Tyson, Liston, Foreman: Boxing's Three All-Time Scariest Fighters

The Halloween weekend is finally upon us.

As a tribute to the annual “Fright Night” holiday, I decided to rank the three scariest fighters in the annals of boxing.

Please note that the list below is comprised of the “scariest” and most menacing pugilists to ever enter the ring.

Hence, this is NOT a tabulation of the three most skilled or accomplished fighters in the history of “The Sweet Science.”

Without further adieu, my rankings:

1.  “Iron” Mike Tyson  

Tyson (50-6, 44 KOS) became at the age of 20 the youngest man to ever win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles.

In November 1986, Tyson savagely defeated Trevor Berbick by a TKO in the second round to capture the WBC title.

After he slaughtered Berbick, Tyson expressed disappointment with the way he emerged victorious.

Tyson said he had wanted to catch Berbick “right on the tip of the nose, because I try to punch the bone into the brain.”

“Iron Mike,” who had been arrested 38 times by the age of 13, was a physical marvel in the ring.

Tyson possessed a rare combination of quickness, coordination and power that was unlike anything the heavyweight division had ever seen before.

“The Baddest Man on the Planet” steamrolled the competition for years before his personal demons derailed his seemingly inevitable path to boxing immortality.

In 1992, Tyson was convicted of rape and sexual assault and he spent in excess of three years in an Indiana prison.

After he was paroled from the pen, Tyson embarked on a comeback in the ring.

Initially, he revived his career and was able to regain portions of the heavyweight title.

Unfortunately, both Tyson’s livelihood and behavior again spiraled downward.

In a colossal upset, Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield defeated Tyson in the 11th round by TKO in November 1996.

The epic battle between Holyfield and Tyson had fans clamoring for a rematch. The two sides agreed to fight again in June 1997.

After Holyfield controlled the fight's opening rounds, Tyson went insane and twice brutally chomped off pieces of his opponent's ears.

Tyson was temporarily banned from the sport of boxing and never was able to recapture any semblance of the fighter he once was.

“Iron Mike” can be considered something of a Shakespearean tragedy.

Before Tyson receded into a cannibal and convicted rapist, he was one of the most skilled prizefighters the sport of boxing had ever seen.

Tyson was once quoted as saying, “I feel like sometimes that I was not meant for this society.”

Perhaps “The Baddest Man on the Planet” is more thoughtful than he is given credit for.

2. Charles L. “Sonny” Liston

Liston (50-4, 39 KOs) was an individual most would want to avoid encountering in a dark alley.

Liston, whose actual date of birth is unknown, was born in Arkansas to a sharecropper and was often beaten as a child.

At the age of 13, Liston escaped from his violent patriarch and reunited with his mother and cousins in St. Louis.

During his adolescence, Liston partook in a gas-station robbery, was arrested and subsequently imprisoned for his crime.

While incarcerated, Liston’s boxing skills were discovered.

Boxing served as an outlet for “The Big Bear” and, after he won several amateur tournaments, he decided to go pro.

Liston, who had a disproportionately long reach, was one of the greatest jabbers and punchers of all-time.

His mean nature and burly frame often intimidated his opponents to the point that they were scared to even enter the ring to face him.

One person who Liston particularly threatened was a fighter by the name of Cassius Clay.

Clay, who eventually changed his name to Muhammad Ali, admitted that he was mortified by Liston.

He entered the ring against Liston in Miami in 1964 as an 8-to-1 underdog.

However, Clay’s quickness infuriated Liston and “The Big Bear” quit in his corner before the start of the seventh round.

Liston claimed he had hurt his shoulder in the fight and was not physically able to continue.

Skeptics voiced their opinions that Liston, who had alleged ties to organized crime, fixed the match and purposefully lost.

Liston and Ali fought a rematch in May 1965 in Lewiston, Maine and the contest again ended in controversy.

Ali landed a seemingly feathery punch on Liston’s chin and “The Big Bear” went down like the Titanic.

It was never confirmed whether or not Liston intentionally threw the two Ali matches.

Nevertheless, there was never any doubt that Liston, a purported enforcer for the Mafia, was a chilling human being not meant to be trifled with.

He was found dead of an apparent heroin overdose in Las Vegas in 1971.

To this day, there is a wide belief that Liston was actually murdered by some of his contacts in the underworld.

Liston was once quoted as saying, “A boxing match is like a cowboy movie. There’s got to be good guys and there’s got to be bad guys. And that’s what people pay for—to see the bad guys get beat.”

Liston only lost four times in his professional career.

Unfortunately, the “good guys” suffered 50 defeats at the hands of “The Big Bear.”

3. “Big” George Foreman 

Before he become a lovable, grandfatherly figure renowned for his Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine, Foreman (76-5, 68 KOs) wore a permanent scowl on his face as a youngster.

Patterning himself after Liston, Foreman was aloof and antisocial while he bullied everyone he encountered inside and outside of the ring.

“Big” George had extraordinarily powerful fists and was one of the greatest punchers to ever grace the ring.

In January 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica, Foreman was a huge underdog as he readied to fight heavyweight champion “Smokin’” Joe Frazier.

In HBO Boxing’s first broadcast, Foreman absolutely pulverized Frazier in what is considered one of pugilisms biggest upsets ever.

Foreman, who knocked Frazier down six times, landed a vicious uppercut that lifted Frazier’s feet off of the canvas.

Frazier was unable to rise and Foreman was declared the heavyweight championship of the world.

Once asked how he transformed his persona from that of a sneering tormenter into that of an affable giant, Foreman remarked, “George Foreman. A miracle. A mystery to myself. Who am I? The mirror says back, ‘The George you was always meant to be.’ Wasn’t always like that. Used to look in the mirror and cried a river.”

Even as he aged, Foreman’s opponents still “cried a river” when they fought the entrepreneurial grill salesman.

But at least the common public learned to no longer be intimidated by “Big” George.

“Wasn’t always like that.”

* Needless to say, this is an article based on opinion.

I look forward to the thoughts of my readers.