Page:Athletics and Manly Sport (1890).djvu/86

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
DONNELLY AND COOPER ON THE CURRAGH.
61

The blows taught by Mendoza were of three kinds—"round, straight, and chopping blows." The round blow he considered the unskilled effort; and, strange to say, he depended most on the silly "chopper," with the back of the hand, from above downward, a blow that no sane boxer would attempt to-day, except in fun. The straight blows were for the face and "wind."

There is not a word in the Manual about the CROSS-COUNTERED.
(Instantaneous Photograph.)
cross-counter, the upper-cut, or the scientific round blow,—the three best blows of modern boxing.

In Mendoza's time, "gouging," that is, scooping out the eyes of an opponent, was constantly practised; and, in other respects, the prize-ring was a place of cruel and barbarous practices.