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Top Ten Best Fighters of All-Time?

JakeTrippy said:
Chris Knuckles was the best all time not because he won all of his fights because he didn't but because he truly had NO FEAR and his film proves it!
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Except there were guys better than him. Being scared doesnt matter, do you really think any of these guys getting named had any fear out there? Probert and Dave Brown seemed like they were scared often or what?
 
Here is some hockey fight trivia

Q - We all know that Tiger Williams is the all time penalty minute leader, who is the all time fighting major leader?

Hint - He is a guy who hasn't been mentioned nearly enough in this thread.
 
flyersfan28 said:
lol he was a #1 d-man and enforcer on the same time
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the fact that wilson is not in most top 3 is disappointing. die hard isles fan here. and wilson is the only guy i ever saw lay a beating on gillies...and he did it twice(once on philly, once on chicago).

for those too young...research Gillies DESTROYING the WHOLE NHL ( besides Wilson...) he beat Schultz with three punches! wrecked o'reilly , fotiu wouldnt even fight him.
Gillies was so feared that he never had 100 PIMs in a season. the league was afraid of him.
that says more than anything.
 
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ogoaltrop said:
The poster who mentioned Stan Johnathon is right on ! Tough lil s o b for sure. The Islanders had a tough little dude around the same era as well, name escapes me at the moment.

A few others that come to mind are..... Nick Fotiu and Mel Bridgeman
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gary howatt "the toy tiger"
 
Jim McKenzie is one of the all time underrated fighters.

He was prone to surprising losses, mainly because he wasn't mean, and had was just doing his job.

However, when he was mad, I think he was right there with Probert and Brown. The only thing separating those 2 all time greats from McKenzie was they had the right mentality for the job.

Brashear and Laraque will be looked upon as 2 of the best ever in another 5-10 years.

A lot of guys are overrated as fighters, simply because they could play the game.
Messier was a horrible fighter.
Larry Robinson is way overrated. His 'win' vs Schultz is way overblown.

Semenko is a tough one...
Is it just a lack of footage from his truly prime years, or was he more bark than bite??? I think the latter.

Crowder had a very short prime. Bad idea to measure a guy by 1-2 seasons. Coxe had a great rookie season, and as willing as he was, was later shown to be a middling heavy at best.

By the way, Crowders boxing (amateur) referenced earlier led him to being the first alternate (to Lennox Lewis), Super Heavy division, in the Olympics.

His actual prime might have been half a season.
Retired due to a very bad back. That may have played a part in his short reign of terror.
His reign ended with a surprise beat down at the hands of Darren Kimble (and there were no injury excuses for Crowder).

Tie Domi should get consideration.
Not because he was little (when judging the best fighters, it should simply be because you were amongst the best; not bc you were amongst the best 'for a little guy').

Boogaard took fighting to a whole different level. Scary.

But the fighters from the early 2000's to now don't really merit consideration bc they aren't even hockey players anymore (many of them).

People will say 'well, neither was Semenko.'

Semenko could, in amateur hockey, be anywhere from an average player to a downright dominating one.

The Boogaards of the world, were amongst the worst players on every team they ever played for. Not Boogies fault at all. It's just that the job description changed dramatically from the 70's and 80's to now.
 
Guido Sarducci said:
Here is some hockey fight trivia

Q - We all know that Tiger Williams is the all time penalty minute leader, who is the all time fighting major leader?

Hint - He is a guy who hasn't been mentioned nearly enough in this thread.
Click to expand...

NHL, or NHL/minors combined? - if combined, I know Dennis Bonvie is near the top if not the top in fights...............
 
Tough to say. Are we talking about who would be the most-devastating guys in head-to-heads? Or who had the most-storied fight careers?

If the former, most of the list would need to be populated by guys who were active in 1995 and later. I'd bet every dollar I had that Steve MacIntyre or Trevor Gillies would destroy Bob Kelly or Playfair horribly. But can Gillies and Mac really be considered hockey players? I'd say no.
 
IComeInPeace said:
Jim McKenzie is one of the all time underrated fighters.

He was prone to surprising losses, mainly because he wasn't mean, and had was just doing his job.

However, when he was mad, I think he was right there with Probert and Brown. The only thing separating those 2 all time greats from McKenzie was they had the right mentality for the job.

Brashear and Laraque will be looked upon as 2 of the best ever in another 5-10 years.

A lot of guys are overrated as fighters, simply because they could play the game.
Messier was a horrible fighter.
Larry Robinson is way overrated. His 'win' vs Schultz is way overblown.

Semenko is a tough one...
Is it just a lack of footage from his truly prime years, or was he more bark than bite??? I think the latter.

Crowder had a very short prime. Bad idea to measure a guy by 1-2 seasons. Coxe had a great rookie season, and as willing as he was, was later shown to be a middling heavy at best.

By the way, Crowders boxing (amateur) referenced earlier led him to being the first alternate (to Lennox Lewis), Super Heavy division, in the Olympics.

His actual prime might have been half a season.
Retired due to a very bad back. That may have played a part in his short reign of terror.
His reign ended with a surprise beat down at the hands of Darren Kimble (and there were no injury excuses for Crowder).

Tie Domi should get consideration.
Not because he was little (when judging the best fighters, it should simply be because you were amongst the best; not bc you were amongst the best 'for a little guy').

Boogaard took fighting to a whole different level. Scary.

But the fighters from the early 2000's to now don't really merit consideration bc they aren't even hockey players anymore (many of them).

