Instances of fighters toying with their opponents to inflict more punishment

I read about Chavez - Haugen it in a thread a while back, and it got me to thinking about other instances where fighters chose to punish their opposition rather than end the fight.

I know Calzaghe toyed with Roy Jones, but didn't strike me as malicious really, more like Calzaghe just didn't want to stop him. He might have been trying to soak up the limelight as well considering it was his last fight.

Any other examples (I know there must be)?

PBF-Baldomir.....although I am not so sure Floyd could hurt him but he certainly coasted the last couple rounds.

dwight muhammad qawi. a sadistic fighter if there ever was one. and an incredibly skilled one at that.

vs. leon spinks

Winky vs Tito

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Originally Posted by jon09

Winky vs Tito

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I dont think that was the case really, it more Winky was sticking to his gameplan and not getting careless. He didnt want to give tito a chance to hurt him.

"What's my name?"

Roy Jones vs Richard Hall has to be the best case of this, perhaps in the history of boxing. That entire fight was a RJJ highlight reel, he carried him till the (11th?) round, when he easily could have had him out of there in the first, start of the second at the latest.

Kirk you mean Ali v Ernie Terrell

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Originally Posted by Lyle

PBF-Baldomir.....although I am not so sure Floyd could hurt him but he certainly coasted the last couple rounds.

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I don't think Floyd could have hurt Baldomir and I'm certain Floyd didn't think so either. I think that fight was more a case of him trying to preserve his shot at De La Hoya by not hurting his hands or getting caught taking chances. I never got the impression he wanted to hurt Baldomir or had any malicious feelings towards him.

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Originally Posted by ilovebrucelee

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Originally Posted by jon09

Winky vs Tito

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I dont think that was the case really, it more Winky was sticking to his gameplan and not getting careless. He didnt want to give tito a chance to hurt him.

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Agreed. Winky knew he couldn't stop Trinidad and he was content to dominate him without stopping him.

2 that quickly come to mind Cotto-Gomez and Morales-Velardez...

Ali vs Patterson I

Julio Cesar Chavez vs Hector Macho Camacho

Camacho did his usual act to sell the fight, but Chavez took it personal and told him knocking him out would be too easy, that he would carry Camacho to punish him....and that's EXACTLY what Chavez did.

He'd hurt Camacho, then hold back so Camacho could collect himself, then he'd hurt him again. It was sadistic.


The Great Joe Louis said Tony Galento angered him so much with his insults that Joe decided he would carry the man in order to punish him more. Tony did have one of the hardest left hooks in boxing history, and after Tony decked Joe for a count, Joe decided the hell with his intended plan; he just wanted to finish it then...which he did.


Lennox Lewis vs Mike Tyson
Lewis could have ended that fight about 3 or 4 rds earlier if he would have simply went ahead and dropped the right hand on Tyson, but I don't think it was malicious at all on Lennox' part; he was just always naturally a very cautious fighter.
It was brutal to watch Tyson take all that extra punishment just because Lennox was too worried and too respectful of Mike's power to simply let that right hand go. Mike was in pitiful shape; Lennox was unintentionally torturing him because of his overly-cautious nature.


EDIT:
Wladimir Klitschko had made very clear that he intended to punish David Haye for his insolence by carrying him for the full 12 rds to give him a pizza face, intending to knock him out in the 12th rd.

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Whitaker could make a habit of it.....sickingly and to the point of throwing emptys at the screen.As much as I hate to say it he even toyed with the great Nelson a bit.

Ya know what.Cancel this.Pernell most certainly did not look to inflict more punishment...just clowned.Missed that part

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Originally Posted by CFH

I read about Chavez - Haugen it in a thread a while back, and it got me to thinking about other instances where fighters chose to punish their opposition rather than end the fight.

I know Calzaghe toyed with Roy Jones, but didn't strike me as malicious really, more like Calzaghe just didn't want to stop him. He might have been trying to soak up the limelight as well considering it was his last fight.

Any other examples (I know there must be)?

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I don't think Calzaghe was just toying with Jones, he was show boating because thats what he does, but he threw as hard of punches as I've seen him throw in a long time against Roy, I just think that 90% of his punches weren't hitting the target cleanly.

Roy Jones toyed with a large majority of his opponents though that was in part because of his safety first attitude.

Floyd mayweather this past fall toyed with Marquez for 12 rounds. Not sure if he would have been able to close the show but he had so many opportunities down the stretch to land right hands on Marquez which he hardly did.

Tyson tortured Tyrell Biggs and made him cry like a girl for insulting him during the amateur days.

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Originally Posted by p4pking

Roy Jones vs Richard Hall has to be the best case of this, perhaps in the history of boxing.

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Oh, come on P4P ...... the history of boxing didn't start in 1990 !!!

Prior to the 1950's, it was commonplace for a superior fighter to carry his opponent for a few rounds, or even the whole fight. The Kefauver enquiries in the 1950's was dedicated to exactly this principle.

Fighters like Robinson, Walcott, Cerdan etc routinely carried their opponents ..... more often than not, it was so that the paying crowds could see them putting on a show and not zapping the guy out in a couple of rounds.

Before then, it was not unheard of for fighters to have a clause inserted in their fight contract that their pay was less if the fight lasted a short period of time. The great Sam langford made a career of carrying fighters not fit to lace up his gloves.

For me, without any doubt, the fighter who toyed with his opponents (whilst under the highest personal pressure) with the sole purpose of prolonging their punishment and making sure there was no doubt amongst a single fan as to who was the better fighter....... was a certain Jack Johnson.

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Originally Posted by X

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Originally Posted by p4pking

Roy Jones vs Richard Hall has to be the best case of this, perhaps in the history of boxing.

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Oh, come on P4P ...... the history of boxing didn't start in 1990 !!!

Prior to the 1950's, it was commonplace for a superior fighter to carry his opponent for a few rounds, or even the whole fight. The Kefauver enquiries in the 1950's was dedicated to exactly this principle.

Fighters like Robinson, Walcott, Cerdan etc routinely carried their opponents ..... more often than not, it was so that the paying crowds could see them putting on a show and not zapping the guy out in a couple of rounds.

Before then, it was not unheard of for fighters to have a clause inserted in their fight contract that their pay was less if the fight lasted a short period of time. The great Sam langford made a career of carrying fighters not fit to lace up his gloves.

For me, without any doubt, the fighter who toyed with his opponents (whilst under the highest personal pressure) with the sole purpose of prolonging their punishment and making sure there was no doubt amongst a single fan as to who was the better fighter....... was a certain Jack Johnson.

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Alright, I was exxagerating then, if you like... Although I doubt you have in fact seen many of these performances from the days which you reference. For me it doesn't mean a whole lot to have heard that so and so carried all of these opponents, you have no idea to what extent it was really true in any given fight unless you have seen the whole thing.

If you in fact watch the fight I brought up, it's perfectly clear that Roy could have KO'ed him EASILY in the first round, without getting hit once. The next ten are just a showcase where Jones does absolutely whatever he wants and doesn't really face anything in return. There really isn't a lot of room to improve on that as far as carrying an opponent goes, without it becoming a complete farce.

Furthermore, as you admit in those days great fighters would often carry opponents in order to give the paying crowd their moneys worth. This is not to say that they were in fact COMPLETELY dominant in every second of the fight, only that they were never at risk of losing, and were willing to extend the action in order to ensure they were brought back.

I am sure you are right upon thinking about it, but that is also only in part due to horrible matchmaking and no television coverage in those days, people would actually be content to sit and watch a great fighter play with some joker who shouldn't be there.

As far as a remotely legitimate matchup goes in the modern era, I will stand by my example.