Why are the Leo and Boa called knife fighters?

No doubt it has a lot of firepower, but in order to deliver it hp must be sacrificed. You can only last for a very short while this way. I don't think that this is a good strategy. How long do you last before you field your next bot?

I have a 6/6 Pinata-Thunder Leo. Believe me, on good days I've nuked 5 bots before going down. on bad days, 2.  A leo's charge is very difficult to deal with. Once I started walking towards the farm from the city in Springfield. Took a full HP Rhino with its shield up, 2 griffs, one Nat before going down. 

For best effect, pair with another Leo (same speed, HP so less chance of bailing or dying out one you) and raid the spawn base. Best in close maps. 

As a close parallel, I can think of Knight/Paladin classes in fantasy RPGs. They tank(take hits) and deliver damage while persevering. 

What blastronaut said is correct. Not a robot-specific term, more general purpose to define close range 'In your face' bot/weapon setups.

Gotta be close range to use a knife, right? Typically, at least.

Was thinking on the lines of why these specific robots were referred to as knife fighters.

A philosophy of ones style of play. Not any particular bot.

You can knife fight with a Fury if you want to. 3 Thunders and have it. Put any weapon on any bot, then fight.

Close in, sneaky MR always trying to hide somewhere, then whoosh and LR guys having some tea and crumpets.
By Jove, there's one of them reds now. Fire. Oh dear I spilt some of my tea. Roughing it today aren't we.

The leo and boa get called that because the most popular builds on those bots are knifefighting  (i.e. close-ranged combat) builds.  Thunder/plasma or thunder/300m rockets typically, sometimes thunder/punisher early on.

In reality, the Leo is really just a flexible workhorse with a high health instead of shields.  Plenty of folks run viable mid and long range leo builds (trident/pin, zeus/pin, zeus/gekko, treb/gekko) and just like its robust health, although the natasha might be a more optimal choice for longer ranges among the Ag heavies.  Packed with short-ranged grunt, the Leo is tough and packs a punch and is the best brawler among the Ag heavies (the more fragile and agile griffin is better suited to ambushing and hit and run rather than pure brawling) and is thus most often built as a knife fighter. 

The Boa, on the other hand, is very rarely seen sporting anything but a close combat build built around a thunder.  There just aren't any mid to long ranged builds that a golem (or some other bot) couldn't do far better.  The relatively sparse hardpoints of the boa just can't pack a very efficient mix of mid-range weapons (nevermind long range).  The short ranged builds let it pack solid damage and leverage its high HP and speed better (e.g. it survives far longer in knifing range than say the golem).  So boas are almost always knifer builds.

Maybe I was lucky  That was the last few minutes of the match so only some griffs remained. The Tridents and stuff were busy shooting at other "high value" targets while I took out 4 bots alone.xd

Often  the lower estimation of a Leo makes people ignore it. That helps when they see the Leo. Behind walls, they assume you are a high-value target.xd But this is just an assumption. 

anyway, Boa is fast, I agree. But not that different from Leo in lower levels. I'd argue one medium is lesser than 3 lights. They are spread in both sides two unlike the Boa. If the medium is taken out, Boa wouls just have the Heavy left. Leo would have atleast 3 points left. Also, Boa's HP isn't suited for shootouts.

The Golem's heavy point placement is meaningless IMO. It exposes 2 hardpoints. Even Leo's can have Ancile lol. I dread the day I see a pothead Leo bearing down with 3x Magnums or Pinatas. 

I think the Thief/Rogue/Gunslinger classes have more speed. The defining traits of Knight/Paladins are High HP, DEF and some self-Heal.

Sigh. While I acknowledge the Leo's higher HP would make it last longer in a brawl. I find the speed too slow to get into brawling distance sufficiently quickly, and HP whacked down into nothingness far too soon. Perhaps this is a symptom of my low Silver league wherein rockets seem to be in vogue.

For the same reasons of rocket prevalence I find it strange that players tend to field the Boa as a brawler. While it is seems to me more capable than the Leo by virtue of higher HP, speed, and diminutive stature, only countered by very slightly less firepower (1 medium = half of 3 lights). I would still think it would function better as a mid-ranger. But definitely it is a better knife fighter than the Leo.

For head on brawling IMO Ancilot seems best, but what else is there?

What? Leo has much higher HP than Boa.

Well, I don't pilot Leo like that. I use it like a tank, position it an take it towards a group of bots, kill a few before kamikaze.

Sorry I miss typed. I intended to say very high HP (relative to other bots). The Boa still loses out to the Leo in terms of HP.

Brawlers are pretty much tough and hard hitting, usually at the expense of speed.  They have to use cover and friendly supporting fire to help them close the gap safely.  That's true for the lancelot as much as the leo.  If a longer ranged foe catches you on open ground, you're in for a lot of pain.  Brawlers shine in map areas with lots of cover and short engagement distances (dead city, much of power plant, city parts of Springfield, back alleys of Shenzen).

The Boa is positively speedy for a brawler and I've seen it described as a power runner instead of a brawler.  It packs a fair bit less firepower than the leo though.  3 lights is about equal to 2 mediums, meaning the leo's bringing a lot more firepower to the party. 

The ancilot is the gold standard for toughness, but that comes at the price of bringing a medium bot's firepower instead of a heavy bot's firepower.  Losing that heavy weapon means that Ancilots hit as hard as a Rogatka.  Thunder lancelots are the other TT brawler of choice.  Ancile aphid leos (aka. Pothead warriors) have some fans.  The rhino is more of a power runner than a true brawler but I've seen it called a brawler before.  The galahad usually gets tagged as a power runner or flanker.

In Android silver, the Leo is the brawling workhorse, with the occasional lancelot and the odd boa and thunder raijin in the mix.  Sure, leos might hurt a bit from rocket fire but rockets are pure kryptonite to shield bots.  BTW, rockets are common at all tiers to counter rhinos and britbots and due to their high burst damage.