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Top 10 pound for pound Boxing Badass Motherf***ers

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by McGrain, Dec 26, 2008.

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Minotauro Boxing Addict Full Member

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Great list I think Barbados Demon Joe Walcott should be there and on par with Walker.

Minotauro, Dec 27, 2008

#31

Stonehands89 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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ChrisPontius said: ↑

I disagree here. Maybe Tyson emulated General Zod, but let's not pretend he was playing with My Little Pony when the cameras were off. His criminal record is genuine (and nothing to be proud of, mind you), just ask Mitch Green. Tyson may have said OWWWWAH when someone was working on his cut during the Lewis fight, but he took his beating like a man until there was nothing left .. Liston may not have said OWAAAAH, but he flat out quit against a much lighter hitter.
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We've gone round and round with this before. I did a post yesterday on the Tyson-Lewis thread and got into some details there that you won't agree with. A violent criminal is not necessarily a badass. And Tyson emulated many more characters fiction or not -Zod is just the funniest.

Tyson was impressionable. That's an obvious fact. Can one be impressionable and a badass? I think that answer is no.

Stonehands89, Dec 27, 2008

#32

Manassa - banned

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Manassa, Dec 27, 2008

#33
Manassa - banned

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I do think that if anyone deserves a place on the list though, it's Henry Armstrong.

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Manassa, Dec 27, 2008

#34

True Writer Active Member Full Member

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Does this guy count - Tony Ayala

True Writer, Dec 27, 2008

#35
janitor VIP Member Full Member

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McGrain said: ↑

With his gun and his hat. Liston did a lot of bad things, but he seemed to know where the line was. If he starts shoeing that cop, it's an ugly, ugly story, but disarming a policeman who is pointing a gun at you before placing him headfirst in a bin and then retreating is kind off cool.
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Some good choices there but I would like to nominate a few other men for consideration:

Young Griffo
Griffo could have drunk Mickey Walker under the table and knocked out Jim Corbett in a barfight while the former was heavyweight champion!

He once escaped a charge for indecency because the judge ruled that what he had done was too sordid to describe to the jury!

Bob Fitzsimmons
The only heavyweight champion who killed a man in the ring and didnt loose some agresion in subsequent fights.

Jim Jeffries
When told that Bob Fitzsimmons had loaded gloved he decided to go ahead with the fight anyway!

He offered to fight Fitzsimmons Corbett and Sharkey in the same night after he had beaten them and they all refused!

Terry McGovern
The prototype for Jack Dillin, Jack Dempsey, Mike Tyson and all the evil that came after him.

Jack Dempsey
No explanation needed.

Battling Siki
Mad bad and dangerous to know.

janitor, Dec 27, 2008

#36
Maxmomer Boxing Addict Full Member

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Seamus said: ↑

William Harrison Dempsey was the very definition of badass. Road the rails thousands of miles, which don't mean jumping boxcars but hanging on to the brake rails below the car. One slip or nod into sleep and you are dead. Still, he did this many winters. Was a miner, a beet baler and when necessary a pimp. Fought grown men when he was a scawny teenager. Laid down the worse beating ever witnessed in a championship heavyweight fight. Stormed Okinawa when he was almost 50. Banged half of Hollywood's finest.
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I think Dempsey's pre and post title life qualify him for a spot on the list, of course McGrain won't agree, though.

Maxmomer, Dec 27, 2008

#37

PowerPuncher Loyal Member Full Member

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Whats the definition of Bad Ass?

Someone who's just a destructive SOB?

Someone who'll take any amount of pain and come back from the brink?

Someone who'll go up against anyone, anytime, anywhere?

Someone who's mean, vindictive, brutal and tortorous to their opponent?

Most champs have high levels of some of these

No mention of Charles Burley? Harry Greb? Marciano?

PowerPuncher, Dec 27, 2008

#38
McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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ChrisPontius said: ↑

Then your #1 needs reconsideration.
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Who are you thinking?

Good thread though.
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Any chance we'll see your ten?

McGrain, Dec 27, 2008

#39
McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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Bokaj said: ↑

If LaMotta really had said "you never got me down, Ray, you never got me down" he would have a really goodd case for a place in top 3.
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You're right. That quote gets him into a ten for sure IF it was said.

McGrain, Dec 27, 2008

#40
Maxmomer Boxing Addict Full Member

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McGrain said: ↑

Who are you thinking?
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I think he means Johnson not fighting Langford after he won the title.

Maxmomer, Dec 27, 2008

#41

McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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Stonehands89 said: ↑

McGrain's opening post belongs in the ESB Hall of Fame. Excellent work, excellent reasoning, excellent wit... just beautiful.

Meaningless Minutiae:
* Tyson emulated badasses. He himself was not a badass. Unless one is immersed in the gangsta rap culture, it is easy to see the swaggering act that saw him quoting General Zod from Superman II ("How dare they challenge me with their primitive skills"). Remember him telling the interviewer that he could hear Tyrell Biggs squeel like a woman after he beat him? Fast forward to between rounds when Tyson was getting enswell on his eyes in the Lewis fight... and I quote: "OWWWWWWAH!" He was an angry and confused young man who didn't really know who he was.

* Boxing has more badasses in it's long history than any other sport this side of Circus Maximus. A complete list would have thousands plus millions more that we have no idea about. But so what --McGrain's list warrants no criticism. I especially like how he handled #10.
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Thanks for your kind words. Nothing meaningless about your Tyson observation, I agree, at least partly. I always feel like Liston embodied what people thought Tyson was.

McGrain, Dec 27, 2008

#42
McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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Seamus said: ↑

William Harrison Dempsey was the very definition of badass. Road the rails thousands of miles, which don't mean jumping boxcars but hanging on to the brake rails below the car. One slip or nod into sleep and you are dead. Still, he did this many winters. Was a miner, a beet baler and when necessary a pimp. Fought grown men when he was a scawny teenager. Laid down the worse beating ever witnessed in a championship heavyweight fight. Stormed Okinawa when he was almost 50. Banged half of Hollywood's finest.
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I did think long and hard about him (about 8 minutes, which was pretty long for this thread) but I just couldn't do it. You're either a Dempsey man or a Wills man and I guess i'm a Wills man.

McGrain, Dec 27, 2008

#43
McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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Stonehands89 said: ↑

We've gone round and round with this before. I did a post yesterday on the Tyson-Lewis thread and got into some details there that you won't agree with. A violent criminal is not necessarily a badass. And Tyson emulated many more characters fiction or not -Zod is just the funniest.

Tyson was impressionable. That's an obvious fact. Can one be impressionable and a badass? I think that answer is no.
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Before I get weighed into this argument let me first say that Tyson was probably badass and I don't have a problem with Chris's position. But I do want to say this.

Tyson found his way into badassery via an abused pigeon. He discovered his power and strength when an older boy killed one of his pigeons in front of his face. Quite a famous story. Badasses master their enviroment. Tyson made a series of emotional responses to his - just like that day with the pigeons. These emotional responses are most easily defined as badassery because his responses tend to be violent. But he never, ever mastered his environment.

Just my take.

McGrain, Dec 27, 2008

#44
McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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Maxmomer said: ↑

I think he means Johnson not fighting Langford after he won the title.
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Maybe. He did fight Langford though, would be my answer though, I guess.

McGrain, Dec 27, 2008

#45

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