Who is the hardest man to ever step in a ring?

[harrygreb]

tony zale? hard? not many!

[TerribleTerry]

tony zale? hard? not many!

Your username is a good shout!

[mickey1975]

I'm going for Andrew Gerrard (and his ilk) Gerrard was a 1980s heavyweight journeyman who fought all the top prospects home and abroad - going to Africa even! 50 fights and was only stopped inside the distance on 5 occasions! Thats a hard bastard! And his face proved it.

tony booth went to algeria,he also boxed in belgium xmas day.he was a natural light middle and never knocked out,despite fighting everyone all the way up to heavy.yes he did get stopped but half of the time he was just picking up his money.he also liked a drink and was often half pissed when accepting a fight on a friday for the following night.great,funny bloke and a genuine hardcase

[stujones]

Andrew Gerrard... never forget his fight with Johnny Nelson - the snot on the back of Nelson's shoulder. Gerrard would clinch and rub his snotty, bleeding nose on Nelson's shoulder... urrggh

[dr_devious]

Not Greb, not after his pre-fight 'preparations'.

Which were? Sounds like a good story this one

[harrygreb]

are you refering to the dressing room capers with my good lady friends?
if so i can only say that my performances were appreciated and i like nothing more than appreciation (although the clap that one chick gave me i could have done without).

yeah i was pretty tough but i reckon my old pal gene tunney was as hard as any man i faced

[stujones]

Has there been a shout for Johnny Tapia?

[Carbo]

I vote for George Plimpton.

[Rocky Balboa]

I don't know about the hardest man to ever step into a ring, but rest assured, I'm the hardest man to NEVER step into a ring!

[dazzler]

If not mentioned already another UK candidate would be Carl Thompson.

For being a badass, and knocking so many people out after going down himself.

[ERIC GUY]

did anyone ever see Duran doing the speedball with his head - the guy was nuts

Yeah I did, as I was with him the whole week he was in the UK, I done all the filming, training, sparring with Nigel Benn, press confs, partying etc, a real nice guy, hard as nails......

[harrygreb]

GEORGE PLIMPTON WAS A HELL OF A WRITER - he also went in with archie moore for a few minutes sparring. arch gave plimpton a bloody nose, which in my book is a major badge of honour.

[observer1]

Holyfield was a hard man. Beat Tyson in the staredown.

But it has to be an old-timer, Dempsey was a tough fella.

He scared Tyson half to death during the staredown for fight 2.

Tyson knew in his heart at that point that there was no way he was going to beat Holyfield, hence the biting incidents.

Would have thought his head butting and re-opening Gashes in Tyson's eye's yet AGAIN had something to do with it.

[harrygreb]

evander really was a cute bas...d and ahard one too. that incident shows us how hard tyson really was and how much bottle holyfield had

[jimglen]

Greb, Walker, McAvoy all the 'middleweight kings' who proved themselves against TOP HW's... and ALL the littlemen to for that matter, who consistently fought UP against bigger, heavier opposition.

the sport has quite a few... and tons more who DIDN'T.

[1southpaw]

in britain id say jimmy flint

[TerribleTerry]

in britain id say jimmy flint

A good call - dont think anyone has mentioned him before.

He even has a hard name

[Carbo]

are you refering to the dressing room capers with my good lady friends?
if so i can only say that my performances were appreciated and i like nothing more than appreciation (although the clap that one chick gave me i could have done without).

yeah i was pretty tough but i reckon my old pal gene tunney was as hard as any man i faced

Tip of the hat to you, sir.

[harrygreb]

sorry about the other stuff. thanks for being a sport carbo.

great comment terry about flint

[Carbo]

sorry about the other stuff. thanks for being a sport carbo.

great comment terry about flint

Awwww. c'mon.

It's a forum. We can all call eachother names and scratch and pull hair*, but then have a beer at the end of it.







*What? Well, that's the way I fight

[Tykemania]

Can't believe the name of Nigel Benn hasn't yet come up. Murderous puncher, especially at middleweight, and as ballsy as all hell - how he managed to take that shellacking from McClellan and keep coming for more I'll never know.

[harrygreb]

nice one carbo

yeah, benn was tuff as old boots

[charlieb]

every one of you who thought the jape was funny better think yourselves lucky that you never faced emile in the ring.

I for one, am very grateful that i never had to face Emile in the ring.

tyson? a hard man? get outta here. history shows he was more like a bully. evander...now theres a true hard bast..rd.

Tyson might not have had a huge reserve of mental toughness, but at his peak, filled with fear or not, he was as vicious, skilled, unrelenting and intimidating as they come.

[Old bones Ian]

Maybe not the hardest, but one i guy thought was mad as a balloon is In-Jin Chi.
He walks through everything.
I remember watching his fight against Erik Morales was unbelievable, In-Jin Chi just kept coming on, even when it looked like he was going to get stopped , he just bit down on his gumshield and came back.

[Carbo]

Maybe not the hardest, but one i guy thought was mad as a balloon is In-Jin Chi.
He walks through everything.
I remember watching his fight against Erik Morales was unbelievable, In-Jin Chi just kept coming on, even when it looked like he was going to get stopped , he just bit down on his gumshield and came back.

That was a BRILLIANT fight. I remember that Chi was so good that there was stories that Morales was shot, or at least had lost something after the Barrera wars.

Great fight. Forgotten minor classic.