All sports have their unwritten rules; rules that the athletes abide by that are not found in the rulebooks, policies or procedures manual. Football has the unwritten rules not to leave the starters in when you are leading by 3 or more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and not to run up the score on an over-matched opponent; neither of these would apply to the Tennessee Volunteers football program though. Baseball houses the unwritten rules not to mention that a pitcher is throwing a no-hitter for fear of jinxing the no-hitter. Speaking of no-hitters, another unwritten baseball rule is that the opposing team shouldn't bunt for a base hit if they are being no hit. Basketball utilizes the no trap defense when leading by a wide margin, late in the fourth quarter. Hockey's unwritten rules are not to celebrate an empty net goal, don't pick a fight with a player that wears a visor and fights should be between two willing combatants. Boxing: Boxing's unwritten rule is to touch gloves prior to the start of the final scheduled round. Some of taken this moment and forgone the unwritten rule; see Terrence Lewis vs Michael Rush for example. What are some other unwritten rules in boxing...???
after reading this forum for the last 4 years, the #1 unwritten rule of boxin is: if you get even slightly hurt during a fight, it means you're a glass-jawed fraud
Or if you're KO'd, you were an overhyped glass jaw bum....but not what I was aiming this thread at, but thanks for playing. You can take a stuffed animal off the bottom shelf as a souvenir...!!!
thanks :grouphug throwing aside the logic that goes on here, another unwritten rule is fighters embracing and shaking hands after the fight, regardless of all bad emotions pre-fight
Like you mentioned, touching gloves I always view as an important one. It actually makes me respect boxers that do. It shows a lot of respect for the sport and the opponent. It reminds you that this is civil. No hard feelings, etc.
Raise your arms at the end of the last round, whether you clearly won or not. It gives the impression to the judges and fans you won. It makes a fight seem close whether it was or not, and gives drama to the decision announcement. It's anyway just what a self-confident fighter does. Plus if he doesn't it makes it harder to insist he deserved a gift decision.
Post I saw on the Uzcat vs Plant thread got me thinking about these so I thought I'd raise this topic from the depths. One aspect of unwritten rules that annoys me are the set of assumptions around reffing and judgung the fight, particularly those that suggest a different standard for a challenger than a champion or the justification of home town advantage. You often hear commentators repeating them, they're cited if a decision seems to fly in the face of the actual fight itself. 'You have to take it from the champ' is one, when a title holder has probably narrowly lost but gets a favourable scorecard cause, hey, he's the chanp' Or you have to go in hard in the last round / 30 seconds. As if boxing involves giving greater weight to certain parts of the fight. Any others?