From Oliver at Beatipoli, who used my favorite song for this.
link youtu.be/6c1jrP8en2Q
link beatipaoli.org
The thing to remember about Rocky Lockridge from a small glove or bareknuckle perspective is that his money punch, that overhand right is for the chin only and should only be used on tall men. This punch will break your hand faster than any. However, if you have the shoulders that this little fireplug brought into the ring a generation ago, this could be an open-handed blow to the forehead.
Rocky cycled his lead low, which was fine because he jabbed to the chest.
Jabbing to the chest and then right hooking to the ribs and kidney under his man's jab was really cutch for Lockridge. His style fit the short frame well and was in many ways a throwback to methods of the early gloved boxers.
The Punishing Art
Also worth noting....Rocky Lockridge is the smallish street "pimp" in the famous YouTube video of the big cocky dude getting sparked out and dropped by a textbook 1-2 after provoking a confrontation on the sidewalk.
Now I feel dumb. Realized the "pimp punch" is at the end of the video....
I am so glad that Rocky had this last moment of devastating power. I had always thought this was Andrew Council from D.C.
Old boxers seem to be able to keep their coordination, balance, and instincts even when they're well past their prime. I remember this story about Jack Dempsey from our local paper back in the '60's:
boxingmonthly.com/stories/criminal-stupidity-the-day-two-muggers-tried-to-rob-jack-dempsey
There was a photo accompanying the article with Jack holding his fist up to the camera so that the perspective made his fist look as big as a basketball.