A boxing lexicon

[APerno]

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In 2000 the Oxford English Dictionary people attempted to create a computer-based ‘true’ translator. They abandoned the project in 2010 announcing that computers were “simply too slow” for the task, estimating that there are almost one billion terms and phrases in the English lexicon alone. They are planning on revisiting the effort in 2020, waiting to see if by then computers will be up to the task. (Yes, I agree “one billion” sounds absurd, but it is what they claimed, and I guess they would be the people who know.)

Inspired by the “one billion” remark I began wondering just how many terms and phrases are associated with the fight game, so here is an attempt at an incomplete boxing lexicon. Please feel free to add or correct.

Every time I read someone's post I end up having to come back and add to the list - you gentleman are the prefect source for this; and I have created a deep black hole for myself to dive into.

A boxing lexicon

Boxing
• Boxing
• Prize fight
• Professional boxing
• Amateur boxing
• Bare knuckle fight
• Fisticuffs
• “The sweet science (of bruising)”

Fighters
• Boxer
• Fighter
• Prizefighter
• Pug
• Pugilist
• Champ
• Champion
• “A claimant”
• “A contender”
• Number one contender
• “An opponent”
• “A professional opponent”
• Sparring partner
• “A bum”
• “A palooka” (old one)
• “A ham and egger” (old one)
• “A tomato can”
• “A finisher”
• “Gym warrior”
• “Body puncher”
• “Counterpuncher”
• “Solid puncher”
• Journeyman
• “Lineal champion”
• “The Real McCoy”
• “Pure boxer” (or “natural boxer”)

Fight Announcers’ Favorite Clichés
• “His legs are gone”
• “He’s a catcher” (old one)
• “Can bang with both hands”
• “Swinging from the floor”
• “Glass jaw”
• “He’s got a dimple in his chin” (I heard Angelo Dundee use this one)
• “Weak chin”
• “Solid chin”
• “He’s got a cut . . .(somewhere)”
• “A bleeder”
• “A test-tube bleeder” (I heard this term applied to the British heavyweight Henry Cooper)
• “Against the ropes”
• “Back to the ropes”
• “Laying on the ropes”
• “Caught in the corner”
• “He’s hurt”
• “Wobbled”
• “They counted ten”
• “The kid’s got (no) heart”
• “Looking for a soft spot to lay down”
• “He laid down”
• “He quit”
• “He got mugged”
• “We’re going to the score cards”
• “There’s the bell to start (end) the round”
• “Knocked out of the ring”
• “Knocked through the ropes”
• “Carrying the fight”
• “He has the Indian sign on him” (old one)
• “It traveled a long way, but he got the message”
• “Happy as Larry” (real old one; associated with Larry Foley)
• “Styles make fights”
• “Educated right hand”
• “The usual suspects” (used to identify a fighter with weak opponents on his record; a padded win/lose record)
• “He doesn’t like it downstairs”
• “When he hits them, they stay hit”
• “Nip and tuck” (close and fight)

Boxing Terms that crossed over into common culture as metaphors
• “Low blow”
• “Below the belt”
• “Knockout blow”
• “A knockout”
• “Down for the count”
• “On the ropes”
• “Keep your left up”
• “Protect yourself at all times”
• “The fix is in”
• “Saved by the bell”
• “Throw in the towel”

The Referee and things about the Referee
• Referee
• Ref
• Referee’s instructions
• “The third man in the ring”
• “Touch gloves”
• “Touch gloves and come out fighting”
• “Taking a close look”
• “Referee stopped the fight”
• First warning
• “Took away a point”
• Quick (slow) count
• “pick-up the count”
• “Not making an effort” (DQ)

Ring Announcers’ Favorite Clichés
• “In this corner”
• “In the blue (red) corner”
• “Fighting out of. . .(somewhere)”
• “Wearing _____ trunks, and fighting out of …”

Things fans yell
• “Come on fight”
• “You bum”
• “Finish him”
• “Get up, get up, please get up!” (it is always easy to spot in the crowd the guy who bet on the wrong fighter; sometimes that guy was me)

