Questionable Tactics In Boxing

What I mean are dirty tactics, behaviors that may gain a boxer a reputation as a dirty fighter. 

There was a boxer in the 1980’s that I really liked.  Outside the ring he was a cheerful, personable man with a great backstory; inside the ring he was a terror.  One boxing site states with refreshing candor that he was known to “use his fists and elbows in novel ways.”  He did more than that.  He was a walking catalog of illegal boxing moves.  He was famous for it.  Every fight of his was a clinic in bad behavior, but it never seemed to affect his popularity or his statistics.  He won ninety percent of his fifty or so fights.  It begs the question:  Are the dirty tactics just part of boxing? 

Here are some examples of dirty tactics:

1. Laces:  boxing gloves are tied tight with laces on the inside of the boxer’s wrists.  These laces can be formidable weapons when rubbed against the eye of the opponent. 

2. Head Butting:  The human forehead is the hardest part of the body except for the teeth.  Using it to strike the opponent is often a game-changer.

3. Elbows:  some fighters master the art of throwing “accidental” elbows.  The punch misses, but the glove continues its forward progress until the elbow strikes the opponent in the head.  If the elbow misses too, there is often an opportunity to use the elbow on the back-stroke.  This is what in Chinese boxing (Kung Fu) is known as “the continuing and returning fist.” 

4. Thumbs:  boxing gloves, for some unknown reason, have thumbs in them.  These can be driven into the opponents eyes. 

5. The Ropes:  The ropes around the ring are elastic, like giant rubber bands.  Like rubber bands, they can be used for a sling-shot effect.  A clever boxer who has his opponent on the ropes may push the opponent back into the ropes and then punch him as the ropes propel him into the punch.  This is a real force multiplier.  Similarly, a boxer with his own back to the ropes may lean back into the ropes and then use the spring effect to add power to his own punch. 

6. Holding:  Many times a boxer is dead sure that if he lets the opponent hit him the results will be catastrophic.  Such a boxer might seek to keep the opponents hands tied up in tight clinches for most of the fight.  The frustrated puncher will seek franticly to free himself from such clutches, and an ingenious practitioner has a thousand ways to trap an arm as fast as it escapes his grip.  This can be exhausting for the man so tied up.  It can be exhausting to watch too. 

7. Kidneys:  kidney punches are illegal and dangerous.  That doesn’t mean it never happens.  Especially when the referee is standing where the behavior will be hidden from him. 

8. The Bell:  the rules state that a punch may not land after the bell has sounded.  You will often see boxers stopping punches short upon hearing the bell.  You will also frequently see punches that were launched arguably before the bell be allowed to complete their parabola and strike the opponent.  Sometimes you will even see punches planned and executed after the bell.  If you watch enough fights, you’ll see everything.

9. Below the Belt:  another game changer, like the head butts.

The referee may deduct a point for any of the above infractions, but that doesn’t seem to happen much.  There is a real problem with intent in the boxing ring.  How do we separate cause-and-effect from coincidence?  Accidents happen.  Things happen fast in the ring.  All kinds of things, funny things.  Where’s the mens rea?  The criminal intent?  The guilty mind?  If the ref thinks that it was an accident, he’ll just give the affected boxer a minute to shake it off. 

Boxers know this, and many of them exploit this weakness in the oversight. 

“. . . if I throw a right hand, in good faith, and you pull your head back, and my thumb happens to stick you in the eye, whose fault is that?”

“. . . if I bounce off the ropes with a good angle to throw a punch, should I refrain?”

“. . . if we are in a clinch, and the referee allows us to continue boxing, must I keep my head stationary?  Or may I continue to bob and weave, trying only to avoid your punches, of course.  And if my forehead should accidentally strike you on the eye brow, opening a nasty cut, whose fault is that?” 

I have a hunch that the judgment of these things has a lot to do with the popularity of the fighter.  It must be like life in general, mustn’t it?  If they love you, you’ll get away with anything; if they hate you, you’ll get points deducted for any little thing. 

Maybe it all falls under the heading of misadventure.   Maybe it’s like driving too fast in the canyons of Malibu.  You knew there was an element of danger, but you went and did it anyway.  If you take your car over the side, well, you knew that you were taking a chance of that happening.   

And this stuff does, without a doubt, liven up a boxing match.  That fellow from the ‘80’s, man, watching him fight was a real hoot.