{"id":7142,"date":"2018-08-08T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T07:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/?p=7142"},"modified":"2020-04-08T15:49:49","modified_gmt":"2020-04-08T15:49:49","slug":"biting-bare-knuckle-boxing-jack-johnson-by-mark-hatmaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/08\/biting-bare-knuckle-boxing-jack-johnson-by-mark-hatmaker\/","title":{"rendered":"\"Biting\", Bare-Knuckle Boxing, & Jack Johnson by Mark Hatmaker"},"content":{"rendered":"
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First Things First<\/h4>\nIn today\u2019s sermon \u201cbiting\u201d has nothing to do with your teeth, so rid yourself of images of Mike Tyson chowing down on Evander Holyfield\u2019s ear. In early Frontier Rough & Tumble parlance \u201cto bite\u201d was to take a shot at your opponent\u2019s punching arm with your own fist\u2014specifically an incoming fist. There is an entirely different rough & tumble vocabulary for injuring your opponent\u2019s arms while in the passive, defensive, or on-guard position which we will discuss another day.\n\nYou will find a few references to biting as a not necessarily on the square tactic in the early days of bare-knuckle work in Merrie Old England, and it made its transfer across the pond with some fighters making it a feature of their work. In America frontier rough and tumble there was no onus or pretention of \u201cThat\u2019s not quite cricket\u201d as more often than not All-In fighting was just that. Let\u2019s face it, in an era and fighting method that prided itself on numerous ways to scoop eyes, taking a shot at your opponent\u2019s arms is child\u2019s play.\n\nThe tactic survived into the early gloved era where it was often \u201chidden\u201d as a less than kosher blow, but some made no bones that it was part and parcel of their arsenal. The legendary Jack Johnson made training the \u201cBiceps punch\u201d as he called it, a standard part of his training camp. Johnson\u2019s use of the \u201cbite\u201d is ideal for those with an eye on street work and it is perfectly legal in MMA rule-sets.\n

The \u201cbite\u201d is almost exclusively a lead hand blow and can be thrown in 4 Primary Ways.<\/h4>\n
\n <\/div>\n
    \n \t
  1. As a short lazy jab to the biceps of the incoming punching arm.<\/li>\n \t
  2. As a loose open hook to the biceps.<\/li>\n \t
  3. As an elongated backfist or hammerfist.<\/li>\n \t
  4. As a rising hammerfist when the lead arm is in a down reference point point as in a Philly-Cover.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\u201cBiting\u201d has an easy correlate in the \u201cgunt\u201d of Filipino martial arts and the \u201cdefanging the snake\u201d concept that runs through practically every combat school no matter the hemisphere of origin. Whereas the \u201cgunt\u201d often has a rear hand assist or the use of the offensive rear hand as well, the \u201cbite\u201d is a lead hand tool, and seldom if ever will you see the rear hand adding to \u201csending the limb\u201d off track.\n\nFrontier rough and tumble has a very strong thread of old-school boxing running through it and there is a respect for punches [speed and power] that sees far less attempts at freezing or seizing of limbs. The old school \u201cbite\u201d will appear almost invisible, that is, it appears to be a loose aspect of a \u201creaching defense.\u201d If one will call to mind the great boxer Tommy Loughran\u2019s \u201cJab and a Half\u201d method of fighting as we detail in both DVD and book form in Boxing like the Champs, you will have a very good idea of how to throw such an animal.\n

    The Great Tommy Loughran<\/h4>\n
    \n <\/div>\nLoughran\u2019s jab was always accompanied by a reaching defense with the rear-hand. Now, Loughran\u2019s jab was kosher seeking legal targets, but that rear hand used as an aggressive adjunct of defense is on the correct page. If we look to Jack Johnson\u2019s rocked back \u201cpicking off the punches\u201d style we can see the ideal form of \u201cbiting.\n\nTo \u201cbite\u201d as Johnson did, we would shift slightly out of range, hold the hands high, allow the rear hand to \u201clay back\u201d and play catches, pats, cuffs, and muffles, while the lead hand loosely sought to find the incoming biceps of either arm. One does not have to put a lot of power into \u201cbiting,\u201d the stink of the bite comes from the opponent\u2019s own power. If he swings that hook hard, your loose hooking \u201cbite\u201d is merely acting as a punch in a head-on biceps collision.\n

    The \"bite\" offers many attractive qualities:<\/h4>\n