I feel only 66-67 Ali could beat Prime Liston. anyone else even any other version of ali would lose. any other posters disagree, please post who you think can take down the big bear.
The others who would have a good shot would mainly be the great boxer punchers. Like against any great slugger. Louis & Lewis, Tyson due to his speed & skills had a shot, Foreman if he did not gas. Liston had much natural talent. His relative weakness is speed, & also the competition he fought, & sometimes how he beat them, not so distinguished. He could be befuddled, & stiffer competition could have developed him more, though he has skills. An undersized scared Patterson was not a challenge.
i don't think tyson had the tools, louis and lewis had the tools but not the chin foreman didn't have the boxing ability or stamina to do anything with liston.
Yeah, I suspect it's a short list too. Bowe would be dangerous but maybe gets hit too much. Lewis, I don't like with the narrow reach and the chin. Wladimir, same. Tunney and Dempsey would be interesting? Dempsey, like Holyfield, probably likes war too much.
I'm not sure Ali could beat Liston at his best. Ali said that Liston had him out on his feet and didn't know it. This was an in-the-tank Liston with a bad left shoulder. Prime Liston would have known it and followed up on it. Liston hit too hard and had too good a chin to assume Ali could have beat him.
Ali had Liston's number and would have beaten him 7 nights a week.aside from Ali I'd give both lewis and holmes a good chance of beating him. The better of the klits may trouble him but Marciano and Frazier are made for sonny and wouldn't get past his sledgehammer jab.
I think that the Ali of the Terrell fight, has probably developed to the point where he is too much even for a prime injury free Liston. A prime Joe Louis probably beats him, because he is strong on everything that Liston is strong on. Outside of those two, we are talking 50/50 type fights at best with other ATGS.
There are not many I would favour over the prime Liston. He was a very solid all round fighter with genuine power and a good chin. I am not sure who could slug with him and come out on top. Ali and other cuties would always give him trouble, style wise, but you have to remember Liston had started to deteriorate by the time Ali fought him; a peak Liston would be much tougher than the faded one. In short, I think he has a good shot at the slugger types, and is 50-50 with Louis, Ali and Holmes. He is one of the better H2H heavies in my opinion.
I think Vitali Klitschko's ability to fight on the outside and great size would enable him to stop Sonny late or on points.
Yeah, I was gonna say that. Vitali was durable and had an unreal ability to win rounds. I think he'd take a decision. Also, I think Ali's dominance is overstated. Liston kept the first fight close but had a shoulder injury. If he were a few years younger and healthy, it could have played out differently.
Prime Ali is the only fighter that I'm certain would beat a prime Liston. Joe Louis could manage it, but I'm not sure if his chin would hold up. Lennox definitely had the tools, but like Louis, if Liston is able to catch him off guard, he stands a good chance of being knocked out. Dempsey stands a good chance of hurting Liston early, and possibly following up on that with a knockout, but if Liston is able to survive the early rounds, he'd probably take control. I think that Liston had the tools to beat a prime Tyson as well. Aside from Ali, the guy I'd give the best chance to is Foreman, but that's still a 50/50 match up.