the most relaxed fighter in the ring ever

James Toney, Mayweather Jr and Sr, Old George Foreman, Archie Moore, Mike McCallum

 

Sweet Pea!

 

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.:smoke

Foreman Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooook!:rasta

 

This

 

No love for Roy ?

 

Saw the ridiculously talented amateur Craig Payne blow all the way up to 295 pounds by the time he took on Rocky Sekorski in a nationally televised bout. Blow by blow announcer Al Albert rhetorically asked analyst Sean O'Grady how it was possible for the 6'2" Payne to even compete at that weight against the level of competition he was facing in his career (Craig had pushed Pinklon Thomas to a 12 round SD less than a year earlier, Pinklon's final career win and penultimate bout), and Sean replied that much of it was simply a matter of profound relaxation. Payne-Sekorski suddenly ended with Rocky circling the ring perimeter, hands down, facing the camera, when Craig suddenly reached forward and lashed out from mid ring with a long right to the gut which flicked up into Sekorski's solar plexus perfectly, causing Rocky's face to contort in agony as he went down for the full count like he'd shot. **** boxWRECK records this as a TKO, but Sekorski was down for the toll of, "...Ten and OUT!") Perhaps the most elegant one-punch knockout I've ever viewed.

Less than a year later, weighing about 300, Payne stopped undefeated Tongan prospect Sampson Po'uha. Po'uha would otherwise only be stopped by Golota and Jesse Ferguson, and go on himself to stop Bert Cooper in four.

Craig actually later came in at 300 for Briggs and Barkley, and 312 for Tillis, going the distance with each of the three.

Before turning professional, Payne became the first American since Duane Bobick in the 1971 Pan American games to defeat Teo Stevenson. His 1983 National Golden Gloves Championship came at Tyson's expense in a match most of us have seen on youtube.

If Craig wasn't allergic to gymnasiums and roadwork...


Saoul Mamby was very calm in the ring, a trait Gil Clancy admired him tremendously for. Eddie Mustafa Muhammad might also be cited in this context.

 

Henry Maske

 

James Toney.

 

Toney & Chavez take it for me. Though Joe Louis usually looked like he was taking his time in there.

 

'Bionic' Billy Baggot, a crowd pleasing light-heavy with a losing record from the UK, has been known to sip from a cup of tea and pretend to read the paper between rounds. Cant get much more relaxed than that

 

Jose Napoles, Joel Casamayor?, JMM, Ali?, Martinez, Frazier?, Benitez

 

There must have been a doped up boxer sometime, somewhere, maybe in the Golden Gloves, who nodded out between rounds. Once I saw some jerk show up for his Golden Gloves fight in boxer short underwear.

 

Ali would banter with ringsiders between rounds. He conducted a live television interview between rounds during Lubbers, and I wouldn't be surprised if he did this in other bouts. (Nino LaRocca also did this on Italian television during Bobby Joe Young.)

Nervous tension and relaxation was dramatically contrasted between Ali and Jerry Quarry in their rematch. JQ was a mellow commentator for CBS, and he was very much cool and at ease in his wire to wire domination of Thad Spencer. But he was a bundle of nerves entering his rematch with Ali, and Muhammad had certainly done his part to psych out Jerry beforehand. Then, JQ saw brother Mike nearly decapitated by Bob Foster, which he admitted in his post fight interview took a lot out of him. Jerry's stamina had previously been questioned despite a trio of wins against fine competition over 12 rounds (Mathis, Spencer and Patterson), but he needed a hyperventilation bag in his corner after just six rounds with Muhammad. JQ had beaten Middleton over ten early the previous month in Wembley, finishing strongly, so he certainly should have been competition ready for Ali. He didn't punch himself out like Foreman did in Kinshasa, anxiety and an uncontrolled adrenaline surge did him in (not that he could have beaten Muhammad at that stage anyway, but he should have been good enough to survive to the final bell). Ali himself admitted that he expected Jerry to be tougher.

Frazier was noticeably more relaxed than Jerry in 1969. JQ unloaded 93 punches in that opening round to Smoke's 64, going for broke with a quick start in an attempt to pull off an early stoppage win, but that wasn't a remotely sustainable pace for the championship distance, and he quickly faded here as well.

Watch Benitez take a yawn in the ring prior to Randy Shields. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like that out of somebody about to produce a stoppage win over an opponent of Randy's caliber. Louis and Marciano were both known to take naps in their dressing rooms.

 

Kirkland Laing.

 

Ahhhh, but did any of these pick out a placepot between rounds like bionic billy