BoxRec

Who do you think were the cleanest fighters of all time? Which fighters never butted, elbowed, hit after the break or bell etc?

Opinions?

have always been impressed with the way Carlos Palomino carried himself in and out of the ring. A class act, a gentleman.

Kostya Tszyu, though he fouled a few times I'm pretty sure none were intentional. Joe Louis fits that mold. Though I'm not a Patterson fan I think he behaved pretty well at all times. Zora Foley too.

Larry Holmes maybe?
Bobby Cyz claims he never fouled anyone on purpose. Is that a stretch?
I'd agree with Carlos Palomino. Sean O'grady another guy who claimed to go by the rules.

Believe it or not, Marvelous Marvin Hagler was a fairly clean fighter. Because of his hard image and bald head, some people liked to accuse him of butting. He was blamed for it in the Antuofermo fights, where it was clearly the latter's fault. He was blamed at first for butting Hamsho in the second round of their second fight... When it was actually Hamsho who performed a diving head butt! He was accused of thumbing Juan Roldan, when the film clearly shows it was a flurry of clean uppercuts that did the damage. I've seen twenty four of the twenty six filmed Hagler fights, and the only time I remember him fouling is with a couple of low blows in the Hearns fight and a controversial couple in the Mugabi fight. He accidentally hit Antuofermo on a break once, but apologized.

Unfortunately for Hagler, a lot of his opponents didn't carry as much class. Briscoe butted him, Antuofermo butted him, Hamsho butted him, Duran thumbed him, Roldan thumbed him, Leonard hit him low, Hart hit him after the bell, and all this occurred more than once.

DoubleM wrote:Believe it or not, Marvelous Marvin Hagler was a fairly clean fighter. Because of his hard image and bald head, some people liked to accuse him of butting. He was blamed for it in the Antuofermo fights, where it was clearly the latter's fault. He was blamed at first for butting Hamsho in the second round of their fight... When it was actually Hamsho who performed a diving head butt! He was accused of thumbing Juan Roldan, when the film clearly shows it was a flurry of clean uppercuts that did the damage. I've seen twenty four of the twenty six filmed Hagler fights, and the only time I remember him fouling is with a couple of low blows in the Hearns fight and a controversial couple in the Mugabi fight. He accidentally hit Antuofermo on a break once, but apologized.

Unfortunately for Hagler, a lot of his opponents didn't carry as much class. Briscoe butted him, Antuofermo butted him, Hamsho butted him, Duran thumbed him, Roldan thumbed him, Leonard hit him low, Hart hit him after the bell, and all this occurred more than once.

Cyclone Hart got frustrated against marvin and tried to fight dirty, Hagler ignored it and just went on with his dismantling.

expug wrote:

DoubleM wrote:Believe it or not, Marvelous Marvin Hagler was a fairly clean fighter. Because of his hard image and bald head, some people liked to accuse him of butting. He was blamed for it in the Antuofermo fights, where it was clearly the latter's fault. He was blamed at first for butting Hamsho in the second round of their fight... When it was actually Hamsho who performed a diving head butt! He was accused of thumbing Juan Roldan, when the film clearly shows it was a flurry of clean uppercuts that did the damage. I've seen twenty four of the twenty six filmed Hagler fights, and the only time I remember him fouling is with a couple of low blows in the Hearns fight and a controversial couple in the Mugabi fight. He accidentally hit Antuofermo on a break once, but apologized.

Unfortunately for Hagler, a lot of his opponents didn't carry as much class. Briscoe butted him, Antuofermo butted him, Hamsho butted him, Duran thumbed him, Roldan thumbed him, Leonard hit him low, Hart hit him after the bell, and all this occurred more than once.

Cyclone Hart got frustrated against marvin and tried to fight dirty, Hagler ignored it and just went on with his dismantling.

Yea. I find Hagler's durability amazing. Even when Leonard hit him with those hard low blows, Hagler didn't do anything. Hart cracked him after the bell. Nothing. The diving head butt by Hamsho would have floored a few people, but Hagler again didn't budge. He faced probably the hardest hitting collection of middleweights of any champion, and was only once wobbled.

You are right. As we have stated before Marvin was a real pro.

Decagon, it was Kostya at his worst moment for sure, but unless your a Sharmba fanatic it was not an example of the worst in boxing. It was perhaps not totaly without cause and He was deducted a point if I recall maybe the only time in his career?

