Benitez probably the least, as he kind of leaned his head back so that his eyes could be cast downward. To me at least, unless he's thinking his nose hairs might freak people out, he's missing on the art of intimidation. That's more haughty than frightening. Hearns' baleful glare is more on the mark. Though of these, Tyson probably wins. More than any of the others, his gaze suggests he might actually eat you.
The three most dead inside, baleful stares I've seen in the boxing ring are Sonny Liston, Thomas Hearns and Terence Crawford.
For me it's Thomas Hearns while referee was giving pre fight instructions in his fight with Roberto Duran. Just look at The Hitman's face.
You're right. Benitez didn’t look intimidating at all especially compared to the others on the list but I actually like the way he did it. I don’t think he was trying to physically look intimidating but to me, he was showing how supremely confident/arrogant he felt and the tilting his head back was to show that he had such an air of confidence, that he was looking down at his opponent with disdain. His stare downs with Tommy Hearns and Ray Leonard are classics. This content is protected
Posted this before, but I always liked what Randy Shields said about the Thomas Hearns ‘death stare’ during referee instructions before the fight. I don’t have the exact quote but it was something like: “He gave me that stare and I almost started laughing. Like, what’s he going to do — hit me? He’s going to do that anyway.’ That being said, I’d run and hide if Thomas Hearns gave me that look.
Personally, I cannot think of anything more intimidating before a match than an opponent laughing at me, or smiling at me in a dismissive way. I believe Jack Johnson did that, so I will go with him. https://www.ringtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/file_120099_0_879.jpg
I was also quite impressed with Jose Ribalta's glare at Mike Tyson during their preliminaries. Did n't get him anywhere but it still looked damn good.
