great boxing trainer Ray Arcel with his 3 charges: heavyweight champ Primo Carnera, light heavyweight champ Bobby Olin, and middleweight champion Teddy Yarosz.
Teddy Yarosz on film vs Vince Dundee, absolutely beautiful technical boxing, love the background music in this video.