The fighters themselves can’t be blamed for everything. Much of the responsibility for present day mediocrity lies in poor coaching. Men like Billy Delaney, Parson Davies, Doc Robb, Tom O’Rourke and Young Otto, among dozens of others of the old school, knew the game thoroughly. Many of today’s trainers know less about boxing than the lads they are trying to instruct. Doc Robb taught Benny Leonard to box when Benny was a kid, and even when Leonard was champion he looked to Robb to advise him on the finer points. Years ago, pugilism was an art and good instructors were in abundance. They were the “professors” who taught their charges proper stance before any other aspect of boxing was discussed. Watching today’s lads in gymnasiums both here and abroad, or in ring battles, one can see how little most present day boxers have been taught. For every top coach or trainer today there are a dozen or more poor ones who have no business in the ring looking after a fighter. Among the few who rate high in my book as teachers today are Whitey Bimstein, Jimmy August, Angelo Dundee, Bill Gore, Freddie Brown, Dan and Nick Florio, Izzy Kline, George Chemaris, Johnny Sullo, Chickie Ferrera, Charley Goldman and Doc Moore. * * * * * The art of boxing was at its height long before padded gloves took the place of bare fists. The oldest of sports, it began before the Christian era dawned. Boxing matches were fought with the cruel metal-studded cestus, one of which, discovered in the old ruins of Pompeii by me in 1922, now rests in _The Ring_ Museum in Madison Square Garden. The cestus was abandoned as civilization advanced. Bare fist fighting became a leading sport in Great Britain during the eighteenth century, and from there it spread to America. It was only slightly less dangerous than the old Roman way of boxing and those who practiced it just had to learn how to protect themselves. Since necessity is the mother of invention, the bare knuckle warriors discovered much that continued to be useful after gloves were introduced. Unfortunately, much of this has been forgotten with the passage of years as fighters became less cautious of their weapons and correct hitting began to give way to wild swinging. In the bare knuckle days, a straight left was the foundation of ring strategy. It was not a tap to be ignored, such as one frequently sees today, but a punishing blow that often produced a knock-down. Feinting, which was best exemplified among gloved fighters by Jack Johnson, is for the most part a lost art today, as is punching with the full weight of the body behind the blow.