We can admire a master boxer, we can be gripped by the heated tenacity of a slugger, but when it comes to excitement, there is absolutely nothing like watching the predatory nature of a one punch knockout artist at work. Some stalk and force the issue, others cleverly create opportunity, find a gap and seize the moment; either way, when the end comes, it comes quick , instinctively and often in the most brutal manner imaginable.

Bill Cayton of Mike Tyson / Mike Grant / Bigfightsinc. fame once said in his excitement following a victory by his then rising protégé Tommy Morrison, "There are only four heavyweights in history that I can recall having the natural propensity to throw a great left hook, that is Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Joe Frazier and Tommy!" With all due respect to Morrison, who in this case may have just been associated in an overzealous excitement frenzy fueled by the spur of the moment, Cayton is a well respected authority and his opinion I value highly, his keywords are valid and worthy in this argument.

"Natural propensity," in other words the aforementioned knockout greats -Morrison apart- had nature's instinct or to put a finer point on it , they were genetically blessed with the ability to deprive you of your senses by delivering a precise and powerful hooked punch. Are you sold by Mr. Cayton's theory?  I do agree that many natural knockout punchers do work on instinct, which is why many reputed Tater men or homerun hitters will either knock you out or get knocked out. I call this my 'kill or be killed' theory.

My two examples of this theory are the fearsome heavyweights Mike Weaver and Earnie Shavers, both imposing figures, both prolific bangers, yet dotted within their astonishing records you will find evidence of TKO or KO by  losses.

Mike and Earnie were such instinctive operators that occasionally their lack of self preservation would play second fiddle to their predatory natures. In plain terms, when opportunity knocked or even half knocked, their instincts would prove so overwhelming that all other aspects of their make-up would go straight out of the window (they would forget all about the meaning of defense), and more advanced opposition would use their eagerness against them by literally meeting fire with fire. Weaver was frequently KO'd , Earnie too suffered that fate on many occasions, most memorably to the game Jerry Quarry in a final eliminator in 1973. These two were truly natural punchers, cultivated by their humble beginnings.

Joe Frazier showed flair for power as a child so it was honed on their Carolina dirt farm by thudding awesome hooks into a maize filled sack hung in a farm out building, while Earnie protests that he developed the power through his teen years chopping trees with an axe ... a story as country as a pan of corn bread. Both fighters may or may not have added to their gift by enhancing it by the rawest of means, but naturals by birth I truly believe they were.

Yet there are arguments that a non puncher can be taught to punch by a very shrewd trainer. A skinny Tennessee lightweight with barely any KO pedigree would move to Detroit , grow through a couple of weight divisions and become one of history's most feared Knockout assassins. Thomas Hearns was the brainchild of Emmanuel Steward; he picked up good technique, obtained a unique style and gained respect  by anaesthetizing many stern challengers in brutal fashion.

Did Manny work wonders, or could the skinny kid punch all along?  I prefer to believe the latter. Thomas was a natural puncher, who just needed help in tapping into his talent, Manny would just be that rarest of men who knew just how to uncover the Hearns power, by going through layers of tweaking in 100 degree temperatures at Kronk Gym. Once Tommy pulled on the Gold and Blue drawers a transformation took place, he would strike fear into almost every man he faced, until finally he developed physically to the point where he would appear as a fully muscled Light heavyweight that would crush the established WBC light heavyweight belt holder Dennis Andres to a pulp in one of Boxing's most remarkable step by step weight leaps in history, carrying power from jr. welter to Light heavyweight, more impressively as a solid knockout artist.

Was Hearns a natural knockout artist? Yes, he probably was.  Even as a skinny kid in Memphis he truly probably had the natural propensity to land a crushing knockout blow, had he been taught to hone it from an earlier age.

You can't teach a fighter how to be a knockout artist, but you may uncover a boxer's gift by teaching proper principals; nevertheless, the knockout demon was always in there, somewhere...

1-29-2005

 

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