Sonny Liston W 10 Bert Whitehurst II 1958

Liston looks fast (for him) on his feet. Whitehurst, shows a lot of heart to stand up to those huge shots. Great finish, that final hook was devastating. Even in 58, I think Liston destroys Patterson in 1 or 2 rounds. Liston, in his prime, had all the physical tools to compete with any heavyweight champion ever. Thanks for the link to the fight.

 

He's in my top 10 all time as well. While Patterson was defending against Rademacher or McNeeley, the real champion Liston was frozen out of a title shot. No doubt in my mind that Liston destroys Patterson or Ingo easily during this time period.

 

Never seen this one before. Good fight with a nice finish, well, for Sonny anyway. Nice crisp jab too.

 

Apart from ingo. Who was the only other name at that time.

When they fought Liston Valdes, dejohn Bethea were erratic fringe guys and WIlliams was 0-1 against name fighters at the time. Wrong side of prime.

Harris, Folley and Machen were certifiable good wins however. His best outside of Patterson anyway.

 

Sometimes a fighter needs a breakthrough win, an actual win rather than a exciting loss to establish himself as an elite fighter. He also needs some proven experience of being solid against good level guys. Williams had the talent before but he needed all the bits and pieces put together before he could realise that.

Frank Bruno had to lose to Bonecrusher and Witherspoon to fulfil his potential because the other guys he fought could not bring him to that level. Bonecrusher himself needed to lose to Holmes, Tubbs, witherspoon and Marvis Frazier before he could turn a corner and beat a good fighter like Weaver and get revenge over Witherspoon. I would say Bonecusher was better once he could beat Witherspoon. Nino Valdes also needed to lose a whole bunch of tough fights before he could turn a corner and beat rated guys too. History is littered with contenders like this.

Williams must have been like that too. Each level of his development represented a challenge to him. He lost to Sylvester Jones, he brushed himself off and took revenge. He lost to Satterfeild. He brushed himself off, needed more confidence wins. Then He lost to Liston both times. He brushed himself off and it finally made him stronger. He could draw from these challenges when the going got tough. beating Metiff was a landmark win. Finally at the third time he beats a good opponent. That belief enabled him to beat young Terrell and hold his own in the rematch and ultimatly Draw with Eddie Machen and beat Billy Daniels in competative fights.

I think Williams was a better, more seasoned fighter when he could hold his own with Terrell, Machen and Billy Daniels than he was against Sonny Liston. I don't think that version beats Sonny I just think the record proves that Williams was a better fighter by then.

 

Physically Williams was in his prime fighting Sonny Liston.

In a Career a fighter is only as good as his last fight or the competition he has been beating on. Competitive fights are key. A proven fighter has paid his dues once he can win a competative fight.

Career wise Williams was in a better place in 1963.

 

Liston is significantly quicker here and his upper body movement is good too.

 

Liston looked good over the somewhat durable Whitehurt,who was aved by the bell but it also shows you how much of a puncher Archie Moore was because he took out Whitehurst 2X in the same time frame that Burt went the distance with Sonny

 

That was 4 years before Liston won the title though and he only had 17 fights under his belt. I hope no one is suggesting Moore hit as hard as Liston? Moore tko'd Whitehurst in both fights ,in between them Joe Rowan kod Whitehurst in 1 round,Rowan had a less that 30% ko record.

 

It was 1958 and Liston had 21 fights about the same amount of fights as the kid 6 years later with 19 fights that took the title off him with a 6th rd TKO. The point is Moore got 2 stoppages over Whitehurst in the same period of time that Liston went the distance with Whitehurst. I am not suggesting Moore hit harder than Liston but his technique must have been advanced because he got 2 stops over the same guy that Liston could not stop (after the bell does not count)