What is an example of a clean fighter using a rough house tactic?

Stiff arming isn’t technically legal is it? If it’s not 100% legal, then throw Hearns and Holmes on this list.

and for a generally clean fighter, Mayweather sure liked to shove guys in the face with his forearm.

 

Willie Pep losing his cool against Sandy Saddler…

 

I would disagree that he was generally clean solely for this reason.. The elbow/forearm to the throat and face was used a little too often to consider him clean, even if that was the only blatantly dirty trick he used that wasn’t a “receipt”, he did that enough for me not to consider him clean.

@Barrf

 

Larry also used a very educated thumb, most notoriously on LeDoux.

Maybe Conteh, if you consider his head to be a butting tactic. But to me he was pinning his chin down, and I typically saw him leaning away from Saad Muhammad's punches.

Michael Spinks used his elbows a bit (especially with Johnny Davis, a guy who was very dirty with Qawi). And brother Leon targeted Ali's biceps in their first bout as a counter to the rope-a-dope, while maybe "dirty," not illegal.

 

Ali's grabing of the back of the head.
Also prime tyson would've been a great mma fighter because he had great elbow strikes up close

 

Wladimir Klitschko constantly grappling Povetkin. Did what he needed to do to win even at the expense of making the fight unbearable to watch.

 

Manny Pacquiao used his jab to open his opponents guard, that's not so clean.

 

One of my favorite fights to rewatch. A Master Class in ring generalship. Wlad put down a guy twice who hadn't been cracked in a couple hundred fights, pro and amateur. Pearls before swine.

 

I wouldn’t call Ali clean… Bonavena fight, Frazier 2, Elbows, forearms etc not terrible or anything but he’s not Arguello exactly.

 

De La Hoya used to do it a bit too.

 

There's a couple of things mentioned on here that are not IMO rough/dirty tactics at all. Framing with the jab (as long as the hand is closed) and using your lead hand to bring down the opponents guard I would argue are not dirty or rough house tactics. I consider these as part of the parrying family.

Roberto Duran's clinch/break hit then switch to opponent's other arm clinch/break hit was beautiful, although definitely rough. I think the dip/shoulder bump to push off is rough..............maybe a little dirty, a bunch of fighters use that.

 

And Foreman too, but he did it with both hands. I think that's called "guard manipulation".

 

Jeff Chandler wasn't known for being dirty but he made liberal use of the elbow and forearm on more than one occasion.