This brutally classic bout pits Joe Frazier’s ‘Philadelphia style’ vertical fist hook against Jerry Quarry’s more nuanced shovel hook game. The problem with the shovel hook versus the vertical hook is one of physicality. The shovel hook in the hands of a large man such as Foreman destroyed Frazier’s hook-based power game. This is enabled by the taller man using a higher shoulder to protect his chin. Quarry is not equipped with the high cannonball shoulders necessary to ruin Frazier’s hook as the shovel hook slides under his hooking arm to the liver.

Young boxers should watch this fight with the recollection in mind that the hook is primarily a way for the stronger man to bring his strength to bear, while the straight punch is chiefly the means by which the weaker man denies the stronger man access to his own strength and punishes him with mechanics. The shovel hook is where both types play on the cusp of the wheel house, or tactical situation.

Quarry’s heroic effort had its moments, where one can see, that if Frazier were less well conditioned, or if Jerry had longer arms, the outcome may have differed.