The most intimidating man in boxing ever?

I think Mike Tyson. He rattled more people and had more people beat before the bell rang than many people have knockouts. Mike managed to intimidate very polished pros who have fought many tough guys. That is a hard thing to do.

 

:good

 

Interesting perspective!!! Thanks

 

Young George Foreman...:yep

 

You also wouldn't believe it but fighters were terrified of Dempsey in his prime...

 

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Who really were/are mean, angry and surly. Authenticity doesn't hurt. Many reports of regular people who have met him suggest the real Foreman remains a rather nasty, moody and temperamental character, in contrast to his marketable public personna. (This suggests he may be an even greater salesman than his image suggests.)

Mike Spinks was Tyson's greatest victim in this respect. Tyson was heavily built up with a succession of quick knockouts, and the slow starting Spinks was utterly overawed. Spinks should have spent more time watching Tillis, Green, Tucker and Smith take Tyson the distance. Perhaps Spinks would have always been too slow starting to survive for any length of time against Tyson, but there's little question he was beaten before ever entering the ring that night.

This is probably the stare that Jack Sharkey originally created deliberately for Dempsey, and it completely freaked Dempsey out. "What is that? What's he doing?" Dempsey asked his handlers. Unfortunately, Sharkey got himself knocked out after this, setting a bad precedent for boxing head games. For Louis, I don't know that this started out as an intentional effort at intimidation. His handlers were simply panicked at the idea of anything reminiscent of Johnson.

I think this actually fits Benitez most perfectly during recent decades. Wilfredo used it to stare down Hearns successfully. If stare downs determined outcomes, Benitez would have never been defeated.

In 1979, that's exactly how Duran completely threw off Palomino, who had his guard up against an expected demeanor of confrontation and menace. Instead, Roberto cordially introduced himself, asked Carlos for an autograph for his son, and Palomino never recovered his mental balance. Even at their weigh in, Duran was very relaxed and at ease, with a broad smile across his face, while Carlos appeared expressionlessly disarmed.

Ali seems to have had his greatest success doing this in the rematch with Quarry, aided tremendously by Jerry's viewing of brother Mike's near decapitation by Bob Foster's hook. Jerry had gone 15 rounds with Ellis, took out Spencer in 12 with wire to wire domination, and was at an age where one typically would be expecting to peak physically, yet he was running on fumes after just a handful of rounds with a very relaxed Ali. Muhammad knew before he ever left his dressing room that Quarry was mentally beaten, while Jerry's fight panicked fight or flight adrenaline rush left him with virtually nothing after about four rounds. He could have really used Norton's hypnotist before this one.

Again, based on Palomino alone, I think Duran very much qualifies as a hybrid. Much later in his career, Barkley tried to use the memory of his friend Moore as a motivator, and Duran managed somehow to make this a liability for Iran. Duran could enrage, scare, or disarm, a very effective and versatile master of head games. As small as Tommy Burns was, he too could be something of an intimidator.

If I was to forgo categorizations like yours entirely, then compelled to identify a single name, I'd go with the Foreman between Kingston and Kinshasa. Destroying Frazier and Norton the way he did was a massive cultural shock. What happened between Patterson and Liston surprised nobody, and Tyson failed to produce stoppage wins in four high profile matches. Big George was a total destroyer, who Ali claimed he'd beat by dancing all night long. Even in retrospect, the idea of Muhammad dropping him for the count seems surreal.

 

mike tyson.

 

:scaredas:

 

for sinister, cold-hearted malice...

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for sheer physical intimidation...

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and for the "I have come to give you a beat down" look, I submit...

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"Big" George Foreman

 

Maybe one of these two?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDuW5bbZXyg[/ame]

 

Or him

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL7KnkWWXbQ[/ame]

 

The man in my avatar has to be up there. Guys like Tyson and Liston were of course intimidating, but they were bullies, and you know what they say about bullies. With Frazier there was no real psychological deterrent towards him because he wasn't trying to intimidate and frighten you, but as an opponent you just knew that he was 100% focused and was going to bring massive heart, a big punch and 3 long, hard minutes of work every round to the table and nothing you could ever say or do was going to stop him trying to do that.