I think Liston was fast and plus that 84" reach made his opponent a easy target. He also fought when he was old and still winning fights. Thoughts?
Young Ali did to Liston what Nino LaRocca said he would do to Donald Curry - made him look like a statue. Of course, a young Ali was one of the fasted Heavyweights ever. I think Liston had moderate handspeed. He wasn't fast of foot.
I don't believe his speed is underrated. Ali made him look very slow, but then Ali could do that. However Machen was able to move on him and Whitehurst too. Maybe he wasn't as slow as Foreman but I wouldn't say he was fleet of foot.
Most people think at least one of the Ali vs Liston fights was not on the level. Liston either quit or took a dive in the 2nd match, take your pick. Ali screamed at Liston in the 2d fight, " Get up, nobody will believe this~ ". Ali had just two 1st round KO's. One of them was vs. a no-name last minute replacement. The other vs. Sonny Liston!
You clearly don't understand Ali's greatness. He did something that was out of this world in the two Liston fights that made all you people think it's a fix. Plain and simple. Huh? Look at the punch in slow motion. That tells everyone it's 100% not a dive. Liston didn't hear the referee because the former boxer messed everything up. Ali screamed at the most intimidating boxer of all time because he was a bad man. Who would scream at Sonny Liston? Not me. The truth is, Ali didn't know how great he was and was caught in the moment. It dosen't matter if Ali has just two 1st round KO's. What you need to understand is that 60's Ali had deceptive power. He could knock you down while moving backwards! He used a similar punch against Zora Folley and knocked down Cleveland Williams while moving backwards.
AJ Liebling saw both men live, more than once, and against each other. He wrote that "Liston proved (to be) as fast as Patterson ... and at least as good a boxer." He wrote also that Liston's footwork was ponderous, but noted that his handspeed was exceptional. I think the slow feet throws people off about Sonny's speed of hand. And by the Ali fight he had probably started to lose a bit of hand speed.
Sigh, another person that's trying to downgrade Ali's greatness. You do know that Liston pushed his arm reach to the limit and that's why he sustained the shoulder injury right? You just don't understand how incredibly fast Ali was. He showed unreal reflexes and head movement in the first Liston fight. Liston had a 84" reach and Ali was dodging his punches like it was nothing. Liston even JUMPED FOWARD and threw his punch and still missed Ali!!! That length must of easily been over 90"!!!!!! Arm reach really did mean nothing to Ali. At his best he would make anyone look slow.