Ali vs prime Liston May 20th 1974 and the rope a dope

I don't know about Liston.
I would LOVE to see Ali rope-a-dope Marciano.
It would probably be Ali's last fight.

 

IMHO, if the fight had been held in Zaire (right up Ali's alley) a prime Sonny would have been subjected to the same 'mind control' war that George went thru.
We'll just never know about Sonny. He may have been born even earlier and, like many fighters, never got going until he was older. His 1932 birthdate may not be correct. IMO, had he been grabbed and trained properly early on, without his out of the ring problems, he may have been a 'ready to go' wrecking machine by 1955. Styles vs. Styles at that point I don't think would have favored The Rock in that mythical scenerio.

 

The Ali of Zaire would still have beaten Liston. Too much variety and toughness. Also,Ali would have been even better at this juncture in psyching his man out which Sonny was vulnerable to. Liston would have been beaten to the punch frequently. In 1974 Muhammad still had that blinding hand speed.

 

Ali would n't have adopted that tactic against Marciano. He was smart enough to know that it simply would n't have worked.

 

Turning it around,how would the 22 year old Cassius Clay have handled the '74 George Foreman ?

 

:roll::roll:

So now we have someone claiming Marciano was more dangerous than the Foreman of 74.

The only difference would have been, Ali wouldn't need to wait 8 rounds to swat Marciano like he did Foreman.

 

Liston should win.

 

A big shock for Sonny...he would not be up against the quicksilver Clay Kid he couldnt catch, he would be up against a still quick Man Ali ...Very strong in the clinches, harder hitting albeit slower hitting, but still very fast handed, this would not be overconfident Man against Nervy Kid... But perhaps now Edgy Man against supremely confident Man...who will not be bullied...i suspect Ali would of actually let Sonny catch him on the Ropes...to Mock him...Let him feel his strength...then turn it on like he did to Foreman in the 5th round...Sonny under normal circumstances, a straight fight was formidable...but give him some mocking complexity to deal with and the Bad intentions would probably evaporate in favour of thoughts of an exit strategy... Put Sonny in a back Alley with a few guys with Billy clubs coming his way..my Money would be on Sonny...he could fully understand that....put him on a stage..under floodlights under peoples microscopes then feed him some serious mocking adversity...
Sonny's Seek and Destroy small town Mentality probably couldnt cope...A great "Ön Top" Fighter...in this instance he does not get on top...in fact could look a bit like Ali's fight with Ron Lyle..

 

Lay on the ropes and let Marciano work on your gut? That's the closest thing to ring suicide I can think of. When Ali finally finally slumped to his knees, he would have been hauled away on a stretcher.

 

Like I said if you think Marciano hit anything like as hard as the 74 version of Foreman, you must live a on a different planet.

 

Marciano specialized in non-stop, short, sledge hammer punches to the gut. He could move a 300 lb bag with them.
Foreman gassed out in Zaire. Marciano would not have. He could have kept it up for 30 rounds.

 

All about styles. Marciano would have given Ali a tougher fight than Foreman did. On the other hand,George would beat Rocky far easier than Muhammad would. Ali would have defeated Marciano but he may have had to go the distance to do so.

 

Does Liston still get to use blinding ointment? :hey

 

Please stop with your fantasising.

Foreman would have his trainer ( Dick Sadler ) holding the heavy bag, punch it, and lift the guy off his feet. Marciano could only dream of having such punch power. It really is embarrassing reading Marciano fans mythical claims.

Ali would simply have laughed at the silly little 185 lb Marciano's body punches, and cuffed him around the head, until he decided to open up with fast combinations to ridicule the idiot, then stop him with a face resembling a pizza.

Again another plea, don't mention the computer fight. Because the biggest concern in that instance was the director trying to make sure Marciano's wig stayed in place.