Types of Punches and such
• Left hook
• Right cross
• Uppercut
• Over-hand right
• Straight right hand
• (Left) Jab
• Bolo punch
• Solar plexus punch (sometimes called the ‘Fitzsimons shift’)
• Kidney punch
• “under the heart punch”
• A haymaker
• Body blow
• Body shot
• Head butt
• Unintentional head butt
• Rabbit punch
• “Thumped”

Fights
• Championship fight
• “Title shot”
• Preliminary bout
• Opening bout
• “Walk-out bout” (walk-out bouts are forced on promoters by State commissions for crowd control purposes; in some States they’re mandatory)
• Elimination bout
• Big Fight
• Rematch
• Guaranteed rematch
• Grudge match
• Bare knuckle fight
• “Fight to the finish”
• “Comeback fight”
• “A stinker”
• “A 15 rounder” (4, 6, 8, 10, 12 . . . 20, Etc.)
• Fight card

Fighting Techniques
• “Stick and move”
• “A banger”
• “A boxer-puncher”
• “A dancer” (old one)
• “A fancy Dan” (old one)
• “Bob and weave”
• “Fights from a crouch”
• “Straight-up fighter” (sometimes called “European style”.)
• “Dirty fighter”
• “Peak-a-boo” (usually associated with Gus D’Amato’s fighters)
• “A hooker”
• “Never hook with a hooker” (no not that, you know what they mean, a guy who throws a good left hook)
• “Move side to side”
• “Never move straight back”
• “Keep your hands up”
• “Double-up on the jab”
• Clinch
• Clinching
• “tie-up”
• Trade (as in “don’t trade with him”)
• “Hit on the break”
• “Punch himself out”

Rules, Scoring, Results, and Crooked Results
• Knockout (KO)
• Technical knockout (TKO)
• Ten count
• Ten-point must system
• Ten-nine round
• Ten-eight round
• Even round
• Unanimous decision (UD)
• Majority decision (MD)
• Split decision (SD)
• Unanimous draw (D)
• Split draw
• Majority draw
• No contest (NC)
• Referee stops contest
• Fighter retired in his corner (RTD)
• Disqualified (DQ)
• Standing eight-count
• Mandatory eight-count
• Three knock-down rule (waved)
• “Stayed on his stool”
• “Quit on his stool”
• (Failed to) “come up to scratch” (old one)
• (Failed to) “toe the line” (old one)
• Got robbed
• “Got jobbed” (old one)
• Fixed fight
• “In the tank”
• A tanker
• “Take a dive”
• “High-dive artist” (old one)
• Controversial decision

Talking about a fighter
• “We” (First person plural used by trainers/mangers/promoters when talking about their fighter; presumptuous considering it’s the fighter who takes all the punches)
• “A piece of the kid”
• “My guy”
• “My guy is ready”
• “We’re ready”

The Ring and Equipment
• The corner
• Neutral corner
• Furthest neutral corner
• “House corner”
• Blue (red) corner
• Turn buckle (gone now)
• Rope
• The ring
• “The squared circle”
• Canvas
• The bell
• Stool
• Bucket
• Spit bucket
• Mouth piece
• Boxing boots
• Trunks
• Gloves
• Training gloves
• “6 ounce Reyes”
• Everlast gloves
• Laces
• Tapped hands
• Endswell
• Heavy bag
• Speed bag
• Jump rope

In the Corner; on the Apron
• Seconds
• Cut man
• Manager
• Trainer
• Ring doctor
• Timekeeper (“and counting for the knockdowns”)
• Judges
• Entourage (supposedly first used to identify Sugar Ray Robinson’s “hanger-on’s”)

Governing Bodies
• Governing bodies
• Marquess of Queensberry Rules
• London Prize Fight Rules
• London Prize Fight Rules (Revised)
• State commission
• Boxing commissioner
• Sanctioning bodies

