There’s nothing like a stare down in boxing.
Often, a fascinating and insightful way to observe a fighter. Oscar De La Hoya would look straight up the sky–so as not to get distracted. Mike Tyson was all business. Sonny Liston and George Foreman would strike fear in their opponents with a menacing glare.
Sometimes, one can detect a chink in the armor during a stare down. Like when Samuel Peter tried to stare down Vitali Klitschko before Vitali’s first bout after Vitali came back from injury after an absence of almost four years. Samuel Peter couldn’t contain the gaze of Dr. Ironfist and looked away at the end of the stare down. Vitali Klitschko proceeded to regain the WBC heavyweight title impressively, when he forced Nigeria’s Samuel Peter to retire on his stool after eight rounds of a one-sided fight.
When two giants go at it, like Joe Frazier, and George Foreman, the stare down can mesmerize but not foreshadow. These heavyweight icons first fought in 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica. The stare down was chilling: two gentlemen born of poverty, fiercely dedicated to ascending the ranks of all-time greats. And not surprisingly, both masters of the stare down. George Foreman knocked out Joe Frazier in two rounds to become heavyweight champion of the world for the first time.
Fast forward to the present. Tyson Fury v. Derek Chisora III, December 3, 2022 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which Fury won by TKO in the tenth round. Following the fight while still standing in the ring, Tyson Fury yelled at current WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk to come into the ring, Fury calls him a “rabbit” then says “you’re next, little bitch”, calling him a “15-stone bodybuilder” and shouting “you ugly little man” in his face. Fury did his best to intimidate Usyk with a stare down, shouting “End you! End you!” Usyk, however, stood his ground and met Fury’s gaze with confidence and a wry grin that suggested it would take much more than cursing and staring to get underneath Usyk’s skin.
The confrontation between Fury and Usyk echoed Foreman and Frazier–a stare down between fierce competitors who will never back down. When the two finally meet up, I anticipate a closer fight than Foreman-Frazier I and II. Fury and Usyk are both talented fighters and the bout has the earmarks of a potential thriller.
Jeff Meyers