“Hit and don’t get hit” (boxing axiom)

A simple boxing axiom is “hit and don’t get hit.” “A lesson in the manly art of hit and don’t get hit back” was cited in a 1908 newspaper story on boxing.
 
The saying became frequently used in the 1960s. “His ‘hit and don’t get hit’ tactics were hard to beat” was cited in 1960. “The definition of boxing is ‘hit and don’t get hit’” was cited in 1962. American boxer Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) and boxing trainer Angelo Dundee (1921-2012) used and popularized the “hit and don’t get hit” axiom.
 
 
24 April 1908, Oakland (CA) Tribune, “Abe Attell Returns and Is Now Training” by Eddie Smith, pg. 15, col. 1:
ABE ATTELL, the champion feather weight of the world, arrived in San Francisco las night some $200 richer than he left a few days ago. Abie has been o Seattle, where he picked up a bit of easy money, by handing one Eddie Kelly a lesson in the manly art of hit and don’t get hit back, at that.
 
15 April 1960, Trenton (NJ) Evening Times, “Cohen Says Walker-Schuster Go Was City’s Most Thrilling Fight,” pg. 20, col. 9:
His “hit and don’t get hit” tactics were hard to beat.
 
4 July 1962, State-Times (Baton Rouge, LA), “Dupas Irked at Odds Making Him 3 to 1 Underdog in Title Fight” (AP), pg. 3-D, col. 6:
“Let’s get one thing straight. This here game is called boxing. The definition of boxing is ‘hit and don’t get hit,’ not to get in there and fight like animals. A good fighter uses common sense and has something on the ball.”
(Ralph DUpas, a boxer.—ed.)
 
22 February 1964, Newsday (Long Island, NY), “But Outside, Cassius Stays Cocky as Ever” by Bob Waters, pg. 50:
Miami Beach—Cassius Clay made public yesterday the strategy he will use Tuesday night to unfrock heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. It isn’t complicated. “I intend to hit and don’t get hit,” he said.
     
Google News Archive
22 June 1979, The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), “‘The Main Event’ is no knockout” by Richard Friedman (Newhouse Newspapers), It’s Friday! sec., pg. 17, col. 1:
When O’Neal grudgingly gets into the ring with a real boxer, Streisand keeps shouting rules at him —“Hit and don’t get hit” — but forgets to put a stool in his corner and has to search for his mouthpiece in her capacious handbag.
     
Google News Archive
6 June 1992, Ludington (MI) Daily News, “Enters Boxing Hall of Fame: Angelo Dundee quickly knew he didn’t have it, but knew who did” (AP), pg. 9, col. 2:
“Boxing is a science and an art. Hit and don’t get hit, that’s theory I always expound,” Dundee said.
   
Google Books
Boxing for Beginners:
A Guide to Competition & Fitness
By Billy Finegan and Courtney Clark
Cincinnati, OH: Betterway Books
2008
Pg. 38:
The boxing mantra, “Hit and don’t get hit,” sounds simple, but there is nothing simple about it. “Not getting hit” takes a lot of practice.
   
Google Books
The Manly Art
By Keith G. Laufenberg
Lulu Publishing (Lulu.com)
2014
Pg. 281:
Hit and don’t get hit that is the name of the game, that is a boxing reality.
 
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Lils
‏@literallils
I am truly saddened by the death of Muhammad Ali. The greatest of all time. Not only did he master “hit and don’t get hit” for most of his
1:15 AM - 4 Jun 2016