Two match-ups: 1969/70 Quarry vs 1964 Liston 1969/70 Quarry vs 1959/60 Liston I think Quarry would have trouble with Sonny's jab and that reach. It would be good match-up, Liston was not as fast as Ali and not a grinder like Frazier, Jerry was an excellent counter puncher, might have been able to beat the 64 Liston but probably not the 59/60 Liston.
If he fought Liston the same as Morrison fought old Foreman, there would be a possibility of an upset...or at least he'd survive to the limit. Remember, it would have to be the Quarry who whipped the much bigger Mathis...not that I'm equating Mathis with Liston...but he was bigger and more agile than Sonny and Quarry dissected him in probably his best performance.
Two of my very favorite fighters both were tough, but with different styles.Liston put 73 stitches to Wepner's face. Caused a detached retina against Leotis Martin and knocked teeth out of Wayne Bethea, all with his 84 " reach and powerful jab. Quarry had a 72" reach and cut over the eyes as soon as anyone looked at him. You call this one, but hurry, you won't have much time.
Sonny really wanted Jerry after Henry Clark, and told that to Howard Cosell in no uncertain terms. It's a styles thing, and Liston knew he had what it took to deal with JQ successfully at range. George Foreman was conversely EXTREMELY evasive about taking on Jerry whenever asked about JQ during post-fight interviews while on his rise to the title. If Jerry had gotten to GF before Ali, Norton or Roman, JQ would have become the transitional caretaker HW Champion between Foreman and Ali. (After the way Muhammad had dominated Jerry in their 1972 rematch, I see no way JQ gets a gimme defense unless Ali and his team agree to it for building up Muhammad's next title shot. Under those circumstances, I could see Ali stepping aside to allow JQ-Frazier II or JQ-Norton I as an initial defense for Jerry, since the winner would be a promotable challenge for Ali in late 1974.) Jerry's only option would have been to box Sonny like Leotis did. By the time Martin took Liston out, he needed to produce a stoppage FTW, had already incurred a career ending eye injury to last long enough to pull it out, and is there any way JQ is NOT a bloody mess before reaching the ninth round?
Liston busts him up and stops him just like most of the top HWs Quarry fought. He was stopped by Frazier x2, Ali x2, Norton, and even Chuvalo. He was down vs. plenty of others. He was outboxed by Machen and Ellis. He won a close fight over an old Patterson and drew with him. He won a decision over an up and coming Lyle who would later improve. He did stop Shavers and that was impressive but keep in mind that Shavers was not very durable.
Foreman would have beat the shlt out of Quarry. Foreman says a lot of things, don't take it too serious. He said he was scared of Frazier and even Norton. He said Frazier would have beat him had he faced the same Frazier that Ali faced in 1971. It's Foreman playing the nice guy. He talks up Liston as well. He claims Liston was the only man that could ever stand up to him in his early days as a pro... it doesn't mean anything people. I think Foreman was better than Liston as well.
As you noted, Ernie was very flawed, but one flaw people point out that just isn't defensible is that he somehow had a weak chin. Shavers was stopped quite a few times, but besides the Quarry fight where he was hit with about 20 clean solid power shots, his stoppage loses were all due more to fatigue than to any chin issue. Besides the Quarry fight, just try to find one example of Shavers being dropped when he wasn't completely gassed. There is one fight this happened in when he was about 36, but that's it. Just look at Shavers fight with Ron Lyle. He went in trenches with Lyle, dropped him, out fought him and then got stopped in the 6th after running out of gas. Lyle's next fight was his war with Foreman where he dropped George twice, and hurt him on several other occasions. Shavers stood in the trenches with the same Lyle and didn't flinch. Well, at least until he ran out of gas.
Liston falls into the category of the Big, slow banger than Jerry feasted on but Liston was about Shavers size, Lyle and Foster were 6'3 throw in Thad Spencer and Mathis......Quarry has a good chance to upset Sonny but the younger Jerry was green but prime Quarry may like this fight
2 of my favourite fighters too but I don't give quarry much of a chance vs a peak Liston. I don't think Liston was a slow plodding slugger at all, only Ali made him look slow.I don't see quarry being able to counter Sonny with his hook and being ground down by Sonny's sledgehammer jab.
Roy Crear, Al Jones x2, Floyd Patterson, George Chuvalo, and Joe Alexander all dropped Quarry. He was stopped 6 times... Frazier x2, Ali x2, Norton, and Chuvalo. He could be hurt, he could be stopped. He could take a good shot, I'm not saying the man didn't have a decent chin... but he didn't have a Chuvalo type of chin.