Greatest Killer Instinct of All Time

I was hoping someone would recognise Leonard. Sensational blend of speed and power and when he had someone hurt those gloves turned into blurs. He was never going to carry anyone that's for damn sure. He was quick to realise someone was ready to be taken too.

 

Kostya Tszyu was a nasty piece of work once he had you hurt.

 

Yeah, I’ve heard that story. Any chance Jess was trying to play down the degree of damage?

Later in the piece, I believe Willard attributed a degree of hearing loss in one of his ears to the beating Dempsey gave him.

He also believed that Dempsey had to have had loaded gloves, such was the force he felt from the punches.

Finally, Jess was actually standing nicely when Dempsey first went at him and put him down with the left hook for the initial KD. That was after Dempsey had already rocked Jess with the left hook a couple of times putting Willard on notice that Jack had come to fight.

 

Your classic baby faced/pretty boy assassin.

 

Dempsey
Duran

 

Hi Buddy.
Have to say the posters title @vic-Jofre BRAZIL doesn't, I believe apply to Napoles, and maybe Arguello, my interpretation of " greatest killer instinct " in a fighter, would fall square on the shoulders of Ketchell, Dempsey, Graziano, Hudkins, et al, fighters that in the main are aggressive, attacking, devil may care types, for sure most, if not all fighters will throw caution to the wind if the opponent is hurt or in trouble, and wail away in a effort to KO or render him helpless, but the above sort of fight every minute of every round, to achieve this result, unlike Napoles/Arguello who box and move, probing the other fighters defences, trying to illicit mistakes, ready for the long haul if necessary, of course when openings arise, they will endeavour to close the show, one of the few times Napoles showed fury and the lust to hurt was when he fought Pruitt in a title defense, only 2 rounds, but as the the writer in the Ring said " looked like Pruitt had chewed on a hand grenade " so yea I am a tad confused as to whether you picking them two is correct, and I am not getting it !
Please take the above in good spirit, no malice, or put down intendid.
stay safe Flash, chat soon amigo.

 

Mike, I totally agree with you on the difference between killer instinct and what I call, a fighter with the ability to take advantage of a situation. The first fighter I thought of with pure killer instinct was Rocky Graziano, who also made your list. The reason I thought of him was his ability to go for broke when the chips were down. Last round KO's of fights he was losing to Fusari, Janiro, Cochrane without a care in the world of injuring himself in the process, not to mention the savagery we have all read about from the first two Zale fights. He tops the list for me for pure savagery.

 

Duran, Tyson, Dempsey.

Most intensely exemplified by Mr. Frazier in FOTC.

 

I guess its how one interprets "killer instinct" . The " Attacking devil may care attitude " Is your
definition of great killer instinct as are the fighters you named as examples like Ketchel ,Graziano and
Dempsey, that's fine, it's your opinion
Personally great "killer instinct" to me is rarely letting a hurt opponent off the hook, scientifically
and aggressively breaking them down and, once the opponents is in distress . Ending the fight.
Flailing about like a mad man can and sometimes does end up with the attacker
ending up on his ass because he walked into something, that in my opinion isn't great
killer instinct but simple recklessness. That over aggression is usually easy to counter as
Dempsey vs Firpo , Graziano vs Zale and Robinson, Ketchel vs Johnson are prime
examples of.
Arguello had over 60 ko's with 77 wins, Napoles had over 50 ko's in 80 wins
They were doing something right.
Give me the cold hearted assassin that's setting up his prey for the kill
And once he has it, does the job with a calm ruthless efficiency. Over
the wild swinging , missing more than they land type you're describing
as having great killer instinct .
No offense taken sir, just a different opinion. Also have a fantastic day
today.

 

Dempsey Louis Marciano Tyson Lewis
SRR
SRL
Roberto Duran
Julian Jackson
Bob Foster
Hagler
Aaron Pryor
Tommy Hearns
Alexis Arguello

 

Ray was an absolute assassin. The cheesy smile for the cameras and media-friendly persona was a mask behind which lurked a killer.

 

It’s weird, I think I haven’t watched enough boxing from the 20s but I can only remember Dempsey doing it, at least on film.

 

Hi Buddy.
Thanks for taking time out to respond, nicely thought out counters to my stance, and some very salient observations, just for future reference, Napoles is, and always has been my all time fav fighter, and yes he was doing something right, over the decades I have normally viewed him as a rather slowish methodical type of fighter, increasing tempo and punch rate as his fights went along, but yes, when his adversary is in trouble, Jose would be ruthless, no doubt.
look forward to our next chat, stay safe.