I remember Norton always looking at his feet. To gather his thoughts. I think it was a way of avoiding the stare down all together.
I don’t think Eubank was remotely intimidated by Toney. Benn reacted in a most basic way not being as articulate as Eubank. Eubank was trying to think of some superior philosophical response when he was cut off.
Reverse psychology has its place, too. Carlos Palomino told the story of when he fought Duran. He was all keyed up going into the weigh-in, had heard all he stories about how Duran would be a complete animal at these things with pushing/shoving/yelling/screaming to intimidate the opponent. Palomino said he had made up his mind that the first thing Duran did like that, he was going to just hit him in the face … win the mental battle by showing Duran he wasn’t a bit scared of him. So they get to the weigh-in, they both step on and off the scales and then Duran comes over to him. Palomino is poised to pop him right in the mouth … and Duran holds up a photo of Palomino and asks if Carlos will autograph it for his son, says Palomino is his son’s favorite fighter and it would mean so much to him. Palomino completely deflates. He signs the picture and says Duran turned the tables on him — whether by design or by happenstance — right there. He said he left knowing he had lost his mental edge to Duran by getting exactly the opposite of what he had gotten so hyped up for.
Damn. Very uncharacteristic of Duran - but he sure did beat the hell out of Palomino (who hung tough) on fight night.
My man did it twice, on the biggest stage of all , against the 2 biggest imitators of all time, step forward Muhamad Ali.... keep well.
If anything, Lewis was still more intimidated by Tyson rep than Tyson was of him even though Tyson was clearly shot and a shadow of his 1980s prime, Lewis still appeared over wary of being caught. If he wasn't so cautious, he would have stopped Tyson a lot faster than he did.
I was gonna say Duane Bobick vs Ken Norton, or Ron Lyle vs Jerry Quarry, but hey neither one was intimadated , Bobick did not stay down, even though he was done , and Ron Lyle went 12 rounds! I DO OF COURSE BELIEVE Spinks was intimadated out of his shoes vs Tyson (bad matchup) fighter's just do not get intimadated or show it, even though their getting blasted
I agree, that fight should have been over after the third round. As it was I partly blame the ref...Mike was getting hit was too hard and too much two rounds before it was actually stopped imo. He shouldn't have had to take that much punishment.
Doesn’t quite fit the bill for this one, but there’s a belter of a story about Naz asking Steve Robinson if he’d go winner takes all with him at the pre fight press conference - Dominic Ingle said he could tell from Robinson’s reaction that he lost the fight there and then.