Who do you think was the most intimidating Heavyweight?

You have to go with a young George Foreman. His face was scary. He threw bombs. Liston and Tyson didn't have the scary face foreman had

 

well I think Mike had the more viewers then Sonny and George who were a little earlier so I would for that reason go with Tyson.

No doubt in their day all 3 had a aura of intimidation to them :good

 

John L Sullivan in his time the way he was built up to be like a mythical figure.

 

I've met or seen George Foreman, Lennox Lewis, Andrew Golota, David Tua, Axel Shulz, Audley Harrison, Fres Oquendo, Lamon Brewster, Hasim Rahman, Oliver McCall, Bruce Seldon, Larry Donald, Henry Akinwande, Bermane Stiverne and Buster Douglas (I think that's all of them) in person.

Most were very approachable.

The person who intimidated the whole room when he entered - when he was boxing - was Lennox Lewis.

When he came into a room, it was like, "Oh, sh*t, that guy could beat up anyone in the whole world." (Which is what a heavyweight champion is supposed to be able to do.)

With his long hair pulled back, and when he was in shape and ready to fight, not smiling, he was scary as hell. Seriously. He was the most intimidating I ever met in person.

I was also in a room several times with Andrew Golota, once when he was just attending a fight and mulling around by a concession stand, and people - at the time mainly a lot of African American people - had looks on their faces like: "Oh ****, there's Andrew Golota. Let's get out of here."

He's intimidating anyway. But this was back when he was also considered kind of a nutcase. So, the combination of the two was pretty intimidating.

NO ONE and I mean nobody approached him. A path cleared wherever he went.

Same with Oliver McCall. I met him a few times. People said hello to him (nobody said hello to Golota), and then got the hell away from him.

None of the others were intimidating at all in sort of a normal situation.

Lewis, Golota and McCall had people feeling uneasy. With Golota and McCall, they were intimidating and a little nuts. With Lewis, he just looked like nobody on earth better take a swing at him.

Whatever "it" is ... when describing an intimidating fighter ... when he was the champion Lewis had "it" when you saw him in person. On camera, it didn't come across that way. In the room, he did.

If you want to know why Mike Tyson was stroking Lennox's cheek after Lewis knocked him out, it's because, in person, Lennox Lewis was freaking intimidating.

Now he's older and balder and smiles all the time, so I don't think Lennox gives off the same vibe.

 

Valuev

 

Very interesting stuff about Lewis, McCall, and Golota. Thanks.

Valuev had to be scary, huge as he was. And i'm not trying to be mean, but ugly as he was, too.

It's always interesting to find out what fighters are nice guys in real life and which ones are the true bad-asses.

 

well looking across the ring is one thing and having the knowledge that a fighter kept coming after your scalp and body until they got one of them is another. Tyson,Dempsey,Frazier and Marciano are guys that keep throwing Tyson usually slowed down after 7 rds, Dempsey 10 if you made it that far. The slower starters Marciano and Frazier kept pounding into the championship rounds.

Liston wasn't fun to look at and neither was any version of Foreman

 

Ike Ibeabuchi had a nice mix of absolute crazy and terrifying physical presence.

 

Sonny Liston be far. He basically invented the stare down and IMO no one has done it as well as Sonny before or since. Foreman did it pretty well but he admitted to being terrified of his opponents, wearing his robe closed during the stare down to hide his shaking knees. Tyson did it as a confidence boost -- and was probably more intimidated himself than he let on.
Sonny feared no one, and everyone in the right mind feared him. Ali himself said that pre-Liston 1 was the most scared he'd ever been before a fight. Chuck Wepner (a man who fought Liston, Ali and Foreman) said: "Sonny Liston was the greatest intimidator of all time." Proof enough?

1. Liston
2. Tyson
3. Foreman

Tyson was a fore of nature. Going against Tyson must have been like getting ready to have a fist fight with a hurricane. Foreman wasn't as destructive, he was slower and less impressive to see. That being said he was still a monster.

 

I agree in the Lennox Lewis part.

Tyson... Just no.... he looked the part... but then he would talk in that high pitched voice... That would end that.

 

Chuck Gardner

 

VALUEV :smoke