All or most all of boxers are not going to be physically intimidated by their opponents. But when a fighter is able to take what he can do in the ring and combine that with the fierceness you are talking about pre-fight, it can and does affect the outcome of fights. Duran Leonard one for example, Duran got into Leonard's head and Leonard made a decision that he would fight fire with fire. He took one hell of a beating in that fight and that strategy cost him the fight.
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