Most intimidating of these heavyweights.

Tyson only intimidated weak minded guys. Liston only intimidated 180 pound guys of his era. Foreman intimidated more people in his prime.

 

Liston. He was the forerunner of the intimidating heavyweights. He did not just look bad. You knew he WAS bad! Physically, however, the most intimidating of the three was Foreman.

 

At Tysons best, he had to be the most intimidating.
When he was still a kid, he looked like the most streamlined, tunnel visioned killer in the divisions history.

Foreman and Liston had that calm and scary "your destruction is inevitable" demeanor.
Peak Tyson looked like a caged Lion, hungry to pounce as soon as the bell rung.
His face was like a mad villain who wanted to torture you with violence for his pleasure.
He took intimidation to a new extreme.

I would say then Liston, and last but not least Foreman.

 

I would assume the calm and scary "poker face" demeanor is more intimidating than simply the mad sadistic villain. Generally.
But that's perhaps because in my experience I've known a few violent and hot-headed sadists and am a little desensitized to that type and have seen them come unstuck quite often. Guys who look and act like they are trying to intimidate and seek pleasure in hurting aren't as intimidating as the cold dead stare types who act with no emotional intent.

Having said that, I'd probably class Mike Tyson as a fairly "poker faced" killer too, in his prime anyway.
Tyson's intimidation was mostly due to his ring style at the opening bell, I believe. Not his physical appearance or demeanor. People knew he came out straight away with intense pressure and that's intimidating for guys who didn't quite have the confidence in their abilities.

Liston and Foreman were probably a bit more intimidating though, mainly because Tyson has the voice of a little girl.

 

All three are scarey guys to go up against but for sheer size and ko power I'll pick big George.

 

The thing is Tyson had the performances to back up the demeanor.
But yeah, ask me this same question tomorrow and the order might be reversed. They are all good picks.

 

They all had the performances.
Like I said, I think his demeanor in his prime years was fairly poker-faced and he had the "dead shark eyes" look to him, so he's more similar to Liston and Foreman anyway.

 

Joe Louis is on par with Sonny Liston, in my opinion.
Completely blank faced killers. No emotion whatsoever.

 

They did. But the point about Tyson having "barks the loudest" syndrome at his peak doesn't really hold.
He did have the poker face down too, but he just had a more violent, sadistic and immediate energy to him.

 

Foreman. Liston was before my time but I lived through the Foreman and Tyson eras. Foreman was not only incredibly intimidating but he had the physical presence to back it up.

 

Yeah, I agree.
But I reckon his high-energy style, which was extremely intimidating to most opponents for obvious reasons, was possibly slightly less intimidating than Liston or Foreman's style, because they seemed to be crushing guys without even really trying.
I guess fighting Tyson a lot of opponents had the mindset "If I can get past the first round or two .....", whereas fighting Liston, you can't even really dream about outboxing him and his jab was a nightmare.

Of course, none of this applies to good confident fighters anyway. Liston and Tyson had to fight a lot of guys who didn't give two ****s for their reputations and laughed at intimidation attempts. Still, Liston and Tyson usually won.

 

If you felt scared or intimidated being in the ring with them then you had no place being there IMO.

 

Jack Johnson was intimidating in a completely different way.

He had that smile tinged with sarcasm and insincerity.

He just made his opposition feel like they were a joke.