Sonny Liston v Evander Holyfield

Holyfield if he stays foccused and dedicated to a game plan, if Liston gets Evander to fight like Bowe did then he stops him.

 

Aren't they pretty comparable in size?

 

Liston would give Holy a few scary moments before eventually losing by late-round TKO or UD. That's as nice as I can be.

Holy is taller, Liston is much stockier.

 

Liston everytime. You don't/can't beat Sonny Liston by trying to go toe to toe with him, that's suicide. Evander would get destroyed. Even if Evander boxes, Sonny is going to mark him up with the jab, forcing Evander to brawl, which will eventually lead to his demise. If Evander somehow manages to bring sonny to later rounds, Liston showed in his prime he has no problems going 12 fast paced rounds.

Sonny Liston TKO 6 Evander Holyfield

 

Yerp.

 

I disagree, and think that its actually the other way around.. Liston would be better off using his lengthy jab to try and out box Holy, rather than get into a close range war with him.. Evander wrestled with bigger men than Liston and still won fights on shear heart and great conditioning. This would be one of the rare instances in which a heavywieght would not have a size advantage over holyfield. Sure Evander was about 210 in his prime, wheras Liston's best weight was arguably between 212-215, but Holyfield's BMI was about 95% lean tissue to 5% fat, whereas sonny's ratio was probably something like 80-20. In addition Evander had about 2 inches in height, a chin, stamina and overall durability that was far more proven. Can't see Liston out lasting Evander in a slugfest, regardless of whatever legendary power he had....

 

Well why not? The man might be boxing's ultimate beast. He did everything you could ask him to do in his prime, and he avoided no one.

 

Evander was a pumped up steroid freak. Liston was naturally trained. I think therefore you cannot possible make the case Evander was a big as Liston. Had Liston juiced up like Evander did, he would have been a rock solid 230-235lb possibly.


I also think Evander brawling with Liston is suicide. Liston has ernomous two handed power, finishing skills, physical strength that will allow him to take out Holyfield. Holyfield wasn't made of granite...Bert Cooper, Riddick Bow both had him on rubber legs. I don't think Holyfield can survive a prime Sonny Liston assualt. Say he does survive, Liston showed he could go 12 fast pace rounds..I don't think he can outwork evander, but he can certainly do far more damage which is all that matters.

 

Natural or not.. Muscle is muscle and height is height. Evander was clearly the better trained specimen and stronger as well.

But he didn't. Moot point..

I don't.. The man made a living brawling with Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis, George Foreman and a myriad of other big men who can punch. At nearly 50 years of age, he has still only been stopped in two fights... How many times has Liston been stopped? who did he survive that was noteworthy of mention?

And relied primarily on having physical advantages as well as intimidation to beat most of his opponents - two things he wouldn't have against Holyfield.

And a green Ali with 19 fights who was recently decked by Cooper and outboxed by Doug Jones stopped Liston twice.

Evander Holyfield could jab, hook, cross, win on points, stop a guy late or knock him out early.. He proved he was capable of all these things against much larger men who were talented and in some cases even younger.... Even at cruiserweight, Holyfield was still beating fighters who were about the same size as the 1950's and 60's heavy's that Liston was beating. His heart, chin, conditioning, and work rate are among some of the division's best in its history. He had the strength to control Liston in the clinches as well... I'm not so sure that Liston could take much from Holyfield either.. He had his jaw broken by Marty Marshall, was stopped early twice by a young Ali and KO"d by the light hitting 199 lb Martin. Sure these were not Liston's best performances and he may have been outside of prime for some of them, but was Holyfield prime when he took Lennox Lewis's best for a combined 24 rounds without ever kissing the canvas?

 

Before I respond to the rest...I am going to say one thing.

Holyfield on steroids = Cheater. Which is why he should never be placed amongst the greatest heavyweight champions of all time, and why I would never pick him over ATG heavyweights in fantasy matchups. It IS a big deal holyfield cheated, he is deducted points for this. Holyfield was a rock solid fluid 190lber who steroided up to 217lb. CHEATER.

 

Word :good

 

In that case, perhaps the question should be:
Who wins in a fight between Sonny Liston vs. Evander Holyfield without steroids :think