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Hemingway, Tarzan, & the Apache: A Dirty Boxing Ramble by Mark Hatmaker

 


“Dirty Boxing” in today’s parlance has a specific connotation, a more sportive one at that.

Dirty Boxing as it applies to 21st century MMA is the combination of striking, clinch control and takedowns that take place in the variants of the over-under clinch. We have an entire course on that topic titled, surprise, surprise Dirty Boxing. [Click that link to view.]

The term “Dirty Boxing” prior to the 21st century, particularly from the 1920s thru the 1990s referred to all the fouling aspects of the game, be they intentional or accidental.

There was an entire cadre of fighters in the 1920s thru the early 1940s in particular, who made extensive canny “hidden” use of a bewildering arsenal of “dirty” tricks.

This arsenal, for the most part, thinned and all but disappeared in the great culling of talent that was World War II.

The dirty boxing that remained in post-war years was a clumsier more haphazard variety.

For a compendium of these early “dirty tactics” see our courses Illegal Boxing and Extreme Boxing.

Prior to the WWII culling we find “dirty boxing” to be a common part of the game, so common that we find it easily referenced inside works of literature with no real need of explanation.


Here’s just one example from Ernest Hemingway who was no stranger to putting on the gloves.

It goes along that for three rounds more. They don't talk. They're working all the time. We worked over Jack plenty too, in between the rounds. He didn't look good at all but he never does much work in the ring. He don't move around much and that left hand is just automatic. It's just like it was connected with Walcott’s face and Jack just had to wish it in every time. Jack is always calm in close and he doesn't waste any juice. He knows everything about working in close too and he's getting away with a lot of stuff. While they were in our corner I watched him tie Walcott up, get his right hand loose, turn it and come up with an uppercut that got Walcott’s nose with the heel of the glove. Walcott was bleeding bad and leaned his nose on Jack's shoulder so as to give Jack some of it too, and Jack sort of lifted his shoulder sharp and caught him against the nose, and then brought down the right hand and did the same thing again.—Ernest Hemingway, “Fifty Grand.” From Men Without Women, [1927.]

Heeling, smearing, hacksaws, shoulder work and all the myriad “hidden tactics” were coin of the realm of the early prize ring. Again see our courses Illegal Boxing & Extreme Boxing for the how-to.

There was a form of boxing that was labeled “dirty” even prior to this. You find it in old Frontier accounts of the Old Southwest, particularly referring to the open-hand “slapping” of the Southwest and Plains Indians who had no closed fist system among them. [The Apache, Comanche, Hopi, Navajo, Zuni and others.]

Let us look to another bit of literature for an incident of this even earlier “dirty boxing” versus a fictional heavyweight champ.

This time our dirty boxer is a personage no less than Lord Greystoke, Tarzan of the Apes.

Here, Tarzan scuffles with Mullargan, the heavyweight champion of the world on safari in Darkest Africa.

Mullargan grinned, a twisted, sneering grin. The poor boob was pretty fresh, he thought, getting funny like that with the Heavyweight Champion of the world. “So you're that Tarzan chump,” he said; then he swung that lethal right straight for Tarzan's chin.

He was much surprised when he missed. He was more surprised when the ape-man dealt him a terrific below on the side of the head with his open palm, a blow that felled him half stunned.—Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan and the Champion”



“Tarzan and the Champion” originally appeared in a 1940 issue of Blue Book magazine and was later part of a tri-tale compendium titled Tarzan and the Castaways [1964.]

BTW-For those seeking to read either or both tales. Hemingway’s is a fine one. The Tarzan tale is from the last batch produced by Burroughs and is far and away below the high standard the series began with. Feel free to skip—I read and research it all so you don’t have to. You’re welcome.

So, why did I offer you Tarzan as the “Apache” example of Dirty Boxing?

One-Because Tarzan uses an empty hand to deck the trained champ.

Two-Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs was a former cavalryman. As a matter of fact, he served with the 7th U.S. Cavalry at Fort Grant in Arizona Territory. This was in the late 1890s. A few Apache tussles were still to be had.

Three—As a matter of fact, it is surmised by those in the know that his Tarzan is more of a case of taking the know-how and trail prowess of the Apache and rather than “Make a white man like an Indian” which was already a common theme stretching back to James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales, he simply transported the idea of a schooled “White Apache” to the Continent of Africa.

A close read of the Tarzan novels reveals much “Apache-ness” within.



Tarzan’s evading the boxer’s schooled punch and returning an educated Apache open-hand is likely borne of Burrough’s witnessed experience in Arizona Territory.

Dirty Boxing from its sportive connotations today, to its clumsy applications in the ring from 1942 forward, wiser iterations in the pre-War period and even earlier manifestations from Warrior Tribes is a game not to be ignored.

To learn more see Illegal Boxing, Dirty Boxing, Extreme Boxing, Street Defense System [in particular Volumes 1 & 2], and The Black Box Subscription Service.

Resources for Livin’ the Warrior Life

The Black Box Store

https://www.extremeselfprotection.com/

The Indigenous Ability Blog

https://indigenousability.blogspot.com/

The Rough ‘n’ Tumble Raconteur Podcast

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