I heard someone talking about how a number of famous musicians like Ozzy Osbourne and Cher suffered from almost crippling stage-fright/performance anxiety for years. It got me thinking about whether there were any all time greats in boxing who had a similar problem. I realize they all pretty much deal with intense nerves pre-fight. I'm talking about something a little more severe than that. On the other end of the spectrum, I remembering reading something where Ray Arcel commented that he believed Robert Duran and Luis Firpo were the two fighters who were the closest to being totally unafraid of stepping in the ring.
Not sure if everyone considers GGG to be great but he looked notably nervous vs Canelo the first time around. GGG appeared to be a bit nervous during the walk in, probably because this fight was so much bigger than anything he had ever done before. I scored the first fight 9-3 for GGG and he was robbed. But he was too tentative when Canelo was up against the ropes. Even though he won and was robbed, i couldn't help but think he was a bit nervous.
George Foreman and Sonny Liston both suffered from fear before a fight............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................yeah, they were both afraid that they would kill somebody...
Don’t know that I’d call them great boxers but I think Bruce Seldon against Tyson and Herbie Hide against Bowe both had stage fright moments. I honestly think if you strapped Seldon to a lie detector right afterword would pass if he told you he got hit full-force hard from the barely glancing first shot that put him down.
It's probably a thing, but it translates as "gym fighters". Fighters that create real waves in the gym when sparring, get trainers and insiders excited but just never quite turn it into a performance in the ring. A good example is Danny Williams. People raved about him for years.
Bruno looked scared to death on his way to fight Tyson both times, like a man being led to an execution.
Tyrone Jackson. Not anything approaching great but watch him freeze up against Tony Lopez. He just couldn't throw any punches. Almost catatonic.
