I think the most feared fighter ever was George Foreman after he had knocked out Joe Frazier.
Some feared fighters include;
Jack Dempsey [after destroying the giant Willard but he was not too feared because he had losses before this].
Max Baer [he had murdered a fighter in the ring and had a huge ko % but he also had several losses].
Joe Louis [was knocking everyone out but after he lost to Schmeling he became more technical so the fear wined down].
Rocky Marciano [retired 49 wins 43 ko 0 losses, he had impressive wins against the best in his era. Similar fear as Tyson had; he was a midget knocking everyone out. Rocky had several major ko wins but he mostly knocked out old men and he struggled with Ezzard Charles & La Starza in their first match].
Sonny Liston [out of jail before winning the title and with a freakish reach of 84'' for a man his size, Liston was feared especially after winning the title by knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round twice but he had previous losses so he didn't have an aura of invisibility].
Joe Frazier [29 wins 25 ko 0 losses in his peak, knocked out most of his competition but Ali showed that his punch was not a killers].
George Foreman [40 wins 0 losses 37 ko's in his peak, he had knocked out most top contenders and won the title by destroying Frazier. The major win against a prime Frazier puts him ahead of Tyson fear-wise, Tyson never had such a major win with as pretty a record].
Mike Tyson [35 wins 31 ko 0 losses after the Spinks fight, this was the peek of his fear era. Like Rocky he had major wins throughout his career but some men gave him tough fights [like Green] but many of the men he fought were old or nobodies. Spinks was a blown up lightheeavyweight who had come out of retirement for the Tyson fight].
I'd say he's one of the most feared, along with Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran, among others. Tyson was almost animal-like in the ring. He was a vicious and ruthless predator, looking to knock out his opponent at all cost, each and every time.
I would say so especially in his strongest, best prime between 1986-89 where he brutally blitzed most of his foes, including the highly regarded Michael Spinks, Pinklon Thomas and Trevor Berbick and cowed the likes of feared James Bonecrusher Smith and Razor Ruddock. There's one scene in his commercial film bio where he would spar without protective gear on and with arms held low, dare his sparmates to hit him in the face as hard as they could. Failing to hurt him, Tyson would brutalize them in return, even knocking some out cold! THis was the reason why many named heavyweights of the time feared even sparring with him.
Yes......old ladies he helped home with their groceries were scared to death of him after they got on the elevator and he knocked their teeth out and stole their purse. When you have to load up on coke to fight, you become real scary
yes
I'd say so
