The 1980"s most intimidating fighter behind tyson,duran,hearns,fenech etc....

Oh for sure Starling was very intimidating when he was getting knocked the **** out by Molinares. He looked very scary when he was trying to get up while half awake, I was very scared for him indeed.

 

Frank Fletcher wouldn't agree lol.

 

In the 70s I would say Shavers, Foreman, Lyle, Monzon. In the 80s all those you inserted in the thread. In the 90s Jackson, Bowe, Ruddock, Ibeabuchi and Tua...Lewis enough. In the 2000s Lewis, Vitaly and Wlad.

 

I remember KO hyping John Verderosa. They said he had a crazy stare that made Durans seem tame by comparison.
Apparently it had no affect on Boza Edwards.

 

If you came right at Starling, he chewed you up and spit you out. See Honeyghan, Baret, Simon Brown, Tommy Ayers, Jose Baret and Lupe Aquino. Only Curry stood his ground and was successful.

If you moved and boxed he had problems. See Pedro Villela, Johnny Bumphis, Maurice Blocker and Mark Breland - until Starling caught him late.

 

Saad

 

I can't imagine fighting Julio César Chávez or Marvin Hagler was a tantalising prospect.

 

Imagine, your in the ring with this opponent, from the 1st moment from the opening bell, he comes at you like a pit bull on steroids. But you remain cool, you land the perfect counter and you see this S.O.B go down,,,,,, Than the S.O.B does a back flip, and now is coming at you really pissed, now like a Great White Shark,,,, on steroids......
This opponent was Aaron "The Hawk"Pryor . Any opponent that faced him in his prime must have had at least a little reservation about facing this crazy S.O.B.

 

It was after the bell wasnt it

 

Starling was a good fighter especially on the defensive side but Curry definitely had his number.

 

I was going to say Hagler but a few have beaten me to the punch.

Thomas Hearns also comes to mind. A very intimidating fighter for any welterweight or junior middleweight. A mix of size, reach, speed and power combined into a very intimidating fighter.

The Hitman as very good at towering over his opponent n giving them the death stare during the referee’s instructions.

Cheers All
Apologies to the OP as I just saw he mentioned Hearns.

 

Julian Jackson was definitely one of the most intimidating fighters of the 80s.

 

I remember reading some time ago Ray Leonard telling about Hearns.

He said in the buildup to the fight they did a press tour and Thomas wore baggy clothes, slumped his shoulders, hunched over and kind of stared at his feet a lot. He got the impression that Hearns wasn’t this big, bad monster he had been made out to be after spending quite a bit of time around him.

When they got in the ring, Hearns took his robe off and broadened his shoulders (with that V-shape down to his waist) and fully stood up and suddenly Ray said he looked a foot taller with this incredible physique — very intimidating with his scowl and everything. Complete psyche job on a guy who was pretty good at the mental game himself.

 

Tony Ayala Jr