The art of body punching for many is a lost art due in part to
the scoring system used in International Amateur Boxing.
Flashback 30 years to 1981 and the story was the same.
The RING magazine Associate Editor, Randy Gordon outlined
the issue in the December 1981 issue. The article was titled
randy gordon on The Once Glorious Art Of Body-Punching
Takes A Licking.
The story started with a look back at one of the Ali vs Frazier fights.
Ali was quoted:
"The fight was the closest thing to death. Frazier hit me with
body punches that made we want to quit.
JOE FRAZIER was also quoted:
"Kill the body and the head will die"
In his article Gordon mentions some great body punchers such as
Henry Armstrong, Tony Zale and Robert Duran.
Getting back to amateurs in top level competition,
the body punching skills and application appears to be
a non-starter. So the question is when are the high level officials
and coaches in amateur boxing going to recognize the importance
and traditions of the sport of boxing after all competition in the ring
is not a fencing duel with boxing gloves.
