Dirtiest fighters who seem to not be recognized for being dirty fighters

Roberto Duran, he did punch Ken Buchanan in the family jewels on June 26 1972 in Madison Square Garden to win the WBA Lightweight Title with a TKO 13.

 

In any sport, most, if not all, of the great ones! If you want greatness, you have to be willing to push the envelope, sometimes very hard!

 

Totally agree with you on Bruno. I watched his fights over the last year against Carl 'The Truth' Williams, Joe Bugner and Pierre Coetzer and mentioned in all of them what a dirty fighter he actually was.

 

Floyd was very dirty on the inside with his forearms and elbows, constantly putting it on his opponent's throat and often setting up his right hand with it.
He only lost a point for it once - against Castillo - if I'm not mistaken, but it was a tool in his arsenal throughout his career.

 

I know that there have been many who have pushed the envelope by boxing a foul laced match when the rules have been established by the referee, but if a fighter is super talented, there is no need to use foul blows, to me that shows a lack of talent and desperation, or utter frustration. Sometimes those foul tactics can come back to bite the fouler in the behind as there is always someone who can foul better.

 

Many great fighters were dirty in one way or another, varying from simple rule bending to actively trying to get disqualified.

Ali was a notorious holder during the 70's and would pull his opponent's head from behind.

Duran would sometimes just hold his opponent's bicep on the ropes and pummel him with uppercuts.

Robinson would use his forearms and hit on the break. Mayweather would do so, too.

Armstrong literally put his head under his opponent's chin, and then moved it around to disturb his balance so he couldn't attack or defend.

Larry Holmes would notoriously thumb many of his opponents.

Rocky Marciano wasn't above headbutting his opponent either.

Rarely would you see someone calling most of the aforementioned guys dirty, but they did bend the rules at least a little bit, it's up to the referee at the end of the day. Some may not like it, but most of the great Boxers weren't there just to sing and dance.

 

Lennox Lewis always holding the back of his opponent’s neck with his left hand and then hitting them with the right uppercut. Also had that 3 piece combo when Mike Acey was down, and late shots on Phil Jackson.

It’s a little tough to call, since I think the majority of top boxers have some sort of illegal tricks in their arsenal.

 

A very good case for being disqualified against Mike Acey.

 

Wilfredo Gomez was hitting Carlos Zarate when he had him down in round 5 of their Oct 28 1978 title bout before Gomez stopped Zarate.

 

I came to post this. Lewis isn't usually thought of as dirty, but damn is that a dirty move. Earnie Shavers did the same thing, I recall.

 

Hit John Emmen when he was down. Pretty dirty against Jose Ribalta too if memory serves. Always allowed to get away with it.

 

Seemed to take a long time before it was widely acknowledged just how dirty Evander Holyfield actually was.

 

Fritzie Zivic once wrote an impassioned defense of dirty fouling, in which he argued that all the greatest fighters of history were dirty fighters, and that a sly thumb to the eye was as much a thing of beuty as a crisp bolo punch.

 

Sung Kim Moon was a brute - I don’t know if he was dirty on purpose but he fouled lots.