An online search doesn't provide very good answers. Bramble and Starling can't be the correct answer, especially since the former didn't always use it. I'm thinking there has to be an Old Timer who employed it.
Re: First Fighters To Use The High Guard
Posted: 10 Jun 2025, 12:50
by Caractacus
wasn't sure what you were referring to, but I just watched (some) video of Marlon Starling fighting.
It just looks like a slightly modified version of the "Peekaboo' style (which of course was
a modified version of the earlier 'shell-fighting' style dating back to at least the 1930's.
the High-guard looks like it may have been employed with boxers with a longer then average reach,
where the elbows down can already protect the liver and kidneys, rather then having to move the arms
up and down as a fighter with a shorter reach would have had to do, to protect those vital areas
with a traditional Peek a Boo defense,
Re: First Fighters To Use The High Guard
Posted: 10 Jun 2025, 17:40
by Expug
Micky Ward used it. I was trying to think who I saw using it recently from past fights. He did it against Gatti. Maybe he found that to be functional for his left hook to the head then go to the body with it
Re: First Fighters To Use The High Guard
Posted: 11 Jun 2025, 14:47
by Caractacus
could Terry Downes have been an early user of the "High Guard" ? whaddya think ?
-1960-
Re: First Fighters To Use The High Guard
Posted: 11 Jun 2025, 15:01
by Caractacus
-1966-
Re: First Fighters To Use The High Guard
Posted: 11 Jun 2025, 19:31
by Seamus
Hard to think someone much earlier would have used a high guard, Draw back to it is you can't throw power shots from that position.
Re: First Fighters To Use The High Guard
Posted: 12 Jun 2025, 06:05
by JC
It's probably something that evolved over time, in degrees, so it might be hard to nail down to a specific fighter
Could be more a case of a era where it had become commonplace.
From the footage there is of Marcel Cerdan he seemed to have a higher guard than most 1930/40s fighters.
Re: First Fighters To Use The High Guard
Posted: 12 Jun 2025, 13:27
by Caractacus
What about Slapsie Maxi Rosenbloom ?
Cus D'Amato had once said that his Peekaboo style had been based
on how Max Rosenbloom had fought.
Re: First Fighters To Use The High Guard
Posted: 12 Jun 2025, 13:30
by Caractacus
-1975-
-1976-
Re: First Fighters To Use The High Guard
Posted: 12 Jun 2025, 16:25
by Caractacus
I remember reading where Cus D'Amato had once said that he had based the "Peekaboo" style on watching
Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom fight back in the 1920's.
-1955-
Re: First Fighters To Use The High Guard
Posted: 28 Jun 2025, 13:26
by Caractacus
what about Joey Maxim ?
-1952-
Re: First Fighters To Use The High Guard
Posted: 28 Jun 2025, 14:04
by Caractacus
I think I may have finally figured it out
(was just watching a Winky Wright bout to view the style)
back around the turn of the last century (ca 1900)
Australian boxers were known for having a 'High Guard"
Here is Australian boxer and JR MW Champion Rocky Mattioli from the 1970's, Whaddya think ?
Re: First Fighters To Use The High Guard
Posted: 01 Jul 2025, 07:10
by pound per pound
Caractacus wrote: ↑10 Jun 2025, 12:50
wasn't sure what you were referring to, but I just watched (some) video of Marlon Starling fighting.
It just looks like a slightly modified version of the "Peekaboo' style (which of course was
a modified version of the earlier 'shell-fighting' style dating back to at least the 1930's.
the High-guard looks like it may have been employed with boxers with a longer then average reach,
where the elbows down can already protect the liver and kidneys, rather then having to move the arms
up and down as a fighter with a shorter reach would have had to do, to protect those vital areas
with a traditional Peek a Boo defense,
The peekaboo style has a hole to the hook. It is best used by a fighter who moves his feet and can counter.
Winky Wright is an excellent example. Now he had a high guard / chin down type of style and could cover the body and move his feet a bit. A grade A fighter defensively.