The former two-time welterweight champion Mysterious Billy Smith was disqualified 11 times, but 17 DQ losses is really extreme.
Doc Kearns on Billy Smith as related by AJ Liebling in one of his New Yorker essays: “He was always doing something mysterious. Like he would step on your foot and when you looked down, he would bite you in the ear.” Kearns fought Smith, so he should know.
Umm I think his name was Fritzie Zivic, a middleweight from the 40's and 50's, known as a very dirty fighter, don't know if he was dq'd a lot. But I remember seeing Jake Lamotta interviewed and they mentioned Zivic, and Lamotta replied " dirty fighter!"
Of course Henry Armstrong would say that, actually, it was Armstrong, who was the dirtiest fighter that there ever was. He would hit fighters in the balls, that he feels are too tough, and hits (connects) with his elbows, missing overhand punches. When he went to fight Roderick in London, he was told, you can't bring cocaine here, "That is a quote" In All the NY Papers, they said Armstrong needed a full cabinet of Vitamins A-Z to beat Davey Day, that's what they called them in the US. Henry Armstrong was a very intelligent person, cordial and a gentlemen, other then in the ring.
This is just a guess, but I imagine the British fighters were accustomed to fighting under the British interpretation of the rules, so they may not have incurred as high a percentage of disqualifications as visiting fighters.