Most fearsome Heavyweight since 1950

[Jan]

What do you think ? Today , Mike Tyson is often described as the most feared boxer ever. But is this true? Sure he was very feared. but on the other hand: There are many rumors that he was scared himself of 41-year old Foreman when he was 23 years young. Foreman was maybe the strongest boxer ever in his prime, but i dont know if he was the most feared. Frazier wasent scared of him, ALi too. Norton was definatley. Ali said once that Foreman was his strongest opponent , but he called Liston the most fearsome. Tyson , who was a big fan of Liston, admitted Liston was the most fearsome boxer ever. Anyway I think these 3 are the main candidates.

[Onetimeonly]

Definitely not Tyson, he was a menace but holyfield and Mike both knew who was tougher and better.

Since Ali and Foreman both feared Liston, I gotta vote for him.

[DrDuke]

Liston definitely. He had a special aura in the boxing community even prior to crushing Floyd. Probably Patterson picked that fight majorly because he just wanted to show everyone, that everybody, except him, fear Liston.

Tyson takes the second place. Biggs and Spinks indeed looked like they sh!tted their pants. Douglas, however, was motivated to do what he did.

Foreman didn't seem to intimidate none of Ali, Frazier, Norton, Lyle, Young.

[oogiebe]

Definitely not Tyson, he was a menace but holyfield and Mike both knew who was tougher and better.

Since Ali and Foreman both feared Liston, I gotta vote for him.

^this^

[goose 5]

Liston, yes. However, Eddie Machen and Harold Johnson had no fear at all of Liston. And, from what I've read, neither did Mike Dejohn.

[Contendeh]

Idk.

Machen was on his bicycle the entire fight and with not much in offense.

What he did show was that a faster fighter could survive against him and Ali combined what Machen did with some actual offense.

I’d vote Liston. If Cus hadn’t kept Patterson away from Sonny, Sonny would have been champ 2-3 years earlier.

[Caractacus]

first thought that came to me was Rocky Marciano.

[goose 5]

Machen had a bad injury prior to the fight and wasn't able to use his right too much . In the clinches he was very rough and Liston didn't like it at all. Their sparring sessions in the years after the fight were brutal. Machen, while not a slugger, was a very tough guy who, like Liston, did very hard prison time. Eddie wasn't buying into Liston's thug routine at all.

[AntonioMartin]

How bout Earnie Shavers? He was fearsome...

[Tony1244]

Excellent question and I don't think there's a wrong answer here, but I voted for Sonny.

He was feared for the longest period of time.

[Bodyshot3]

I went for Foreman.

Obviously much feared "at the time and in his prime" but also because years later he made a new generation of much younger heavyweights blink and reconsider the best way to fight this huge man from the past who could shut them down with one decent shot.

I always think Moorer actually had a WTF moment against Foreman - not really because Moorer was flaky and not listening to Atlas yelling in his ear - but because he realised that Foreman was colossal and looming over him, there to win and those slow-motion jabs from this boxing dinosaur hurt like hell and got him thinking.

I still think that the Foreman win is Tommy Morrison's best result and smartest fight....a proper, come at you banger like Morrison was not going to go looking for the KO and get himself wiped-out in the process. That spoke volumes about the way Foreman was perceived and way beyond his physical prime.

[writehooks]

I think there's a definite difference between fear and respect, so my vote goes to Liston. Even after the two losses to Ali, Sonny was still perceived as a very scary guy who could rip your head off with one shot, and most of the top 10 guys wanted no part of him because it was just too risky. BIg George had a similar aura ahead of the Rumble in the Jungle, but after Ali stopped him, his bubble was burst. None of the "frightful five" that Foreman fought in the notorious Toronto exhibition had any qualms about going three rounds with him, even knowing he'd be gunning for maximum carnage. Can you imagine trying to find five guys so willing to fight Liston? I think you could also make a pretty good argument that Foreman was more "feared" during the latter part of his triumphant comeback than he was between the time he lost to Ali and his first retirement.

[dr_devious]

Is there anybody more fearsome pre 1950 than Liston and Foreman?