Fighters who never pulled any dirty stuff in the ring

[elfag]

Morales

Vitali

[Verstyle]

I've talked to some champions in boxing, contenders, and some trainers. Some things are so smooth, you can't tell that it's dirty. Sorta like person that pickpockets. I sparred a vet ex-world champion and he did one of those moves. He stepped on my foot and swung simultaneously and when I tried to get out of the way of the punch which didn't connect I fell because he was on my foot and I didn't have balance. It was a step in punch. Step in is the key word. Haha. They start giving me the 8 count out loud. Haha.

That's what it would of been if it happened in a real fight. Now a move like that wouldn't or rarely get seen by someone watching on TV or live.

[rorymac]

Kostya Tszyu very clean figher, i remember watching a few fights of his were his opponent was fighting dirty and he never retaliated. the Miguel Ángel González fight in particular

He nailed Hatton with a pretty mean low blow.

The most truly clean fighter ever is probably B-Hop.









jk

[GrandpaBernard]

I've talked to some champions in boxing, contenders, and some trainers. Some things are so smooth, you can't tell that it's dirty. Sorta like person that pickpockets. I sparred a vet ex-world champion and he did one of those moves. He stepped on my foot and swung simultaneously and when I tried to get out of the way of the punch which didn't connect I fell because he was on my foot and I didn't have balance. It was a step in punch. Step in is the key word. Haha. They start giving me the 8 count out loud. Haha.

That's what it would of been if it happened in a real fight. Now a move like that wouldn't or rarely get seen by someone watching on TV or live.

I wonder how good refs are at spotting things like that.

Being able to fight dirty sounds very valuable based off your story

[Barn]

He nailed Hatton with a pretty mean low blow.

The most truly clean fighter ever is probably B-Hop.









jk

No, it was actually Fritzie Zivic.

[nomadman]

Pretty hard question to answer. I'm sure there are plenty of superficially clean fighters who pull off little tricks in the ring like Verastyle mentioned which wouldn't normally be spotted either by the referee or the crowd but which give them little advantages that might help to win the fight. There's definitely an art to dirty boxing.

[richwasson4]

It's a hard one that

[McGoorty]

Getting away with a foul here and there has been an effective part of most fighters' toolbox since the dawn of the sport. Low blows with the referee out of position, borderline kidney shots, subtle headbutts... great fighters usually know how to pull if off without getting caught; or at the very least, they know how many times they can foul before losing a point.

Does anyone have any examples of fighters who never broke the rules period?

I don't think Les Darcy ever fouled deliberately, of course this may be disputed but it doesn't seem to have been in his nature. I cant think of anyone else off the top of my head.

[jaded]

I can't remember Pac ever fouling anyone.

It's true what Verastyle said...Holyfield has the art of the unintentional head butt down to a science. He always does it from an angle where the ref can't see it and always follows up immediately with a punch to cover his tracks. I can't remember him ever being as much as warned for it...never had a point deducted for it...but has done it more than anyone.

[Anthony342]

Yeah true. When talks of Holyfield's second fight with Tyson come up, it's usually mentioned that Tyson bit Holyfield because of frustration over being headbutted by Holyfield. While that might be partially true, I always thought Tyson was just looking for a way out, like many others have also said, like Teddy Atlas. But if you watch post fight interviews, you see guys from Tyson's camp complaining about the headbutts afterwards. The guy could've just headbutted back or told the ref to warn Holy or thrown a low blow or two. Isn't that what boxers usually do when they're fouled and the ref doesn't do anything about it. I heard that's what happened in the Pep/Saddler fights, they fouled each other a lot.

Although I do remember an early Pacquiao fight in the Philippines where he rushed in and knocked down an opponent. It happened so fast it looked like it was from a punch, but in replays, you can see Manny's head bumped into the guy's chin and then I think it was followed up by a punch. Didn't look deliberate though.