Classifications
• Heavyweight
• Cruiserweight
• Light-heavyweight
• Super Middleweight
• Middleweight
• Junior Middleweight/Super Welterweight
• Welterweight
• Junior Welterweight/Super Lightweight
• Lightweight
• Junior Lightweight/Super Featherweight
• Featherweight
• Junior Featherweight/Super Bantamweight
• Bantamweight
• Flyweight
• Junior Flyweight
• Strawweight

The Ugly List
• Punch drunk
• Pugilistic dementia
• Parkinson’s syndrome
• “Talks out of the side of his mouth” (old one)
• Ring death
• “Stayed too long”

Sayings too famous or too good to ignore
• “The Ali shuffle”
• “Rope a dope”
• “The Long count”
• “Down goes Frazier”
• “Bum of the month”
• “Let’s get ready to rumble” (First coined by a radio announcer; stolen by Michael Buffer who then copyrighted it)
• “We ‘wuz’ robbed” (Joe Jacobs after the second Schmeling-Sharkey fight)
• “No Mas”
• “You’ve got to knock them out to get a draw over there”

Other Terms I am not sure where to place
• Purse
• “The stake” (old one; they use to tie the purse to one of the ring stakes)
• Side bet (old one)
• Venue
• Fight venue
• Promoter
• Championship rounds (use to be rounds 13 through 15, now just rounds 11 and 12)
• “Tale of the tape”
• Punch stat
• Round
• Middle rounds
• Late rounds
• Last round
• Knockdown
• Rankings
• A top-ten ranking
• The Stare-down
• The weight-in
• Between rounds
• “Walk to the Ring”
• “In the pink” (old one)
• Showing out (losing one’s composure during a fight)

Training Techniques
• “Shadow Boxing”
• “Skipping rope”
• Road work

I am sure there are so many more; just the number of sanctioning bodies (as according to Boxrec) is extraordinarily long and absent form this list.

[Tinnie]

The two sayings that i have always found interesting, maybe not considered boxing lingo, but have potentially originated from certain boxers.

The real McCoy - referencing back to mw champion Charles Kid McCoy who feigned illness and released bogus reports to the newspapers leading up to a bout.

Happy as Larry - which is apparently can be referenced to Larry Foley.... who bought the Black Horse Hotel with his winnings apon beating rival Push (gang) leader Sandy Ross...

[Caractacus]

"He has the Indian Sign on him "

(you dont hear that phrase much anymore,
but I heard that phrase used twice last month in watching some old movies from the 1930's and early 1950's))

[littlepug]

always liked it when reg gutteridge saw a long right hand land "it travelled a long way but he ( add name ) got the message

[APerno]

All added - thank you - they are all correct, they have to be, because we are experts - as far as I know no other idiot has tried to do this, so if we say it is, it is.

[Ambling Alp II]

There have been some good ones already mentioed. Here a a few more:

Controversial Decision. (i.e. almost any decision.)
The cringe worthy "Styles makes fights". You can almost see the person stroking their beard as if they just said something profound.

One I really like when reviewing a fighters previous opponents if they are weak: "The usual suspects"

He has an educated right hand always cracked me up.

[APerno]

There have been some good ones already mentioed. Here a a few more:

Controversial Decision. (i.e. almost any decision.)
The cringe worthy "Styles makes fights". You can almost see the person stroking their beard as if they just said something profound.

One I really like when reviewing a fighters previous opponents if they are weak: "The usual suspects"

He has an educated right hand always cracked me up.

Added them - thank you - I have heard "educated right hand" myself - I agree stupid, but I have heard it, even more than once - I should have caught 'controversial decision' myself surprised I missed that one - thanks again

[littlepug]

"you've got to knock em out to get a draw over there"

[littlepug]

" when he hits em they stay hit "

[littlepug]

boxer-puncher
Pure boxer
Natural boxer

[littlepug]

"put it on him"
"showing out"
"legs have gone"

[littlepug]

"the third man in the ring"
"he doesn't like it downstairs"
"nip and tuck"

[APerno]

"the third man in the ring"
"he doesn't like it downstairs"
"nip and tuck"

Thank You!

