Why is holding and hitting such a big deal?

[Frank Ducketts]

well mayweather was holding like crazy during the fight with mosley...i personally hate holding but the ref allows it for some reason lol

Stop lying lol... Floyd held Shane when he got buzzed. Shane was the one holding the whole damn fight.

[Scott9945]

Theres a difference between what those guys do and someone that just grabs someone to steady them and hits them once or twice and carries on.

Refs should be a LOT less lenient when it comes to clinching imo, but if theyre going to allow guys like Berto to grab as much as they want, they just shouldnt get all wah wah if the other fighter just does a quick grab punch combo. Kind of like what Lennox Lewis used to do, with his grab and right uppercut combo.

You can ask Michael Grant about that.

[Steak]

yall should watch some olds fights in the 70s. A lot of the infighting in those happened in clinch, where both fighters were slightly tied up but could still rip out hard shots and hurt the opponent.

anyone who believes that holding and hitting takes no skill to pull off has no idea what theyre talking about. theres a reason why certain fighters are much better at it than others.

holding very briefly is just a way of repositioning your opponent so that they will get hit by a punch. its also risky too, because your holding arm isnt there to protect you.

people that hold continually to simply puss their way out of an infight are FAR worse than someone that holds briefly to land a punch and then continues to fight.

[BattlingNelson]

I guess it depends upon the degree of holding. It's clear that holding and hitting is against the rules and can most often clearly be separated from infighting. Most blatant master of holding and hitting is probably Lewis. Personally I never understood how he got away with it, because from my vantage point he was clearly fouling in almost all his championship fights.

[HARLEM AL]

I think holding is only good for certain fighters. Ala Ricky Hatton.