How did this guy beat Liston?

Believe Liston got his jaw broke around the 4th round... Laughing at Marshall.

 

Liston was stepping up in class pretty quickly during his early pro career. Marshall wasn't a great fighter, but that's boxing.. given the right circumstances, you can lose to anyone early in your career. Ali and Marciano had fights that in a different universe could've been losses against Jones and LaStarza.

Then I also think Liston wasn't THAT good, but I have to be careful with the Liston patrol on this site.

 

Back then, in late-1954, when Sonny fought Marty Marshall,,,,,,,,,

Sonny was a 'stiff lumbering type' with 'cement shoes',,,,,

Still no excuse,,,,,,,,,he had no business losing to 'herky jerky' Marty Marshall,
who was a 29 1/2 year-old 'late blooming boxer' who was really nothing more
than an '8-Round Preliminary Fighter'.

And a 180 lb. Michigan Light-Heavyweight (with skinny no muscle 'toothpick' legs) fighting a 200+ 'hulkmeister' too.

But in boxing,,,,,,,,,anything can happen

 

When he had the room, 'The Michigan Bomber' could throw that 'cork-screw right hand'.

My neighbors Great Uncle (from Grand Rapids, Michigan) saw Marty Marshall fight there in
November 1954, right after he defeated Sonny Liston.

He said, Marty 'Knocked-out' 'Italian Hot Shot' Tony Lomonaco with one of those 'cork-screw right hands',
which ended Lomonaco's career.

Marty Marshall

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As much as I admire Charles 'Sonny' Liston,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I think I have to agree with Bummy Davis,,,,,,,,

He may have been built-up as an 'Invincible Force', but
there were a few weak links in his chain.

Two 'hairline' Decision wins over Johnny Summerlin are always forgotten.

 

Detroit Free Press

September 8, 1954

Marty Marshall, the man who baffled Sonny Liston, did everthing that was unexecpted - and Liston,
a predictable fighter, found the unpredictable Marshall beyond his ken.

Marty Marshall, who fights from an extremely unorthodox style, which finds him as a
right-hander one-minute and a southpaw the next, confused Sonny Liston throughout the fight.

As the fight wore on, Liston became more and more frustrated by his inability to catch up
with the 'ever-moving' Marshall, and the Detroiter took the play away from him through
the final three rounds to clinch his triumph.

Marshall, 'The Michigan Bomber', a 30 year-old 6' 0' 180 lb. fighter, is the master of the '3-step bop',
kind of a dance - then the cork-screw right hand. It is a 'sucker-punch' that found its home on the
chin of the lumbering Sonny Liston many times Tuesday Night at the Motor City Arena.

To make matters worse, everytime that Marshall threw his cork-screw right hand, he let out a
a 'hoot sound', letting everyone in the Motor City Arena know that the right-hand was on its way.
Everyone heard the 'warning sound' - except the 'frozen stone' Sonny Liston, who caught the punch
on his face nearly evertime the 180 lb. Detroiter uncorked it.

 

It was the norm rather than the exception for a fighter of Liston's era, even a great one, to pick up a loss early in their career.

Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano for comparison, did not pick up a loss at the equivalent stage of their respective careers, but there was a significant element of luck involved. It could just as easily have turned out the other way.

Once a fighter has built a reputation at the elite level, it is hard to get through to people that anybody is prety beatable early in their career. This fight does show how good Jeffries was, and underline the silliness of people who dismiss his opposition without taking into acount his level of experience.

 

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"Liston beat me in the 2nd fight like no man should be beaten. When I fought him for the 3rd time, I knew there was no way I was going to let him do that to me again. I ran for survival. I was not going to let him hit me again". - Marty Marshall