When he hits them, they stay hit (added it)
He doesn't like it downstairs (added it)
Pure boxer/natural boxer (added it)
You've got to knock them out to get a draw over there (added it)


His legs have gone (had already)
Boxer-puncher (had already)
third man in the ring (had already)

Showing out - I don't know this one can you give me a quick definition?
nip and tuck - same here - is this similar to bob and weave?

Thank you again.

[littlepug]

"the third man in the ring"
"he doesn't like it downstairs"
"nip and tuck"

Thank You!

When he hits them, they stay hit (added it)
He doesn't like it downstairs (added it)
Pure boxer/natural boxer (added it)
You've got to knock them out to get a draw over there (added it)


His legs have gone (had already)
Boxer-puncher (had already)
third man in the ring (had already)

Showing out - I don't know this one can you give me a quick definition?
nip and tuck - same here - is this similar to bob and weave?

Thank you again.

Showing out- complaining to the ref or visibly losing his cool cos things aren't going his way
Nip and tuck- think its a uk term usually describing a bout between 2 controlled boxers on equal footing as in "its a nip and tuck affair so far "

[APerno]

"the third man in the ring"
"he doesn't like it downstairs"
"nip and tuck"

Thank You!

When he hits them, they stay hit (added it)
He doesn't like it downstairs (added it)
Pure boxer/natural boxer (added it)
You've got to knock them out to get a draw over there (added it)


His legs have gone (had already)
Boxer-puncher (had already)
third man in the ring (had already)

Showing out - I don't know this one can you give me a quick definition?
nip and tuck - same here - is this similar to bob and weave?

Thank you again.

Showing out- complaining to the ref or visibly losing his cool cos things aren't going his way
Nip and tuck- think its a uk term usually describing a bout between 2 controlled boxers on equal footing as in "its a nip and tuck affair so far "

OK added - thank you

[aliboy123]

nobody has mentioned being "double crossed" - a "crossed" fighter in the bare knuckle days was a guy who had agreed to go down via prior arrangement. if a crossed fighter decided (during the fight) that he wanted to win it and went ahead and won then you'd been DOUBLE CROSSED

[APerno]

nobody has mentioned being "double crossed" - a "crossed" fighter in the bare knuckle days was a guy who had agreed to go down via prior arrangement. if a crossed fighter decided (during the fight) that he wanted to win it and went ahead and won then you'd been DOUBLE CROSSED

Interesting - so that's were there term comes from - OK, thank you - will add

[Kalan]

Flurries, volley, combinations, slugfest, slugging it out, KO, ice the mother, stretch the bum, take him out, get him outta here, goodnight sweet prince, cold cocked, killer instinct, master, masterboxer, KO artist, ring general, technician, sweet science, sour science, manly art of self defense.

[Tony1244]

I classify almost all boxers into one of these categories:


Great Fighter
Excellent Fighter
Contender/Good Fighter
Journeyman/trial horse
Bum-losses most fights by KO

[Caractacus]

are you sure that some of these may not be old nautical terms from the days of the sailing ships ?

[Ambling Alp II]

Sorry if this one has already been mentioned, but I have to mention one of my favorites:
"He has one of the best cutmen in the business"

How can so many guys be called that?
Is there anyone that is just an "average" cutman?

[bwu]

Maybe I missed a mention of this, and I certainly don't hear this term anymore, but they sure used to talk and write about guys visiting "Queer Street."

[Caractacus]

Maybe I missed a mention of this, and I certainly don't hear this term anymore, but they sure used to talk and write about guys visiting "Queer Street."

now that sounds like it may be shore leave lingo.

[APerno]

Many good ones - I will make my way through them and add them - thanks

[Tinnie]

Happy to be corrected on any of these....

Raining blows - usually referencing the high workrate and aggression when a boxer is attempting to finish his opponent.

Shower of coins - old term where if two fighters put on a good fight the crowd would throw coins into into the ring to show their appreciation. Whatever sum was collected was divided between the fighters.

First blood - popular bet originating from the bare knuckle days. Also heard a similar saying but using the term claret , but cant remember what it was exactly.