Most Intimidating Boxer of All Time?

MisterT said:
Who do you think is the most intimidating Boxer of all time? Which boxer struck fear and terror into his opponent's hearts like no other?
Some candidates:

- Jack Dempsey
- Sonny Liston
- George Foreman
- Mike Tyson

Feel free to choose any other boxer if you like.

Personally, I think it's Sonny Liston.
George Foreman said he was wary of Sonny when they sparred.
Floyd Patterson was scarred of him when they met in their fight.
Henry Cooper said that he'd cross the street if he saw Liston walking towards him on the sidewalk.
Hell, even Ali said that Liston was one of the few opponents who made him nervous before their fight.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

u got it all there.
Dunno about Dempsey though. Guy was a savage but still ppl loved him and Boxers were'nt scared of him.

but Sonny Liston ?

A body built to inflict pain (check)

Psychopathic stare (check)

Monosyllabic vocabulary (check)

Violent pre-boxing occupation (check)

Mob connections (check)

Giant chip on shoulder (check)

A hatred of the law (check)

Guy most likely to murder you on a deserted street (check)

Insane media hype (check)


Pre-Ali Foreman was pretty intimidating too.
People were literally scared of him but even he couldnt match Liston on all those counts.
I'd give him the first three and include a healthy dose of ABM syndrome (angry black male)

Tyson was just killer punches combined with a weird voice but still definitely No.3.
 
Tyson hands down! Even if I am watching on the boob tube, I am still scared of that guy. But, have you seen his twitter posts lately?
 
George Foreman said that in the stare down if the other person looked away first he knew he had a slight psychological advantage. But against Frazier, he didn't want Frazier to look down, because Foreman's legs were shaking.

Tyson is intimidating no doubt, but also mentally unstable, easily discouraged and kind of went off the rails towards the end. He seemed overcome with emotion when he was telling that reporter, "I'll f*ck you till you love me fa**ot" etc.

I think Sonny Liston is the most intimidating. When Ali was getting checked pre-fight, the doctor said he was suffering from hysteria or something, because his heart rate was so high. Ali acted to overcome his fear. Like he turned up at places Sonny Liston would be at and acted crazy, and Sonny Liston said in interviews that Ali was crazy. I think he said something like Ali was associated with the Nation of Islam, and he was crazy. It kind of had a reverse effect because the only thing that Liston could get intimidated by was a crazy person who didn't get scared by him.

Before Floyd Patterson's first fight with Liston, Ali was friends with Floyd then, and when Liston got in the ring Ali made a mock scared face and fled through the ropes, which made Patterson laugh.

Like a few people have said, after Liston's death an interviewer said that Ali was sad when informed of the news, and the interviewer asked what Ali would say to Liston if he could. Ali said, 'Man, you scared me.' He also said that Foreman was the most powerful, Frazier was the toughest, and Liston was the most scary.
 
There’s a bit of information about it here:

ESPN Classic - Liston was trouble in and out of ring
“One of Liston's assistant trainers later said Liston threw the fight for fear of being murdered by Black Muslims.

While Liston publicly denied taking a dive, Sports Illustrated writer Mark Kram said that years later Liston told him, "That guy [Ali] was crazy. I didn't want anything to do with him. And the Muslims were coming up. Who needed that? So I went down. I wasn't hit."”

Muhammad Ali vs Sonny Liston - First Heavyweight Title, Boxing Record and Fight Review
While everyone obsessed over Liston’s size and strength, clay went to work on his head. He began a sustained and audacious campaign of intimidation. He nicknamed Liston big ugly bear, he was pictured with Angelo Dundee and Bundini brown reading a book entitled psychological warfare.
...
Liston was becoming convinced clay was crazy. After all, who, other than a lunatic would treat Sonny Liston in such a way?

Clay wasn’t finished yet, however. He drove his bus to Liston’s house in the middle of the night and had Howard Bingham get out and ring the doorbell. When Liston arrived at Miami airport to begin his final preparations for the fight, clay goaded him into throwing a punch (“he missed by a country mile,” clay crowed). He then took a bus full of screaming girls to Liston’s training HQ at the surfside community centre. And finally, when the big day finally came, he really freaked Liston out.

At the morning weigh in, clay arrived first and went through his usual routine, coming up with the inspired rhyme “when the crowd laid down their money/they didn’t dream they’d see a total eclipse of sonny…” and making a prediction: “round eight/to prove I’m great!”

When Liston showed up, though, clay went berserk. He screamed at sonny – “you chump, you ugly bear, I’m gonna whip you! ” He became manic. His heart rate was measured at 110 beats per minute up from its usual 54. The fight doctor, Alexander Robbins, proclaimed that clay was “emotionally unbalanced, scared to death and liable to crack up before he enters the ring.”
 
Last edited:
Imagine a prime Wanderlei Silva and prime Mike Tyson Staredown.
 
C'mon guys. Not only did Mike Tyson have ferocious power, he was a total psychopath in the ring. When Tyson gets mad in the ring he eats people's faces.
 
Almost everybody's been mentioned, but Monzon's up there.
 
Just to add a little bit of spice to the thread i am going to add a new name.

Roy Jones Jr. He talked alot of shit, but the really intimidating thing came from being in the ring with him, i mean, Tyson, Liston, Foreman all had power, but you (if you werent scared shitless) told yourself, "If i go in there and outbox em, i got a chance".

I have never seen someone make more professional fighters look completely defeated, mentally, in the ring than RJJ. If if wanted to, he couldve just bombed you out, he had the power, but instead, he chose to counter every punch you threw, until you second guessed breathing.
 
I imagine Duran must have been pretty terrifying to most of his opponents during his prime.

Also, Hagler. He just seemed like a mean fucker.
 
Mike Tyson ofcourse physically it should be lennox lewis
 
Easily Mike Tyson during his undefeated run. He was the real-life Clubber Lang. Had he been managed better and trained like a real champion should, he probably would've went undefeated for years and years longer. Probably reaching something like 50-0.
 
ninjaunicorn said:
Shit, Monzon was a scary guy, especially considering his track record outside the ring
Click to expand...

Agreed, Monzon was a crazy motherfucker. Dude had an iron chin and enough dogged determination to break you down and pound you out.

I'd love to have seen a fight between Monzon and Hagler.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,237,089
Messages
55,467,043
Members
174,786
Latest member
plasterby

Share this page

Back
Top