Examples for fair or helpful gestures between boxers ?

Kid Gavilan have Bratton such a horrendous beating in the third fight, that after the thirteenth round Gavilan had to physically guide a dazed Bratton back to his own corner as he'd been wandering towards the Kid's at the bell. Pretty sure the referee had already had to lead him back to his corner once before that point, too. @38:52

This content is protected

There was a point in Frazier's fight against Bugner where he had Bugner badly hurt and all but knocked out, with the finishing punch ready to go, but he declined to throw it as Bugner was slumped and looking away from him. Looked as if Frazier might have considered it a bit of a cheap shot. The round ended and Bugner recovered enough to continue and see out the rest of the fight. @49.53

This content is protected

 

I just watched the clip of the Bratton-Gavilan bout and it may have been more a case of "Hey buddy, you're in my corner." But it did have the air of no nastiness that seems to prevail today.

I also think of the Ali-Foreman fight after Ali nailed George in the 8th with the KO right hand. George floundered for what seemed like seconds before falling and I often wondered how many other fighters would have peppered him on the way down.

Also I think of the Larry Holmes-Marvis Frazier and Ike Williams-Beau Jack bouts where Larry and Ike both stopped their bombardments to turn to the referee to ask for the bout to be stopped as their respective opponents were helpless (I don't think too long on these, however, because when the ref wouldn't stop the bout, they returned to the bombardment).

 

Michael Ayers and Wayne Rigby 1 both fighters agreeing while fighting to stop the fight, that for me is one of the best gestures you'll ever see in a boxing ring.

 

A bout I liked for this was very recent. AJ vs Usyk. Usyk. Gent that Usyk.

 

Joe Louis had a penchant for picking up the fallen fighter, and sometimes helping him back to his corner, nice. stay safe guys.

 

Fury did that with Chisora. He also did it with Whyte (when Whyte got up after being knocked down and didn't know what planet he was on).

 

AJ got off balance and almost tripped too and Usyk let him recover and gave him a bit of a cheeky bow. He did other little things I can’t recall but what it said to me was that he didn’t need to take every opportunity and seemingly didn’t need to come out of 1st gear.

 

Can't remember which fight. But Roy Jones Jr. Had an opponent so out of it he tried to get the
Ref to stop of course the ref refused.
Ali also stopped his bombardment on Jerry Quarry, and seemed to start pulling his punches while waving the ref over. Ref stopped the fight that time.

 

I remember Ruben Olivares clocked some guy with a left hook and as the guy was falling forward unconscious Ruben caught him and lowered him to the canvas

 

I remember that Wilfredo Gomez tried to help a boxer whom he just made him fall out of the ring

 

As soon as I read the premise, I was about to pull Folley vs Ringo from my back pocket - but it was the first cab off the rank.

Sideline: How about Folley's straight right hand? What an absolute beaut!

Anyway, no dramas, in the other back pocket I had Frazier vs Bugner, another trump card BUT - dayyyuum, beaten to the punch again!

Frantically searching the front pockets now......

Okay, a strange one. After reluctantly laying a few obligatory but obviously pulled body punches on an already battered Jimmy Ellis in a clinch, Floyd Patterson "followed up" by rubbing the recently targeted area AS IF to alleviate any inflicted damage or discomfort he might've caused Jimmy. That was Floyd for you.

Another: After catching Randy Stephens with a brutal left hook and freezing him mid air for a moment before he went down, Ken Norton exercised the same benevolence as Joe Frazier (vs Bugner) by refraining from the opportunity to easily land another 2-3 punches during Stephens delayed descent to the canvas. Ken himself qualified after the fight that it was obvious Randy was done after the hook and there was no point inflicting further, unnecessary damage on a fighter since the objective of winning had already been virtually achieved.

Too bad Cooney didn't take a breath and afford Ken the same charity after Ken was clearly no longer viable to continue.

Finally, in several fights, GF beckoned the ref. to stop it when his opponent was clearly done and no longer competitive, GF even became quite angry having to appeal to the ref. to do his job properly.

Great thread premise btw. There are actually numerous examples of fair and highly admirable gestures made between fighters and the examples of same definitely add a "feel good" vibe to the sport.

 

Pugguy, your mention of Patterson-Ellis had me thinking a bit on this fight as I remembered something about the 14th round knockdown. Patterson dropped Ellis, but thinking it was a slip, Patterson began helping Ellis up. I don't believe it was ruled a knockdown, but it wouldn't have mattered. Referee Harold Valan gave the round to Patterson and, as this was a rounds scoring basis, he wouldn't have gained extra points for the knockdown anyway. Also, in the 10th round between Patterson and Charlie 'Devil' Green, Patterson dropped Green with a body shot and again, thinking it was a slip, began helping Green up. As it turned out, it was not only a knockdown, but it was also the KO punch. Always a gentleman that Patterson.