Sonny Liston vs Lennox Lewis

I think LEWIS is a hard fight for all ATG's. Yes he had flaws but he brought a lot more to the table than about 95% of all other HW champs. Yes he was KOd by un great fighters within his prime and therefore we must give scope for greater fighters to also have a good chance of upsetting lennox but I do not feel Liston earns enough kudos to be among the group you can out rule for a loss to Lewis. I think Lewis earns the right to be favorite in this match up. Of Course Liston could get lucky - he was better than McCall and Rahman but give rahman and mccall 20lb advantage against 98% of the fighters they ever met and maybe they look nearly as good as sonny did in his day. Lewis was a big man with pedigree at a lot of levels, he could box, he was also a powerhouse and he had a reliable temperment. Lennox's big weakness was always his engine. He could control pace because he was so well schooled and had been olympic standard so he could disguise this against great fighters who were albeit smaller than he but the point is I dont think Liston could exploit it. To be better than Lewis you would have to beat him two times. Liston is not beating Lewis two times. I cannot bet on him because at world level he is nowhere near as proven. patterson did not want to fight and sonny dumped both ali fights. It is what it is. I cannot bet on potential.

 

I too think Lewis would find a way to win, but I'm not sure how it would unfold. It could be a case of Lewis controlling distance better, or it could be a case of Lewis starting the fight off in ultra aggressive mode. But at the end of the day, he has more tools available to him then Liston does, and so he uses what's necessary to win.

I've been watching boxing for over 40 years and the one things I've noticed is that size makes a big difference, of course that also assumes you also have comparable skills to your opponent. Ali use to frequently pull the head of his opponents down and towards him. Foreman used his size to basically run right over Frazier. Holmes usually had a reach advantage. Exception include Holyfield and Tyson, but in general when the skills are comparable, as is the case with Liston and Lewis, the bigger guy usually finds away to win. In Lewis' case i don't think any superheavyweight used his size, power and reach any better then he did. In otherwords he was a huge man who fought like a huge man.

 

Yes there are exceptions to the rule but Liston is not one of them that you could seriosly bet on at ATG level.

 

sonny grew up to 210 as a kid in prison,lewis bulked up to 240 with weights,probably ped's and as a man in late 20s,early 30s
liston has bigger hands,is broader in upper body for his height,stronger neck,chin..
he is also not a stiff,has more punching variety than lewis,and i don't know exactly about who is more athletic,liston jumped rope pretty fluid,and had a big vertical leap

 

Liston was 198lb for his debut and he was no kid when he turned pro. If Liston was 40 like some people like to say he was when he lost to Ali in 1964 then sonny could have been in his late 20s when he was under 200lb.

 

Lewis is bigger in
Biceps 0.5"
Neck 1"
Forearm 0.5"
Same reach, and chest size.

 

Lewis would have knocked the **** outta Liston.