Sonny Liston vs Evander Holyfield

Moorer, a man of identical size to Holfield was able to take an under the weather Holyfield life and death (no pun intended) and while Moorer was never the same fighter after the Foreman defeat, was pretty darn good, had a very good jab. Liston of course is not a southpaw and Holyfield did beat his fair share of good jabbers, but the first 3 men to defeat Holyfield all had good jabs, a great neutraliser for his impressive offensive ****nal. Liston had a jab on their level.

Ruiz was also able to smother Holyfield's offense and while I am appreciative that we're getting into Holyfield well past it, I'm expecting Liston to be able to be strong enough in close and whilst clinching to keep Holyfield honest for the most part.

These two points lead me to belive Sonny gives Evander all he can handle, maybe a little bit more. It could go easily be the other way round though

 

you do realize we are using 91 Holyfield anyway right? how long do you think ruiz lasts then?

 

Both men at their best, Liston.

And inside the distance.

 

I'll go with Liston

 

Come on now? Who do you think would really win based on the other posts?

 

Since when did Sonny Liston develop a glass jaw on here?

 

Here is an alternative viewpoint to Holyfields heart problems from the other thread.


Its absolute bull**** to cast doubt on an entire generation because one hypocrite who blew up from 175 pounds when he was past ****rty to 220 pounds of solid ripped muscle, trained with the most roided up freak in bodybuilding, suffered heart problems and premature balding and just happened to get caught buying steroids. The fact is that Holyfield took those drugs to be able to compete with men bigger than him because thats where the money was. You know, $$$, the bottom line, the common denominator in all sports. There were heavyweights better than the guys Holyfield fought before steroids entered the sport but there was no HW Holyfield before that and a guy who goes life and death over 15 rounds with a 33 year old fading ex LHW and who was known for having poor stamina in the amateurs and then happens to fall under the cloud of steroids gets a * in my book. He certainly wasnt Joe Louis or Muhammad Ali.

 

Moorer? Hell, a case can be made that Holyfield didn't even lose that fight despite fighting like shlt. One judge scored the 2nd round even (10-10)... that's the round Holyfield dropped Moorer. Had that judged scored the round for Holyfield, Holyfield would have kept his belts. Moorer is a right handed man who fought from the southpaw stance... his right jab and hook were very heavy. Holyfield dropped Moorer 5 times in their rematch and stopped him after 8 rounds. Yes, Holyfield wasn't 100% in their first fight... you can call it making excuses all you want.

Liston wasn't as quick as Moorer and he wasn't a southpaw.

 

I can see only two people who beat a prime Liston , those are
Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes.

Liston beat all other Heavyweights who ever lived , including Holyfield for sure.

 

Liston by comfortable decision, or late stoppage.

 

So in your opinion Liston is the 3rd best HW who ever lived? You're entitled to your opinion, but I disagree. I doubt Liston would beat Ali, Holmes, Holyfield, Foreman, Tyson, Lewis, Bowe, V. or W. Klitschko, Frazier, Louis, Marciano, and maybe a few others on their best night. I'd have to say I have a very high opinion of him as a fighter... I also feel it's a much more realistic opinion of him.

Look at Liston's resume or go back to one of my earlier posts. He beat guys like Patterson x2, Machen, and Folley... 4-0 (3) vs. these men. None of these men were over 6'1". They all fought under 200 Lbs. for the majority of their boxing careers. Good fighters but not big men.

Patterson was down more than any other HW Champ in history, 20 times! About half of those 20 knockdowns came vs. Liston (2 fights) and Johansson (3 fights). Patterson won a clear decision over Machen.

Machen was usually pretty durable but he was stopped in the 1st round by Johansson, he was only stopped 3 times (Frazier and Kirkman stopped him late in his career). Machen went the 10 round distance vs. Liston and even gave Liston some trouble.

Folley was stopped 7 times. Folley and Machen fought to a draw and Folley beat Machen by clear decision.

Big Cat Williams? Who gives a shlt? Williams is so overrated it's ridiculous. Williams stopped Terrell and lost a decision to Terrell in a rematch, he also drew with Machen... that's about it.

Valdes was washed up when he fought Liston.

A LHW named Marty Marshall broke Liston's jaw and outboxed him for a decision win.

 

Holyfield...more heart...

 

The point is he had heart issues not what caused them,which has not been resolved with FACTS as you WISH to think,its still an opinion...mine isn't,he actually went to the hospital!fixed whatever and thrashed Moorer in a rematch! someone wanted a SOURCE as USUAL I gave it...the end!

 

Since your source references a formal diagnosis, I am prepared to assume that Holyfield did indeed have this heart condition.

I am not sure that having a significant heart condition in his prime, helps your argument that he was a head to head monster however.

 

Holyfield would give ANY HW trouble no matter who it is win or lose! there in not ONE guy maybe other than prime Tyson who would be able to jump on him and get a fast k.o!