BoxRec

there are a lot of contenders for this title. pound for pound, both Pep and Saddler. Saddler looked dirtier bu tPep was just more subtle.Marciano would hit you during the Star Spangled Banner if he could. He should have been disqaulified for what he did to that poor British chap. Fritzie Zivic is an obvious and logical choice. Tyson wasn't especially dirty, just rough, until the Holyfield ear biting, which should have banned him for life. Tony Galento (correct spelling) brutalized Lou Nova. The New York boxing commission used to have a meeting with him a few days before his fights for a little chat about his ...ah..style. He complained that one of the reasons he lost to Louis was worrying about the commission warnings! Very colorful fellow.

jaclem

Theres dirty then theres DIRTY!. fighters like Greb, Saddler, Battling Nelson, Armstrong, Pedrosa etc may have pulled some tricks but they were essentially fair fighters and would not perpetrate acts which went over the line.... ie try to break an opponents arm off, hit the opponent when he's down, ...bite his opponents ears off!.... such acts as these are DIRTY!!!.....they are cowardly, and one of the reasons why Mike Tyson should never be regarded as an all time great champion.
Incidentially having watched a lot of Durans fights I must say that he was not a dirty fighter.... he was rough yeah, but he had no need to stoop to constant fouls. I really think that the low blow against Buchannan was accidential.... he was winning so why risk disqualification?. Nuff said.

Larry Greb is the dirtiest fight of all time.

Read reports of South Africa's 70s Heavy Mike Schutte!!

Nearly every report has him warned for butting, elbowing, kneeing or ALL 3!

Phil

Carmine Basilio

Carmine Basilio

Carmine Basilio? Really? I saw a lot of his fights and don't remember him as a dirty fighter.Tough and rough as hell yes, but not a dirty one. However, you must have a reason for picking him, so I'm curious as to why.Any particular fights you have in mind?

Lets start with any one in Lou Duvas corner.

holyfield isn't a dirty fighter he comes to fight when someone comes in sometimes heads collide .....biting a man's ear off is dirty

Greb broke Tunney's nose with a head butt then proceeded to elbow his broken, gushing nose the rest of the fight. Laces in the the cliches over the eyes and thumbs were another tactic. Greb WAS DIRTY. Every one knows that. He was called dirty in his day, not just by todays standards.

Duran did hit low in his title winning effort through out the fight.

George La Blanche was another dirty fighter. He KO'ed the all-time great "non-papreil" Jack Dempsey with an ELBOW! La Blanche was a late 18th century fighter from Canada who was famous for his dirty antics.

AKA SS Indeed sir, heads do collide in fights. they do not always collide with faces, as Holyfield's did..and will continue to do as he keeps fighting and his skills keep fading. If this isn't clear enough continue reading...Holyfield deliberatlely, knowlingly and skillfully lowers his head and butts his oppenent in the face. The fact that another fighter bites ears, wears horseshoes in his gloves or hits with the ring stool has nothing to do with Holyfield. 8)

Tom Sharkey was one dirty ass fighter. Every dirty move in the book he did. Harry Greb was one dirty S.O.B also.

Anonymous wrote:No doubt Holyfield is a rough customer in the ring But so wereall his main rivals Lewis,Bowe Foreman, Moorer, Ruiz and especially Mike Tyson.... all use rough tactics. They are fighting for millions of dollars so it's understandable if not excusable
I've never heard Evander be a crybaby about it... like Mike Tyson turned out to be

Actually the dirtiest fighter i ever saw were not heavyweights...
I think Eusebio Pedroza is the dirtiest fighter I've ever seen..with maybe Samuel Serrano rating consideration based on the one fight i saw him in with Diablito Valdez

moorer and lewis?? i've never seen those guys fight dirty?

bowe was always hitting a man on the deck though dirty son of abitch.

Jack Sharkey.....

FATCITY wrote:Theres dirty then theres DIRTY!. fighters like Greb, Saddler, Battling Nelson, Armstrong, Pedrosa etc may have pulled some tricks but they were essentially fair fighters and would not perpetrate acts which went over the line.... ie try to break an opponents arm off, hit the opponent when he's down, ...bite his opponents ears off!.... such acts as these are DIRTY!!!.....they are cowardly, and one of the reasons why Mike Tyson should never be regarded as an all time great champion.
Incidentially having watched a lot of Durans fights I must say that he was not a dirty fighter.... he was rough yeah, but he had no need to stoop to constant fouls. I really think that the low blow against Buchannan was accidential.... he was winning so why risk disqualification?. Nuff said.

