When did in-fighting at HW stop being a thing?

What Wlad did wasn't remotely similar to what old school fighters did. Wlad groped and almost bear hugged his opponents with the sole intention of preventing them from mounting any sort of offence on the inside. On occasion he actually used his clinch as a weapon to wear out the legs of his opponents by literally standing on tip toes and pressing all his weight down on the backs of their necks. There was no possibility of getting any sort of leverage for legal shots in such a position, and the fact that the referees let him get away with it for years meant that shorter fighters especially were at a tremendous disadvantage when fighting him.

The clinching that old school fighters did in comparison allowed both men to continue the action, albeit with limited punch selection (mostly body shots and uppercuts) and didn't have any negative effects on either man. On occasion there was some rough housing and wrestling for control of the ring, but it was mostly just a slightly diminished form of regular fighting, and would often break up on its own.

Ali's clinch was a mix of both. It was used to tie fighters up, but the way he held them (round the back of the neck) still allowed them to get leverage for bodyshots. It limited their offence but didn't totally shut it down.

Old school clinching I have no problem with. Wlad style clinching is a flagrant abuse of the rules and should be stamped out the next time it looks like it's coming back into fashion.

 

Like I said above there were differences in how they clinched. Wlad's clinching completely shut down any offensive options the opposing fighters had and actually drained them due to how physically exhausting it was to constantly have a giant 240lbs man pushing down on you every couple of seconds. It was basically an illegal tactic which he got away with for years. Was it effective? Yes. But so would kneeing your man in the balls every time he tried to throw a combo. Doesn't make it right within the rules.

Ali's clinching was a behind the head clinch, almost like a loose Thai clinch, that still allowed fighters to work the body. It wasn't quite like the old school Dempsey era clinching that allowed both fighters to work simultaneously but wasn't so egregious as the Wlad bear hugging limpet hold by any stretch of the imagination.

 

So why did this form of clinch fighting die out? Did it just pass out of fashion, as seems likely, or were there practical reasons for abandoning it?

 

Solid answer.