Prime Sonny Liston vs Prime George Foreman

I am undecided.

George was a massive talent but it almost took him two careers to mature into a complete fighter and by then he was too old to fully utilise what he had. If we could combine George as a prime athlete with the shrewd veteran we would be rating a fighter who did not completely exist.

Liston was a complete fighter but he either had a short prime or let himself down.

So it is kind of a fight between the incomplete fighter versus the complete fighter. Or is it a fight between the proven but raw against the complete but unproven. Half way between the two I am thinking proven beats complete...but they both punch hard. I think Liston showed impresive desire losing to Leotis Martin but that Foreman showed it as a younger man. May be Liston did not meet his match untill he was too old?

Today I think Foreman. Tomorrow I might think Liston. Neither was was the truest complete article. I don't know how anyone can be entirely certain.

 

Yeah, it's quite a difficult fight to predict. I do lean towards Liston, who at his best was more polished and complete than Foreman. I think his jab would cause George a lot of problems and I certainly cannot see George walking through Liston like he did to Frazier and Norton.

Then again, Foreman was a formidable fighter, flawed as he was. It's hard to pick heavily against him.

I like Liston over the distance.

 

This is one fight where I can never make up my mind. I can honestly say I don't see it going the distance. With 2 guys that can bang like these two can I don't see a protracted boxing match. Sooner or later one of them is going to hurt/stun the other. And when he does he's going to try and finish him. Foreman's best chance would be to hurt Sonny early and get him outta there. Liston had better pacing than young George and could set up a bomb with a potent jab whereas young George was more of a swing for the fences type of fighter who, although he had a good jab, didn't employ it as economically as Sonny did. I think the longer it goes the more I favor Sonny. Foreman would tire due to his poorer pacing and early energy exenditure....but would it go longer?

 

Your problem here is that you are stating something as fact that has never been proven.Liston never went beyond 12 rds and he only did that once when he was prime against Machen.Therefore what you state as a certainty is far from one. I think Liston wins this fight but stamina won't be a factor,imo.
What will decide it is superior boxing ability, straighter punches, and better defence.

 

I can't answer the question on who would win. But I do know this, either one of them would tear through the heavyweight division in any era.

 

and I'd love see either destroy the current champ.

 

I think Liston wins this, Liston will start off with the bully mentality and Foreman will rush in as usual, Liston will hit Foreman really hard in the first round and get Foremans respect (Something Ali did, but Frazier didnt/couldnt do)

After walking into a few hard jabs and big straight right hands I think Foremans aggressiveness will slowly die down each round, then Liston outboxes him and then takes him out mid to late rounds.

Something similar to what Lennox used against Tyson when he threw that huge uppercut in the first round and Tyson went back to the corner saying 'im hurt'




Or Foreman could just rush Liston and really catch him off guard and not let him recover

 

Slightly off topic

Liston lost to a young close to peak Muhammad Ali. He was lightening fast and may very well beat any heavyweight that ever lived. Liston just couldn`t catch up to him. {Who could?}

with that said how would Liston have fared in Zaire facing Ali and the same Rope a Dope tactics he used effectively on George Foreman? Does Sonny fall all over himself trying to bomb Ali out or does he have the prescion to make Ali sorry?

 

I'd favor Foreman's brute force when at his best to allows him to eventually over whelm the better boxer in Liston. I see this fight being something like the Liston vs Williams fights just a couple rounds longer and with Liston being the one who crumbles. I think Liston would be seemingly getting the better of it and certainly be putting some hurt on a prime Foreman but Foreman would be relentless in his attack and eventually would put some seriously hurt on Liston with his jab and looping punches. Eventually around the 4th or 5th round I see Liston starting to get backed up and Foreman at this point finishing him off. Liston could potentially win this fight as well and if he did I would picture it again something like his fights with Williams, action packed with Liston scoring an early knockout after taking some punishment as well. What I am pretty certain of if these two met it would be much like Liston's fights with Williams and Foreman's fight with Lyle, a very entertaining and brutal short heavyweight clash between two punchers

 

Liston did fight with a broken jaw, could he be succeptible
to be fractured again with the power of Foreman? Crazy fight.
Gotta go with Liston, better technician, I think technique conquers
Georges awkward angles if Liston can survive the first 5fight rounds.
Wouldnt surprise me if Foreman walked Liston down within 4 though.
Any wacky comments about Georges opinion, wacky quotes from him rather.