One of the many things I love about classic boxing is the cliché. Does anyone know when "Don't hook with a hooker" first came about? Or some high profile examples? Thanks in advance.
Bert Sugar often said "I like the way you work it. I gotta bag it up." and he would say this after saying you never hook with a hooker but you can John or even Jane, if you're a dame. Sugar was very progressive for his time. Which spanned from BC to AD.
Fernando Vargas against Felix Trinidad. Vargas did well to make it competitive but atleast two of the knockdowns came from him trying to go hook for hook with Tito which usually never ended well. Barkley against Benn. Benn came out fast and floored Barkley quickly, Barkley got up and hurt Benn but continued to fight up close throwing weak hooks and uppercuts to get him out of there. Issue is that Benn was a younger much faster and more explosive puncher and packed way more heat behind his shots. Holyfield against Bert Cooper and Riddick Bowe in their rubber match. Against Cooper he tried to trade with the harder punching man, got caught and went crashing into the ropes. In the Bowe Trilogy he dropped Bowenwith his own left hook but then callously rushed him with a combination of hooks, intercepted by the much bigger Bowe's own tighter more well timed hooks. Led to him being stopped for the first time. Joshua against Ruiz in their first fight. Joshua was the bigger and stronger man but was slower and less durable. Similarly to Holyfield, dropped Ruiz, then rushed in to get a finish and got with an awkward shot from Ruiz
