It's easy to say after a fight, when he loses that a fighter was scared etc. But what signs can you see prior to a fight that suggest true fear (all fighters have a degree of fear when they enter the ring...but I'm talking about crippling fear where you have more self doubt than self belief) A tell-tale sign is if a fighter, on his walk to the ring, is spending all of that time talking to each and any of his entourage constantly. A fighter only does that to try to mask or distract from his fear. Think Spinks-Tyson, Holyfield-Bowe 1. Another sign is if a fighter, on his walk to the ring, has an uncharacteristic shit eating grin painted on his face. There's nothing funny about prize fighting. it's serious business. The existence of a constant painted on smile is a true sign of fear. Naseem hamed is an exception, of course, because he smiles all the time anyway... but think Benn-Eubank 2, Jones - Tarver 3. Any thoughts to add?
Hwne they talk about their opponent's personal life. Nose jobs, parternship standing, talk of their divorce and money situation. He might be scared shitless... doesn't mean he'll lose though....
Yup anything with scared in the title I can turn into a Mayweather thread. If you don't want it to turn into a Mayweather thread start a thread with a word "great" in it and you won't hear anything about him
The staredowns always speak volumes to me. Unwillingness to stare down the opponent, shiftiness, smiling at the opponent to try to mask fear. There are also many times that the intimidated fighter tries to hide this fear by staring down the opponent, but this is usually obvious as you can still see the fear in their eyes.
Pacman grins on his way to the ring every fight, he fucking loves it. A tell tale sign of fear is when an ugly little cunt like Hamed looks like a big turd is about to drop out of his faggoty shorts, he's almost trembling with fear, and is too nervous to flip over the top rope like the clown he is.
But sometimes the look is misleading. I remember in Tarver-Jones II I thought Tarver looked scared during his ring walk. Then he proceeds to get in the ring talk shit and KO a legend. So really I have no idea, unless the guy is pulling a Derick Gainer and completely refusing to engage his opponent like Gainer did against JMM. That was one of the most bitched up performances of all time.
I remember Tyson not wanting to stare into Holyfield's eyes in the rematch. He was blinking a lot and looking away whereas Holyfield was staring a hole through him.
I agree Tarver looked scared and was scared but Tarver knew damn well he was gonna KO Roy cold. What he was scared of was knowing that Roy will brush the KO loss off and demand a rubber match. Get in a shape of his life. Fight Tarver for the third time and kick his ass from pillar to post and cement his all time greatness. Moral of the story? Don't worry.
I don't get the reference to Benn-Eubank II. Who are you implying was scared in that one? :dunno: I recall Julius Francis taking ten grand to get the soles of his boots sponsored before Tyson mashed him. He was certainly resigned to his fate, if not fightened. Also, Bruno in the Tyson rematch was fucking SHITTING himself before that fight. He had to be practically carried into the ring and almost wept in fear as they met in the centre of the ring. Ditto Macarinelli against Haye. The dude was as white as a sheet... MTF
Most opponents of Wlad's look scared shitless during the staredown. DLH would always stare up at the ceiling during staredowns, but he never really came across as scared to me.
When Margarito was walking out to face Shane he was acknowledging the fans and acknowledging the officials and getting his kid to wave to the fans etc....with the benefit of hindsight....his little game was up....and he didn't half know it.
There are many things that can be signs but there are no sure signs because people are different. Also IMO it is not important whether or not a fighter (or anybody, for the matter) is scared, the important thing is to be able to work effectively despite the fear.
Trinidad in both his fight vs. Hopkins and DLH....in the Hopkins fight he had that terrible ring entrance w/ all the dancing and shit...and in the DE LA HOYA fight you can just see it in his face... He wasn't scared but the moment/event seem to get to him...he look like shit in both fighters, but didn't fight scared...
I tend not to put too much emphasis on the staredown. Watching fights like Tyson-Bruno and you'd think that Bruno was the confident intimidator and Tyson was the intimidated. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DPHofYgReog&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DPHofYgReog&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> Sometimes you might see something like fear and uncomfort but other times the fight goes exactly the opposite of what the staredowns might suggest.
:hammert: ....or .... more generally ... is obsessed with controlling every facet of his upcoming match-up...
Fighters that are scared try to keep their eyes on their opponents before the fight, both at the press conferences etc and in the ring. They look to them, trying to get a reading on their level of aggression. They don't want to take their eyes off the opponent because they are weary of them, and deep inside know their opponent is 'the man' so they look to them for cues. The confident superior fighters completely ignore their opponents pre-fight presence in the ring... until the stare-down of course. edit: I didn't see it until after my post but video above Tyson -Bruno pt1 is case-in-point example. Bruno keeps shifting his gaze to Tyson, while Tyson doesn't even know he's there.