I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH WHAT HAVE YOU SAID FATCITY!!! Roberto Duran WAS NOT A DIRTY FIGHTER NEITHER IS HOLYFIELD!!! Eusebio Pedroza was HATED by the AMERICAN MEDIA and everything the media said about him, well, UNFOTUNATELY, THE COMMON PEOPLE BELIEVE IT. But in reality, Pedroza was a TRUE MASTER AND SLICK TECHNICIAN OF THE BOXING GAME. Mike Tyson IS THE DIRTIEST FIGHTER OF ALL TIME without a doubt. His actions SPEAK FOR HIMSELF!!!

How about Rocky Graziano? Grabbing his opponent by the throat with his left glove and punching with the right. Anything goes with this guy, but was still a joy to watch.

I don't know if Lefty "Satan" Flynn was mentioned before. This Jamaican welterwieght boxed in UK in the 30's-40's and lost many bouts on DISQ.

Flex...everything I've ever read about Elbows McFadden,and what I was told by my Grandfather(who partly copied his style) was that McFadden got his nickname from the way he used his elbows as a DEFENSIVE SHIELD,
catching punches on them, not as weapons. I'm not disputing you, just interested in where you got your information. Repeat.....I am not disputing you..I don't hate you and am not looking for a verbal encounter..I am sincerely interested on what you base your statment.

Terap..Ali dirty? Well, if you call violating the rules dirty I guess so...and I'm talking about his grabbing his opponents behind the neck and holding his head down. And you're right..the referees let him get by with it.But he used it as a defensive technique and didn't hit while holding, so it wasn't physically damaging. I can't think of anything else he did. I saw Ernie Terrell a few days after their fight and there was no sign of the "rubbing his eyes on the ropes' that Terrell complained about.

As for dirtiest HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION!!! I can't believe you've followed boxing for as long as your postings indicate and not having seen ..tah dah...Rocky Marciano!!! Elbows, head butts, after the bell (some of his best punches were landed then) and when his guy was down. Wait..you write about the Marciano/Walcott fight...how did you miss that pip of a left hook he smacked Jersey Joe with when he was out on the ropes from the right hand. and..it was not a punch on he way thathe couldn't stop....he looked at Walcott, gave it due consideration and whopped him and then went happily to his corner. He never hit a guy during the Star Spangled Banner, but I'm sure he would have if he'd thought about it.

As I wrote elsewhere....welcome to the forum.

flex....I'm referring to George "Elbows" McFadden, a lightweight who fought from 1899 to 1919...fought Joe Gans several times, among others. And it was a defensive use of his elbows that got him his nickname. I read about him many times in Ring Magazine years ago. the way my Grandfather illustrated his style was by holding his arms bent at the elbows and fist close to the face. Actually, it was really mostly his forearms that blocked punches. You can check his record out on BoxRec.

The Elbows guy you are referring to sounds like.....well, an interesting case.I wonder how he got anybody to fight him. Odd, that two fighters should share the same strange nickname.

Thanks for the reply.

I was surprised to see Jack Sharkey's name on this thread...but then I remembered...yeah, he DID try to injure Dempsey's hand by hitting it with his foul cup.

NIGEL BENN...................

Riddick Bowe was pretty dirty. I remember him htting Pierre Coetzer low all night long. He eventually finished him off by hitting him low and then pounding on Coetzer when he stooped over from it. Against Holyfield, I remember him getting a knockdown by slipping to the side on Holyfield (who was leaning on Bowe as Bowe had his back to the ropes) and as Holyfield sort of fell against the ropes for a second, Bowe side-stepped around the back of him, punched him in the back of the head, and shoved him down face first. Neither the referee nor the announcers said a word for some reason.

Mustafa Hamsho.
Low blows, headbutting, foul combinations...quite a repertoire the syrian had

Newbie wrote:Against Holyfield, I remember him getting a knockdown by slipping to the side on Holyfield (who was leaning on Bowe as Bowe had his back to the ropes) and as Holyfield sort of fell against the ropes for a second, Bowe side-stepped around the back of him, punched him in the back of the head, and shoved him down face first. Neither the referee nor the announcers said a word for some reason.

They didn't say anything because it wasn't a foul. Holyfield tried to tie him up, and Bowe slipped out and tagged Holyfield. And he did not punch Holyfield on the back of the head, he punched him on the side of the head.