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

Counting sparring didn't Fitz somehow manage to kill three men with his bare hands?

 

He didnt quit on his stool, although I agree with your sentiments

 

Then you secretly like moris danciong more than boxing.

 

Liston's quitting had little to do with pain and suffering and much to do with ego and humiliation.

He quit, rather than continue to look foolish.




Liston was a whole order of magnitude more badass than Tyson.

Sonnywould have given Mike the heebie-jeebies during the stare-down.

 

It is claimed, but it is hard to verify the number given the abiguity of some of the historical sources.

 

Someone who DID fight the best out there when he was champ.

I'd have to think about that, but my definition of badass is a bit different than most i guess. I'd rank guys like Carlos Monzon and Joe Louis in the top because they were emotionless fighters who did everything to destroy you and never stopped. Guys like Duran, Liston, etc, yes very intimidating and in some cases common criminals, but when you flat-out quit in a fight, i think you lose your spot in the top10 of badasses. Dito for refusing to fight the best (which is why Johnson and Dempsey would not be on my list).

 

I will admit that in some ways these guys scare me more than the Listons, Durans and Tysons of this world.

They are a bit like a computer program for beating sombody up and equaly impersonal.

Sombody like Holyfield must be a prety daunting oponent if you have to go in there and you know that you wont find a single plane of mental weaknes to work with.

 

There are at ast two documented atempts on Johnsons life and it is probably fair to say that when he stepped into the ring he knew he could be shot at any time.

That plus the little matter of Jim Jeffries bearing down on him.

 

Nigel Benn should surely be at least an honerable mention..

 

One thing about researching early fighters through old newspaper acounts is that you verry quickly learn which of them were getting in the papers for all the wrong reasons outside the ring.

Joh L Sullivan and Young Griffo especialy were constantly getting into trouble and drawing column inches as a result.

In fact I might even devote a thread to it.

 

Just for fun, I'll offer a heirarchy of Badassism.

1. The Blood-soaked Nonpareils of the Cobweb Era. Think Battling Nelson.
2. The Sociopaths. Think Monzon
3. The Wild Ones. Think Duran
4. The Thugs. Think Liston.
5. The Natural Fighters. Think Greb.

 

jake lamotta? fought ray robinson 6 times never went down ..held up a mafia made men dice game with one gun at the age of 16... went to boys town ..at 16 went toe to toe with a bunch of prison guards and came out on top ...

surely this man should be top 10