FIGHTING DIRTY

The so-called noble art is littered with boxers breaking the rules

1. BUTLER’S SUCKER PUNCH

What makes this incident so shocking is the fact that James Butler’s sucker punch, thrown when the fight was over and a decision rendered, connected on an unsuspecting Richard Grant at a time when he was offering his hand in sportsmanship.

2. DIRRELL’S UNCLE

Jose Uzcategui’s harsh disqualification for hitting Andre Dirrell after the bell was nothing compared to the flush left hook Dirrell’s uncle, Leon Lawson, chucked his way.

3. RESTO’S HAND WRAPS

Luis Resto and his trainer, ‘Panama’ Lewis, were banned from boxing for life and sentenced to prison terms after it was discovered the boxer’s hand wraps had been soaked in plaster of Paris before a brutal fight with Billy Collins.

4. MARGARITO’S HAND WRAPS

It was ultimately stopped by a vigilant Naazim Richardson, but Antonio Margarito fully intended to fight Shane Mosley in 2009 with illegal hand wraps.

5. TYSON’S BITE

Perhaps the most infamous foul of them all, the image of Mike Tyson taking a chunk out of Evander Holyfield’s ear in 1997, seemingly his response to headbutts, has become a regrettable part of popular culture.

6. TYSON’S ARM BREAK

In a fight full of fouls and bad blood, Tyson’s 1999 brawl with Frans Botha is best remembered for being the night ‘Iron’ Mike tried to break the arm of his opponent in a clinch.

7. NORWOOD AND GAINER

A 2000 scrap between Derrick Gainer and Freddie Norwood had every type of foul going: body slams, punches on the break and a record number of low blows. It ended when Gainer landed a revenge low blow and Norwood, squirming on the canvas, failed to beat the referee’s count of 18 (seriously).

8. GOLOTA’S LOW BLOWS

Andrew Golota didn’t just get disqualified once for low blows in a fight with Riddick Bowe. It happened twice. And both times he was doing well until he lost it.

9. HAMED’S BODY SLAM

In round five, Naseem Hamed ducked beneath a Cesar Soto combination and came up in time to catch Soto with his shoulder and flip him down on to the canvas, before trampling on him.

10. BARRERA AND THE RING POST

Having schooled Naseem Hamed, Marco Antonio Barrera then used Hamed’s unorthodoxy against him, spun him around, marched him to the corner and shoved his face into the ring post.