gene tunney vs liston....

Interesting match up...

 

no way.hes too small,too short
even ali couldn't avoid getting hit from liston
liston ko tunney no problem

 

Like teh Eddie Machen fight - BUT Tunney wins for Rounds then Machen did And he frustrates bullyboy Liston more.


Foreman Hoooooooooooooooooooooooook! :hat

 

Tunney wouldn't get in the ring with George Godfrey, you think he would ever fight Sonny Liston? Tunney stayed clear of big heavyweights and big punchers his entire career. In this fight, he would be matched up with a 6'1 215lb all time great puncher with a tremendous jab, and top notch skills. Tunney never saw this before, and based on the limited film of him, I don't think he can handle Lston. Tunney's whole game was using his great footspeed to circle around the ring while using his fast hands/long reach to outbox his shorter foes from a distance. Only problem is none of those fighters had the long 84" left jab to compensate for Tunney's outside game. Tunney will be flustered all night by Liston's jab, and it will force Tunney to engange in flurries. Eventually one of Liston's haymakers is going to catch tunney leaning back with his low gaurd, and it's going to be lights out for Tunney. Liston also had tremendous head movement, a good workrate, and very good skills in his boxing game. Just a tough matchup for any sub 200lber trying to beat Liston.


Liston KO 6 Tunney

 

Though I don't disagree with much of what you say, Wills wouldn't get in the ring with Tunney either, if memory serves.

There just isn't enough on Tunney's HW resume to suggest emphatically that he could do to Liston what he did to a washed-up Dempsey. Maybe an old Liston, but not prime.

 

With Tunney's fast hands, fast feet, ability to clinch, wonderful condition, and underrated recuperative abilities, my money would be on him to win a decision. Sure Liston was very powerful and could possibly KO him, absolutely, but I still think the slight odds edge goes with Tunney, who will win the vast majority of the rounds if they fought. Good luck to Sonny in catching this guy. He might get lucky, but remember, even ferocious Dempsey could barely lay a glove on Tunney except for one moment in time in 20 rounds of fighting, in two separate bouts. You can either focus on that one moment or you can focus on what happened the vast majority of the time. Both probably have to be factored into the equation to some degree. Sonny was very heavy handed, but he didn't exactly have fast feet and he was not as fast with his hands as Tunney either. Nail biter type fight, with Tunney boxing circles around him, but you watch with baited breath for the possibility that Liston will nail him with that big punch. Even if he did, he would have to finish Tunney, which no one ever did in over 70 fights.

 

Sonny doesn't need to catch tunney, he can just jab him to death from the outside and land the harder blows and beat him on points. Either way, a liston win.

 

That's because he drew the color line, fought mostly men weighing 160-190lb, and hardly took on any big punchers at heavyweight other than a old jack dempsey(whom Liston would have destroyed)

 

liston had huge reach and possibly the greatest hw jab ever plus better boxing skills than dempsey.
he wouldn't follow tunney around the ring with hands down,he would stick that ramrod jab in gene's face and overwhelm him with combinations,body and head.
add to that that gene won't make sonny respect him because hes not really a heavy hitter

 

Yes, because Tunney didn't challenge Wills until Harry was an old man, practically washed up at the time.

 

They said a kid named Cassius Clay was weak and feather fisted and had no chin, etc., got dropped and/hurt by guys weighing 190, and they made him a huge underdog against Sonny, before he fought and owned Liston and nailed Sonny with punches he didn't see coming, and with footwork and headmovement made Sonny miss very badly. So you never know for sure until they get in there and do it.