Or would you say Sonny Liston? Who was the most terrifying fighter of all time?
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Or would you say Sonny Liston? Who was the most terrifying fighter of all time?
There have been several scary fuckers in this sport. Tyson, Foreman, Liston to name just a few. The fighter who intimidated his opponents the most, though, was Joe Louis.
Outside the heavyweights, there are Duran, Hagler, Hearns, Harry Greb, and the late great - and scary nutcase - Stanley Ketchell.
Well Joe Lewis was called the Babyface killer so it's hard to get that terrified at a baby face. Definitely Marvin Hagler and to a lesser extent Tommy Hearns. Roberto Duran also it has to be in there with that terrible sneerQuote:
Originally Posted by X
Tyson was smaller than George so I would say Foreman.
Tyson was probably wide as he was tall.
I personally would be afraid of a crazy Ike.
Lou Beale...by a country mile
https://fthmb.tqn.com/VePbSFe-byPmYO...345bb55cce.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by Beanz
Easily Tyson I'd think. Never knew if he'd try to put your jaw in the back of your neck, break an arm or chew on your eyeball or bend you over the stool. Then the pacing. Foreman was menacing but low key, he'd stand stock still at refs instructions and just look a guy dead in the eyes, back and forth.
Tyson was like a pit bull, if he snapped there was no saving you.
I would argue that whichever one happened to be across from you at that particular moment was/is the most terrifying.
I think it was more a case of would you rather have your head ripped off a la Mike Tyson or would you rather look at your silent and frightening to tombstone a la George Foreman
At their primes they BOTH were intimidating. But NO ONE- aside from Ali- wanted to fight Foreman. NO ONE. People knew they could lose fighting Tyson, but post-Tucker, people felt as if they could have survived the encounter. Not so with Foreman. It was sudden death. And most of them knew it. Ali was afraid too, but Ali's sheer will put him over the top and his experience with beating Liston gave him that notion that BOXING could beat BRUTE FORCE at any time in the ring.
This is why Ali was and still is THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME!
]I agree with 99% of that about Muhammad Ali I mean. Ali won that fight with Foreman because he was allowed to get away with pushing down Foreman's head, leaning on his neck dozens of times per round, and grabbing incessantly. Also and pastimes fights would have been stopped if a fighter just laid on the ropes like a bum and took hundreds of shots to the kidneys. Those fights would have been stopped. Ali had blood in his urine for three and a half weeks after that fight and had a contused kidney and a partially perforated spleen. If that's called winning than I am a monkey's uncle.
The referee didn't do George Foreman any favors that night either. And if you look those ropes were a little bit loose which really helped Ali lean back a good three feet into the first row of Spectators while keeping his feet planted on the canvas. Very hard to hit that Target.
Forman was the only person who all he did not give a rematch to either by the way. I would say George Foreman wisdom more terrifying between foreman and Tyson
George Foreman could still knock out half of the boxers
Anyone who lifted Joe Frazier clean off his feet, twice, would have made mincemeat out of Tyson, styles make fights.Quote:
Originally Posted by brocktonblockbust
Great point. We all know the story in 1989 about how they were trying to make a fight between Tyson and Foreman who is still on his way up in his second career and Tyson apparently flipped out and got up from the table and said " I will not fight that maniac!"Quote:
Originally Posted by nuggetdotcomAnyone who lifted Joe Frazier clean off his feet, twice, would have made mincemeat out of Tyson, styles make fights.Quote:
Originally Posted by brocktonblockbust
I agree with you, friend. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Alpha
Still stand by Holyfeild being the scariest person the man feared nothing and could be having a heart attack in the ring and keep fighting. Not mention he thought god empowered him to beat the shit out of people that is scary. There is a reason why scary guys fear crazy people guys like Ali and Holyfield throw Tyson and Foreman off because Ali and Holyfeild thought they were the chosen ones who were blessed by god you know crazy fuckers. Now Tyson and Foreman might scare everyday people more but when came to them Ali and Holyfeild probable put more fear in Tyson and Foreman then most not to mention once they were in ring with them because they take everything they had and kept going.
There is a difference between an intimidating person and a crazy man.
Yea but he is talking about being terrifying would you be more scared of a thug who can hit hard and is fast and great fighter or crazy person who not only great fighter but thinks god blessed him to beat shit out you and really thinks that is true.
I agree with Mr140. That's quite insightful.
Ive read a lot of bios about Sonny Liston, and several have pointed out that Sonny was a genuine hard man, unafraid of just about anyone. However, in prison, he always established himself as Top Dog ..... but always kept away from inmates who were genuinely mentally ill.
He said something like 'Why mess with a crazy person, you never know what they might do, and they could do anything'
I strongly believe that Cassius Clay convinced Liston that he was crazy, and that fear totally outpsyched Liston.
A bit later on in his career, I also think that Ali became something of a fanatic on the subject of the Black Muslims. It became the period of his career when he was most unpleasant and very cruel and spiteful in the ring. That fanatical belief is impossible to counter, as he would probably genuinely have died in the ring before getting beat. I agree he also thought he was unbeatable because he had been chosen by God.
I act crazy as a loon when I lived in the ghettos for many years the deep and I mean deep ghettos in Newark New Jersey and East Orange New Jersey and Irvington New Jersey tough places I mean real tough gangs everywhere I could hear shots being fired outside my window maybe once every week or two down the block and I found the best thing I could do was act insane when walking back around midnight through the neighborhood past groups of people smoking crack or brandishing their pistols under the streetlights on the corners I would just come back and acted really f****** crazy and everybody left me the hell alone for 7 years straight over there. There's no question that insanity y is more intimidating than Brute Force
You know what's really messed up is that I actually wasn't acting at all. I was just being me