I like to nominate Oscar De la Hoya. all business and pretty down to earth gentleman inside and outside of the ring.

Strangely, Hagler always seemed like a nice guy to me. He came across as an easy going guy you wouldn't want to mess with. Heard he was kind of a loner outside the ring.

Pancho Villa and Fidel LaBarba come to mind. Pete Sanstol was one of the cleanest fighters, and nicknamed the "Gentleman" boxer. One example comes from his bout with Spider Pladner:
http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/Fight:100711

According to a Montreal newspaper account:
"Pladner's smouldering temper nearly cost him the fight.... Seated at ring-side were a group of Sanstol's French supporters, and from the start they hurled barbed taunts at the Frenchman, in his own tongue. Perhaps it was derision in French accents that stung, but at any rate, Pladner was infuriated. He continually glanced at his tormentors, and in the third round stepping back from a clinch, he dropped his hands to his sides and stood glaring at them, his slaty eyes fairly blazing. With any fighter less sporting than Sanstol, that might have been an expensive gesture, for Sanstol could have stepped in and landed heavily. But he quietly waited until Pladner recovered his poise before renewing hostilities. "

Seamus wrote:Strangely, Hagler always seemed like a nice guy to me. He came across as an easy going guy you wouldn't want to mess with. Heard he was kind of a loner outside the ring.

He was (a loner, but also a nice guy). Especially in his youth, he used to keep pigeons as company. He felt they were the only ones he could trust.

Ricardo Lopez often times corrected his opponets for fouling him before the ref would step in, i always remember him fighting a clean fight.

Lopez was great for that.

I'll go back and look at that fight Decagon sounds like youve memorized it. Wasn't Sharmba's knee part of the problem with that?

I always thought Virgil Hill was a class act. Salvador Sanchez also. You never saw him try to hold or grab. Also I never heard him talk trash or make predictions. Hagler was already mentioned. Another thing I liked about Hagler was that he always gave the best most honest answers in an interview.I think that may have put the media off a bit, but it was a breath of fresh air.

Sounds like Decagon has issues with my Kostya nomination, however I am reluctant to withdraw his name.

Kostya has been one of the cleanest fighters of the last twenty years...Mitchell was just an over-hyped fighter who benefited from there being 100 different titles to win, or else he would never have held a belt. He just didn't have the moxy, or machismo to last and someone like Tszyu certainly did not need to revert to dirty fighting to handle someone like Mitchell!

Alexis Arguello was a class act also.

...gus lesnevich said ezzard charles was the cleanest fighter he ever fought.

yeah...joe louis...a great selection. when he hit schmeling low in a late round in their first fight, max said "by that time louis was in a fog,could hardly keep his hands up and didn't know what he was doing."

Decagon wrote:He scored six takedowns on Mitchell. He should have been disqualified. It was fornicating pathetic.

I wouldn't classify Kostya as dirty, but this was probably his lowest moment. Kostya did push him around a lot, but Sharmba did go down very easy on a few occasions.

Kostya also has a NC for punching on the break against Leonardo Mas. It seemed unintentional though.

If Kostya was a dirty fighter, then he most certainly would not have went through the beating that Hatton dished out with out a low-blow, or some other dirty method. Kostya has always been a straight up guy. He went through the promotion in the bout with Mitchell without making any hateful statements while Mitchell ranted and raved talking all kinds of shit!

expug said Alexis Arguello.

Will 2nd that, he always showed class a true sportsman from everything I saw of him.

Re: Marvin Hagler, I once met him in passing in 87 after the Leonard fight, he was very gracious and unassuming, seemed down to earth. And nice enough to take the time to talk for a few minutes, and sign and autograph.

Gerrie Coetzee - Always grateful to his opponent and never lashed out in fights when he should of won (Snipes, Thomas, Tate) instead he embraced them. Coetzee was also treated cruely by the British public as well as the press when he fought Bruno but didnt say anything bad about the country but instead apoligised.

Arguello, Patterson, Louis are as well clean fighters.

RazorKO wrote:Gerrie Coetzee - Always grateful to his opponent and never lashed out in fights when he should of won (Snipes, Thomas, Tate) instead he embraced them. Coetzee was also treated cruely by the British public as well as the press when he fought Bruno but didnt say anything bad about the country but instead apoligised.

Arguello, Patterson, Louis are as well clean fighters.

What do you mean by "Coetzee was also treated cruely by the British public"?