Which of Ali's opponents beat a prime Liston? Would we have to wait for Frazier and Foreman before he had a hard fight?
I think what you have to remember was Sonny was so good he really lacked real competative fights. Bernie Thomas, Neil Welch, Summerlin, Marshall, Whithurst and Machen were the only real fights Sonny had before fighting Patterson. His career stalled. He was practically one fight a year from 1961 to 1967 so we will never know how he would fare with the Ali schedule of 1972. Doug Jones might have been tricky. Terrell would be tricky. Bonavena would be tough. Chuvalo would be tough. Frazier would beat him. Then the schedule Ali had between 71-1974 would have killed a lot if good champions careers. Liston included. It almost killed Ali's, He was not much of a champion second time around.
Interesting comment on Frazier; why do you think he beats Sonny? I take your point on Ali's schedule, and I don't mean Sonny could have replicated it(kind of mislead with the thread title!), more which Ali opponents would have been too much for Sonny? I think it's a very short list.
Hypothetically on his best day Liston beats most of the best guys Ali beat, but that's best day. If it's against Ali's opponents instead of what he fought Sonny will be turning up to fight somebody like Jerry Quarry with his Lewiston Maine performance or at fight 49 Sonny will be fighting Ron Lyle with his Leotis Martin performance. Sonny's prime was what? 1960-63 in that time he fought but a few times you could condense those fights over a much shorter time scale but it would only make for a shorter prime. I think a 1971 FOTC Frazier beats up Liston. Fight 32 Ali fought Frazier and Sonny fought Machen So Sonny would be turning up with a good night's work if he'd been fighting the guys he fought but with Ali's schedule he'd be coming off Bonavena and Quarry too. I don't think Sonny would be so fresh like he was coming off quick wins over Roy Harris and Zorra Foley somehow. Ali fought Quarry, Bonnavena and Frazier back to back. He later fought Norton, Frazier and Foreman one after the other -with the ****rs fight weeks after Norton thrown in too.
This is the bottom line. Some champions have the mental attributes for longevity, and Liston didnt have them. It would not be so much who, as when.
Vs. prime Liston, I'd favor Holmes somewhat. Liston/Foreman about 50/50. Of course, a Liston living in the real world would only be prime for a part of the Ali era.
If Martin was taking him out with one shot every fight from then on is pretty much 50/50. But say Liston came along a decade later and Ali wasn't there, I think he can cope with Alis schedule. Are Liston's struggles any worse than Ali struggling with Cooper? I say not.
I wouldn't pick him to beat Foreman. I'd give Frazier and Holmes decent chances (but less than 50 %). He should be safe against the rest.
Liston wipes the floor with Frazier and Foreman too. Holmes would be interesting and maybe Young makes Liston look really bad. If it wasn't for Nortons chin, id say he would present some problems too.
Bonavena and Liston would be interesting while it lasted. Ditto Quarry. But Sonny in his prime, I believe would have beaten both of them. **** Sadler claimed that Quarry turned down Sonny more than once, I guess back in the late sixties. I do know that Boone Kirkman offered Sonny a Seattle fight, but Sonny was filming a movie (Moonfire, I believe) and turned it down. Boone got lucky.