1931

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has to carry out three separate acts to the attacker's one. Hence,
the boxer who has the initiative has an advantage, theoretically, of
at least three to one.
It will be found in actual practice that this
estimate is not far wrong
Determination.
As a general rule, the cause of failure of an attack made within
distance is the lack of decision in delivery. An attack to be
successful must be made with the determination of reaching its
objective.
The idea of possible failure must never be allowed to
enter the mind; if
it does, it will create doubt and hesitation and
will kill the spirit of the attack.
The spirit of attack and the spirit of confidence are the same.
A defensive or cautious thought is like erecting an obstacle across
the road to success; the check caused by surmounting the obstacle
may produce a pause sufficiently long for the defender to anticipate
the attack and act in time against it. If there should be a
thought, other than the one of determination " to get there," it
should be how to follow up with another attack after you have
" got there."
Be both ambitious and determined
when attacking.
THE PRINCIPLES OF DEFENCE.
It is defence scientifically studied and skilfully applied which
elevates boxing to an art.
It is chiefly by means of defence that a small scientific boxer
can defeat an unskilled fighter bigger and stronger than himself.
The feeling of security which the knowledge of possessing a
sound defence gives a boxer is invaluable. It gives him the
confidence that enables him to use his judgment and formulate
plans of attack while facing an opponent in the ring. It allays in
a large measure that state of nervous agitation, which so often
plays havoc with the system
of
those who possess an imaginative
and highly strung temperament.
If you knew that your defence was so perfect that Jack Dempsey
could not hit you, it would not need a big inducement to entice
you to box him without fear of disastrous consequences.
The
parent
of
confidence is security of self.
It was the impenetrable defence of Jim Driscoll and Jimmy
Wilde which made them such formidable antagonists in the ring
and which enabled them to make their attacks with such. precision
and effectiveness.
" Safety First " applies to boxing as to everything else and
gives the confidence which is the foundation of every considered
and well-executed attack. As the spirit of defence is offence, so
it may be said with equal truth that the foundation of attack is
defence.
In war a small force would be defeated if it met a larger one
of equal skill in the open and entered into a " slogging " match
with it. Its only chance of victory would be to take up a defensive