Most consistent dirty behaviour not called by the ref?

Holyfield head butted his way through his entire career.

 

Well if he is then Bivol is even more up against it.Bad enough having corrupt judges without having a bent ref

 

Not really. He just didn't take steps to avoid contact between his head and an opponent because he knew he had a hard head.

 

What I was going to bring up. Always remember the ref Padilla pushing Ali's glove off Fraziers neck time after time.

 

Not to be critical, but some of the referees in some of Eusebio Pedroza's title bouts, not seeing a back hand or rabbit punches and a low blow.

 

I absolutely hate excessive holding and clinching. It’s ugly, it’s not entertaining and most importantly, it’s unfair and not in the spirit.

The problem with it is that it isn’t illegal - allowable within reason as an as and when option. But the perception of “within reason”’can vary from one pundit to another - getting finite, exact agreement on what is okay or what isn’t is like asking how long is a piece of string.

It’s grossly unfair when it’s clearly employed as part of a fighters pre med strategy - as it was with Ali vs Frazier - punch, punch, punch, hold, lean and wrestle, then rinse repeat…….totally nullifying Joe’s bread and butter in close fighting - which in itself entailed NO holding or mauling on Joe’s part.

Even in fantasy fights we have to allow for it - say Frazier vs Fury.

With Tyson’s huge size, height and reach advantages, Frazier would have enough to contend with anyway in a completely open fight but atop that, we reasonably anticipate that Fury would also hold to prevent Joe doing any damage in close and he would also lean heavily to tire Joe out.

And how different refs identify excessive holding or not can make ALL the difference to the complexion and outcome - we only have to compare Superfight II to Manila, someone already referencing Padilla’s proactive slapping sway of Ali’s gloves to prevent him from holding.

Perhaps at the polar extreme, ref Jay Nady militantly insured that Ruiz couldn’t even get close enough to Roy Jones to even execute some legit in close punching.

 

Most, if not all, of the greats "BENT" the rules. Marciano was pretty good at getting away with fouls. But I think Jack Dempsey actually outdid Rocky in this department, at times. Jack was a Master at fouling, making them look innocent or accidental, until warned and then changing to a different fouling tactic. He even taught Max Baer how to get away with some slightly over the edge tactics.

 

I think they saw them just fine. Pedroza was a standout champion for that organization, so my belief is that they pretended to be blind to a lot of his stuff.

 

Obviously Russell Mora letting Mares hit Agbeko low all fight long.
The pure definition of the question.