# What does "Boxing Clever" mean?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-boxing-clever-mean/286247
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 23, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-boxing-clever-mean/286247 "2005-01-23T15:15:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Webafrica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Webafrica)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-boxing-clever-mean/286247/1 "2005-01-23T15:15:30Z")
I find it an anoying and pretentious little phrase, I suppose partly because I don’t know what it means or where it comes from.
I heard it in a Placebo song, and it the name of a column in the Sunday Times magazine.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-boxing-clever-mean/286247/2 "2005-01-23T18:46:05Z")
No cite, as my dictionary of phrase origins is at work, but AFAIK it comes from the sport of boxing - if you’re “boxing clever”, you’re using your brain and wits rather than brute strength, and thus you stand a chance of beating a stronger, but less quick-witted, opponent.