Weird habits of boxers?

Deontay Wilder has a bad habit of trying to catch a mosquito when in the Ring. Poor guy always seemed so adamant when trying to squash it, swinging for the fences. Most of the time he accidentally ended up catching his opponents instead. Unfortunately, that mosquito and the rest of its family ended up gettin squashed in his fights with Fury and Parker.

 

Leo Santa Cruz had that weird habit of shaking his right hand all the time.

 

Evander Holyfield bounced a lot even when he wasn’t doing anything I’d have to rewatch him and see if it was a tell or a feint or whatever but it is just distinct in my memory of “The Real Deal”

 

Well, it's obvious I need to do my obligatory weigh in on Iron Mike: whenever he got discouraged in sparring he'd bite his gloves. Notice during his fights, every time he brought both gloves up to his face he'd bite them.

 

I always liked the way he’d reset after he or his opponent backed off. He’d snap both gloves right up on his face. Seemed the product of trainers yelling “hands up!”

 

Lennox Lewis would shake his right hand prior to throwing an uppercut from up close. As he was looking for an opening to land it, he’d be shaking it.

I saw a compilation vid of him doing this over and over. Huge tell, but I guess because he was doing it when up close, the other guy usually didn’t see.

 

Lamont & Anthony Peterson's both had a weird habit of barking when they threw punches

Shane Mosley always made a weird face when he threw his overhand right

 

Watch any Ray Leonard fight and you rarely see him throw a punch in the first 60 to 90 seconds.

He would play defense, use his footwork, move in and out of range a bit and kind of want to get a feel for his opponent’s speed, power and rhythm. Size them up a bit.

It also, I think, built tension in the opponent who surely begins to be waiting to see what Ray had … like, ‘c’mon, throw something so I can see if you’re all that.’ Amazingly, he didn’t lose a lot of opening rounds despite waiting to hit the start button.

 

Both Mike and Liston had a habit of putting their lips in their mouth while jump roping.

 

Thomas Hearns would keep his left hand down by his waist and sometimes you can see him kind of shake or shimmy his left hand, but this was strategic.

Tommy would be watching the opponent’s eyes, and if they ever glanced down at the movement he’d shoot that right hand. Like dangling a bait in front of a fish.

Oliver McCall had that odd ‘drop your hands, turn your back and walk away, then reset’ thing. People made a big deal of it when he did it vs. Lewis (rightly so, as he was crying and despondent in the ring as well) but this was something he did from time to time … you can see him do the same thing against Larry Holmes, for instance.

 

Fury did so much cocaine, he would sniff his gloves out of habit as if he was ripping a line between punches. I remember laughing my ass off when this guy on youtube did a "how to fight like Fury" video and did the little herky jerk sniff motion as part of his "moveset".

 

Remember the ‘Starling Stomp?’