The Clinch, How Does It Work and Who Does It Best?

Just in my opinion… Gene Fullmer look what he does to weaponise it against Robinson, he just muals him all over the ring and the second an arm gets free… he used it the way the guys in the 1800s did, very wrestling focused very tiring. I think Emile Griffith was great at locking guys up and I think Duran was good at using it to open them up to go inside… he did this cheeky thing where when one of his arms was trapped he’d extend the arm trapped then uppercut with the other lol.

 

Part 2:
Ward using a headlock against Kovalev off of a missed jab to halt the action and give himself time to breathe. (6th gif on this thread: https://www.*******.com/forums/boxi...0-andre-ward-s-clinching-skills-revealed-gifs)

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Terence Crawford, Floyd Mayweather, and Shakur Stevenson all have very educated clinch games in terms of defence as well, though Crawford is more offensive with the clinch than the other two. Keyshawn Davis also seems to know his way around the clinch.

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In a similar vein:

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Erislandy Lara is quite good at using the clinch defensively. Notice how the clinch comes off of the left hand he delivers. Lara steps in with the straight left he throws, closing the distance and allowing him to clinch. Lara maintains a solid base, gets some head control with his right glove, and clamps down the right arm of Williams with and overhook with his left arm. (2nd gif here https://www.badlefthook.com/2014/12...ra-vs-ishe-smith-fight-breakdown-and-analysis)

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Nice little bit of head control from Rigondeaux against Donaire. (The first Donaire gif here https://www.thefight-site.com/home/rigondeaux-vs-casimero-a-drifting-legacy)

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Rigo also showed off some pretty solid physical boxing, inside fighting, and clinch work against Ricardo Cordoba. He's not known as a physical fighter but he could physically manipulate opponents quite well.
Devin Haney ofc uses clinches very extensively for defence.
Plenty of the best out of Philly understand the clinch well. B-Hop, Stephen Fulton, and Jaron Ennis in particular.
Canelo is a better clincher than he's given credit for imo too. Some pretty solid clinching initiated by Canelo in this video.

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Ricky Hatton landing a right uppercut off of a collar tie against Senchenko (https://wifflegif.com/gifs/26041-ricky-hatton-boxing-gif):
Hatton was very good in the clinch. Very physical, very dirty. Used head control, frames, collar ties, overhooks, and a couple of other tricks to great effect.
Tyson Fury has some pretty crafty wrestling moves in the clinch and knows how to impose his weight on opponents.

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Miguel Cotto was pretty good in the clinch and was a fairly competent inside fighter. He was especially good against Mosley on the inside and in the clinch. A lot of good sequences in that fight of Cotto demonstrating how good he is in the clinch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a13qIkku1vQ
James Toney was a tremendous inside fighter and by extension was also a very capable clincher.
Aaron Pryor was also a very talented inside fighter and clincher.

 

Updated my post to be more in line with the thread

 

After seeing those performances vs Pep,I thought Saddler could be a good Muay Thai fighter,a lot of tricks he did literally screams Muay Thai clinch fighting,he'll just lock your head,give your neck a 100 pound collar tie and always limits Pep's movement with underhooks to set up smashes...

That's damn vintage Muay Thai,I swear, Saddler would've been a master too with all his elbowing and dirty footwork, he's basically just a black Yodkhunpon Sittraiphum.

 

Some gifs of Andre Ward initiating clinches:
https://gifer.com/es/GvGD
https://gifer.com/es/EF9p
https://gifer.com/es/CiFl
https://gifer.com/es/5Tw5
https://gifer.com/es/EFAD
https://gifer.com/es/9Ie5
Gifs of Ward using the clinch offensively:
https://gifer.com/es/EF9t
https://gifer.com/es/EFA4
https://gifer.com/es/AKWs
https://gifer.com/es/EFA7

 

Archie Moore would be my first stop.

 

I am late to the party because of work yesterday and am just now seing this thread which is one of the best topics I have seen in months!! Of course it was started by you!

Regarding Sandy, you are absolutely correct that he is one of the best. To add to your post, it's been a while since I watched those Pep vs Sadler fights but I remember he would use the clinch to walk Pep to where he wanted to engage him. He was smart like that. Take a mobile fighter like Pep and nit only rough him up but walk him away from the center of the ring and to the ropes. BHOP was another guy that was great at that. I think it gets list on some folks how physical exhausting those clinches can be. Strategically, clinching has won lots of fights for guys when facing faster opponents or guys that wanted to fight at a certain distance.

 

Ward is probably the best over the last 20 years or so. I would say Ward and BHOP for sure.

 

I normally wouldn't associate Ricky Hatton as one of the best but if anyone wants to see a masterful performance related to effective clinching, look no further than was he did against Tzysu in their fight. He simply didn't allow Tzysu any space to land his straight right hand and he used his physicality to move Tzysu around and to the ropes all the while working him to the body. He suffocated him in that fight and Tzysu was so exhausted after 11 rounds, he did the unthinkable and quit.

 

Fullmer's strength was definitely his strength. When people think about defense, they often don't think about clinching. I know I certainly don't but it is truly an important part of the sport and guys like Fullmer and Hatton used it to perfection in there careers. To neutralize offense is defense in my book.

 

The clip below shows elements of Hatton's brilliant performance against Tzysu. It drives me nuts when folks don't give him credit for this win and say he cheated. He fought a tactically brilliant fight using the tactics discussed in this thread. Going into this fight, I thought Tzysu would stop Hatton inside of four rounds. I was waaaaaay off with the prediction.

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Very cool and informative post George! Cheers and thanks

 

He held and hit and mugged his way throughout the fight and Parriss repeatedly let him get away with it. It was actually disgraceful. Zoo was passed his best as well. I do not give Hatton much credit for that one.

 

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree. Did you watch the clip? I will say that my old trainer would have agreed with you 100%. He would smack are arms when we grabbed/held in sparring. He was a boxing purest that hated that side of the game but as I have gotten older, I have learned to appreciate it. As for the ref, it is their job to break the fighters and some will certainly stay out of the way more than other. It certainly did help Hatton to have a ref that allowed the rough stuff on the inside. He deserves credit for having an excellent gameplan and executing it perfectly against one of the all time great fighters at 140.

 

I consider Ward one of the best ever when it comes to fighters knowing their way around the clinch and the inside. I think he stands shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Duran, Armstrong, and Chavez in that regard quite honestly. I really do have a tremendous amount of admiration for Andre Ward. He was such a skilful and deliberate pugilist. There's scarcely any part of the sweet science which he wasn't at least very good at. He's a really great fighter to learn from because of how technically sound he is and how versatile he is.