People will say 'well, neither was Semenko.'

Semenko could, in amateur hockey, be anywhere from an average player to a downright dominating one.

The Boogaards of the world, were amongst the worst players on every team they ever played for. Not Boogies fault at all. It's just that the job description changed dramatically from the 70's and 80's to now.
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Same thing could be said about Gordie Howe. Pelletier's blog found out how many fights Howe had gotten into and won, and it wasn't many. His rep as a good fighter probably came thanks to him (luckily?) beating back then tough guy Lou Fontinato.
 
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Guido Sarducci said:
Here is some hockey fight trivia

Q - We all know that Tiger Williams is the all time penalty minute leader, who is the all time fighting major leader?

Hint - He is a guy who hasn't been mentioned nearly enough in this thread.
Click to expand...

Tiger Williams was tough and willing. He isn't anywhere near a top 10 list and shouldn't be based on win/loss record or dominance.

billybudd said:
Tough to say. Are we talking about who would be the most-devastating guys in head-to-heads? Or who had the most-storied fight careers?

If the former, most of the list would need to be populated by guys who were active in 1995 and later. I'd bet every dollar I had that Steve MacIntyre or Trevor Gillies would destroy Bob Kelly or Playfair horribly. But can Gillies and Mac really be considered hockey players? I'd say no.
Click to expand...

MacIntyre would be a problem for older era fighters, but not Trevor Gillies. A 6'3 fighter wasn't that rare back in the day.
 
GMR said:
Tiger Williams was tough and willing. He isn't anywhere near a top 10 list and shouldn't be based on win/loss record or dominance.



MacIntyre would be a problem for older era fighters, but not Trevor Gillies. A 6'3 fighter wasn't that rare back in the day.
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It's not Gillies height that would be the problem so much that he's a straight up wall of muscle. Looks unnaturally strong to me both on and off the ice.
 
Probert had arguably the best dance card of any fighter in the NHL.

He is probably on top for me. The only thing that puts an asterisk to his fights during his heyday was his jersey was not tied down, and he would actually have it come off on purpose to gain an advantage over other fighters.

When he went to Chicago the tie down rule was in effect, and one would notice he was not nearly as effective. This would be the only blemish on what is otherwise a stellar fight card.
 
Interactif said:
Probert had arguably the best dance card of any fighter in the NHL.

He is probably on top for me. The only thing that puts an asterisk to his fights during his heyday was his jersey was not tied down, and he would actually have it come off on purpose to gain an advantage over other fighters.

When he went to Chicago the tie down rule was in effect, and one would notice he was not nearly as effective. This would be the only blemish on what is otherwise a stellar fight card.
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...and he was clean at that point I believe.
 
Sheppy said:
I hate when people say this. Just because he was a small guy doesn't make him P4P the best.

Stock was similar in size and he took on much, much tougher guys than Rypien.
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Stan Jonathan. You should know that if you're a Bruins fan. He'd destroy Stock.

Tie Domi is another one that often gets forgotten in the pound for pound argument. He was around 5'8 and took on anyone.
 
GMR said:
Stan Jonathan. You should know that if you're a Bruins fan. He'd destroy Stock.

Tie Domi is another one that often gets forgotten in the pound for pound argument. He was around 5'8 and took on anyone.
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Oh absolutely, i was basically just comparing Stock/Rypien because they were from a similar time frame.

Jonathan is the GOAT though when it comes to power/chin and the ability to take on much bigger guys.
 
P4P is a tough argument though. The way i look at P4P is imagining that everyone is the exact same height and weight.

Like say everyone was 6'2'', 210, who would be the best if they were all the same size? Maybe it's stupid to look at it that way, i don't know... hahaha.
 
vivianmb said:
the fact that wilson is not in most top 3 is disappointing. die hard isles fan here. and wilson is the only guy i ever saw lay a beating on gillies...and he did it twice(once on philly, once on chicago).

for those too young...research Gillies DESTROYING the WHOLE NHL ( besides Wilson...) he beat Schultz with three punches! wrecked o'reilly , fotiu wouldnt even fight him.
Gillies was so feared that he never had 100 PIMs in a season. the league was afraid of him.
that says more than anything.
Click to expand...



Go to 4:40 for some Hospodor facial destruction.
 
billybudd said:
Tough to say. Are we talking about who would be the most-devastating guys in head-to-heads? Or who had the most-storied fight careers?

If the former, most of the list would need to be populated by guys who were active in 1995 and later. I'd bet every dollar I had that Steve MacIntyre or Trevor Gillies would destroy Bob Kelly or Playfair horribly. But can Gillies and Mac really be considered hockey players? I'd say no.
Click to expand...

Gillies was an incredible fighter, love lefties.
 
Siller the Thriller said:
In your opinion, who are the top ten best fighters of all-time? Here is my personal list:

1. Bob Probert

2. Dave Brown

3. Behn Wilson

4. Larry Playfair

5. Joey Kocur

6. Tony Twist

7. Bob Nystrom

8. Marty McSorley

9. Bob "Battleship" Kelly

10. Donald Brashear
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Where is Stu "The Grim Reaper" Grimson?
 
1. Bob Probert
2. Dave Brown
3. Joey Kocur
4. Larry Playfair
5. Tony Twist
6. Behn Wilson
7. Stu Grimson
8. Marty McSorley
9. Bob Gassoff
10. Donald Brashear
 
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