BoxRec

I've been watching some of Foreman's early fights in particular against Boone Kirkman, and it got me thinking.

I really wouldn't have had much fear fighting Ali. I would know it would be frustrating, I'd get cut up and bruised and I would struggle to land a clean punch. ( I'm talking early Ali up to around 1973).
It would be a different story all together going in against Foreman. There would be the knowledge that without a doubt at some point he'd land clean and one of two things would happen. I'd either end up completely concussed and have no idea what had happened and several hours feeling really woozy or I'd get a broken jaw/nose/cheekbone/ ribs which would leave me incapacitated for months.
You can see Kirkman felt the same way !!!!!!

Many, if not MOST boxers say that in retrospect, after they look back at their careers, they suffered the most damage from fighters who were very good, fairly hard hitting, relentless and accurate. Ali was considered by nearly everyone he faced as "hard hitting". And the feather fisted reputation was not at all shared by those who actually faced him. A 15 round beating is FAR more problematic for the human body than a quick KO.

Still I get what your saying. No one wants to face the 'big bang" and then a trip to the "twilight zone". The fear of that brand of helplessness is hard to quell. Foreman and Tyson might be in close competition for accruing a "fear factor" in their opponents.

I think you're exactly right in what you say. I'd add Liston to Foreman and Tyson.
I remember as a 16/17 year old in the changing rooms arguing with a boy when suddenly I was lying flat on my back staring up at the ceiling. I had a brace on my teeth and it was 'somewhere' in my mouth and a bit of a tooth had broken off, and within seconds I was on my feet swinging like a madman!!! But, I had no idea then or now how I got there. That's what I mean by facing someone with the prior knowledge that he could put your lights out instantly.
Modern day journeymen fighting a puncher , if you watch them, never move forward nor do they do anything but flick out a jab just to con the public that they're involved. Eventually they go down from an accumulation of punches to their upper arms . In a big fight with a huge audience like facing Foreman, Liston or Tyson that is more difficult !!

I think facing MK1 Foreman must have been truly terrifying....

….but even during his MK2 comeback years (which I saw) his weight of shot looked sickening and that jab (although seemingly a bit ponderous and maybe thrown half a dozen times a round) absolutely jolted people's heads back.

I know Moorer was a bit moody (and a mood fighter) but you can also see that he is not enjoying himself in with Foreman and he is worried about the sheer clump on the shots; even the ones landing on his arms.

Guys like Coetzer who bravely tried to carry the fight against George really did get busted up in a bad way.

Definitely Ali over Foreman although with Ali there was probably the horrible business of having your own ability exposed, getting hit flush whilst tired and yes, enduring some of Ali's penchant for a bit of taunting.

Tyson is close run for creating fear though. I believe Foreman hit harder, but he was not as fast, ferocious, or accurate.

Foreman seemed to be able to hit a person ANYWHERE and knock them down, or move them half way across the ring regardless of what direction they may have been traveling before they were hit. Like being hit by giant Oak branch falling on you. Accuracy was not his gift. But he didn't seem to need it.

Tyson seemed to able to monitor the movement of his opponent very carefully, and use their own movement to increase his own hitting power. He didn't "sweep" a fighter across the ring very often like George could do. His mind worked like a computer whether he knew it or not. He was a physics engineer. Getting hit by him must have been more like getting hit by a high tension wire. Immediate electrocution.