[Warning: This Lesson from the Masters, is a no-go in today's boxing/MMA rules but it still holds value for self-defense. It's insane to think that such tactics were at one time hunky-dory.]
Let's spend a little time with a man whose parents seem to have some idea of what they were bringing forth when they christened him Oscar Matthew Battling Nelson. While raised in the United States, Nelson was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1882 and this hometown led to another of his nicknames "The Durable Dane" and he was exactly that-durable.
Nelson was never noted a stylist, as a matter of fact, he was as far from pretty as one can get but he was old school Tough with a capital "T." He would emerge from his corner with his arms crossed in front of him and start throwing with wild abandon, seemingly always swinging for the fences.
Nelson could be the poster-boy for the "I'll take three of his to give one of mine" school of fighting. Notice I said fighting and not boxing. As fearsome as the man was inside the ring no one mistook what he did inside the ring for anything resembling "the sweet science."
Battling Nelson, (often shortened to simply Bat), just went after an opponent kept coming seemingly no matter the consequences. He fought two 40-round fights (both are in the Top 10 Longest Bouts of the 20th-Century) in one of those bouts in 1902 vs. Christy Williams there were a total of 49 knockdowns (the most in boxing history.) Bat was down 7 times, Williams 42, which goes a long way to establish Williams as being mighty durable himself.
Our Durable Dane once broke his left arm in the middle rounds of a 15-rounder but soldiered on, explaining at the end of the fight "It made me somewhat cautious and kept me winning by a knockout."
All right, there is no doubt that Battling Nelson was one of the most ferocious fighters to ever step into the ring, but this already mentioned lack of finesse would seem to preclude him from teaching we 21st Century fighters anything about the sweet science, after all, physical hardihood and sheer pluck is hard to drill.
Consider this, Nelson, as you might have guessed, was not the cleanest of fighters, his inside work was exceptionally vicious. Jack London, the noted author of such classics as The Call of the Wild and The Sea Wolf, was also an avid boxing fan (Jack did a bit of boxing himself) and he often reported on major fights for newspapers. London, not necessarily a fan of the vicious Dane's style dubbed him "The Abysmal Brute."
One of Bat's quasi-legal tactics was dubbed the "scissors" punch. In the era of skintight gloves, Nelson would fire a lead hook to the liver with his thumb and index finger extended in, well, scissors-fashion. This additional bit of pin-point penetration when the body is used to percussive blows is a bit more disconcerting than you would think.
It is not determined whether Nelson would deliver the "scissors" punch with his hook hand palm facing downward or towards himself but experimentation has revealed, at least for me, that the palm down version allows for better liver penetration.
Now, before you go smacking the bag or pads with this bit of nastiness allow me to say that my experimentation has also revealed that apparently my hands are not as durable as the Durable Dane's. That is I find it is mighty easy to jam up my thumb and particularly my index finger when throwing this "scissors" hook into the mix. But...
The following variation/adaptation seems to work mighty nicely for those with anything less than Battling Nelson's adamantine skeleton. I have dubbed it The Nelson Dig.
To throw the Nelson Dig
- Fire your lead hook to the liver but...
- As it travels turn the hand palm down.
- Extend the thumb-not completely.
- While giving a bit of support with the second-knuckle of the index-finger.
Once you find the correct thumb-forefinger bolstering position this blow can be delivered with some surprising speed and power but it doesn't exactly need power behind it. That penetrating shot to the liver is mighty unsettling.
Again, this tactic is for the street, or historical recreation purposes-no more.
