Sonny Liston vs. George Foreman

I go with this.

 

I like Liston to stop Foreman in round 10, while comfortably ahead on the cards.

 

Sonny Liston by knockout.

Just as powerful and a shade sharper with his punches. Sonny had better boxing skills. He always used his jab where Big George sometimes forgot about it.

 

Everything i wanted to say exacly right

 

He'd need more than that.

Frazier and Norton were better boxers too.


A 50/50 proposition, IMO.

 

Norton was a better boxer,but Frazier ? i never see that he box,he only swing his left hook...he was a bad boxer without a jab,foremans jab was very heavy

 

Liston had a pretty good resume, even if Patterson was his best win.

 

LOL at anyone using the Ali fights to judge Liston`s ability. atsch

 

If I recall correctly, someone on here said there was a sparring incident,Liston was taking Foreman's shots cleanly and didn't budge and was telling him to hit harder and then proceeded knock Foreman out. Mind you, this was an older Liston after the Ali Fiasco. I think Sonny could beat him. As for hard hitters, Liston fought Cleveland Williams in his prime and he was a hard hitter and actually broke Liston's jaw I think. This is a bad matchup for Big George.

 

It's styles that make fights, not "legacies" or resumes. How exactly is Liston "highly suspect" against great H2H heavies? Because he lost to Ali? Why should Liston be judged based on the debacle in the second Ali fight? If you want to go that route, why not mention how Foreman was humiliated by Jimmy Young? Or his troubles with the almighty Peralta? The reality is that George Foreman could barely box. Foreman had power but if he can't muscle you into position, he can be exposed.

 

Not sure about all of it but the bit I've bolded :deal

George is getting a raw deal here.

 

Actually some valid points here, regardless of trolling

 

1. Liston's prime was 1959 I think - I think by '62/'63 Patterson fights he was quite the fighter he had been on his way up when Patterson should've been fighting him.

2. In terms of in any way comparable punchers that either fought I suppose with Liston you definately have Cleveland Big Cat Williams and also Mike DeJohn was also a big big hitter and I suppose Foreman faced O'Halloran (of giant man on superman 2 fame), Turnbow who George ranked among the best hitters he faced, Frazier, and in his second career Gerry Cooney and Tommy Morrison.

3. Common opponents I can think of? George Scrap Iron Johnson - both stopped in the 7th round so I guess on the face of it nothing much in that one but Chuck Wepner stated unequivocally of Liston that "nobody hit me like that that guy hit me!" - did Foreman manage to put Wepner down btw?

4. Foreman himself said Liston was the only man who could genuinely back him up. And by all accounts Young Foreman couldn't make old Liston blink in sparring.

5. Plus resume wise I think Liston technically was better against a better version of Ali in their fight 1, and he did flatten Patterson twice in one round back to back - plus I rate the version of Eddie Machen that Liston fought as a more impressive fighter to me than the Jimmy Young who beat Foreman. Plus the Zora Folley who Liston beat was a well respected fighter by hi peers at the time too - plus Liston went in with wily veterans in Howard King, Niño Valdes and a couple of toughies in Bert Whithurst and the Willi Besmanoff he faced too.

6. Can't imagine Jimmy Young managing to drop any version of Sonny Liston and if it had of been the Cleveland Big Cat Williams who fought Liston in the with George instead of Ron Lyle I think Foreman would've had to have been saved by the referee.

7. To chuchulain who said Frazier and Norton were better boxers than him aswell - Frazier fought possibly the dumbest fight I have ever seen by a defending champion, and Norton was completely psyched the second he felt any of the power so this is a mute point - plus probably every boxer Foreman fought was a better boxer than him anyway to be honest - on this I concur with Rusak that Foreman could barely box - Infact he was one of the crudest most limited boxers to ever win the title and he had absolutely awful balance - cant think of another heavyweight champ who so relied on his power - but man that power!? Maybe Max Baer was about closet in terms of crudidity - whereas Liston was actually a good boxer who did everything behind this heavy jab.

Overall it's gotta be Liston - as soon as Foreman's stamina starts to wilt which could be anywhere from mid rounds

 

I should have addressed this earlier. You gotta be kidding. Classic? Did you even watch the fight? I get the feeling you didn't. Foreman got beat up. He shook Holyfield once or twice, and that's it. He barely won a round. There was nothing classic about that performance.

How do those fights pertain to a fantasy match up against Foreman?

Young did not even have a pronounced stylistic advantage over Foreman. Foreman should have won that fight. Young didn't run from him, he just saw his punches coming and beat him to the punch, over and over. Dehydration? Aw poor baby. Foreman at 229 was dehydrated, you see. Maybe he was also poisoned.

He didn't win widely. Peralta clearly won some rounds and nearly every round was competitive. Foreman was embarrassed by a slow, smaller, one-handed fighter. You know how much one-punch knockout power Foreman showed against Peralta? NONE. And Peralta was a former light heavyweight.

Foreman had some impressive results, but the problem for you is that we have video of his fights, so we can see how he actually fought. Foreman threw wide, telegraphed punches. He often threw himself off balance. Foreman's hand speed was far from impressive. He had no inside game. His defense, outside of shoving, sucked. A lot of this is basic stuff. A good boxer has better punching technique than that.

I don't see you mentioning anything about Liston's stylistic weaknesses with regard to Foreman. "He quit against Ali" isn't going to cut it.

 

Foreman by knockout in 8