Sonny Liston -vs- Gene Tunney

But he did have that lethal "leap in" versus smaller fighters. A fighter like Liston could throw caution to the wind on occasion. Tunney may be equal to it though.[/QUOTE]
Quite agree ,I make it a pick em fight,the Liston who bombed out Williams was far superior to the aging ,hard drinking ,lacking in ring rounds ,lumbering Bear who Ali jabbed to death,but I give Tunney a very real shot here,he had all the qualities to make Sonny look slow and cumbersome,Fast hands ,very fast feet ,he was a ring general ,knowing every inch of it,he had a fast accurate left jab thrown like a vipers strike,a quick punishing short right cross ,and was very durable,he wouldnt be there for the wide hook off the jab ,nor thre follow up clubbing right,but if ,and its a big if Sonny could corner him ,as an old Dempsey did ,he would be in serious jeopardy.Machen gave subsequent boxer types the blue print to deal with Sonny and as clever as Eddie was he wasnt the boxer Tunney was,neither did he have his wonderful footwork or ring brain.Tunney takes a dec.

 

Always get a kick about Sonny and Ingo against Machen.Yes Ingo destroyed Machen.eddie thought all he had to do was show up to beat,Ingo,and got blasted.Against Liston,Machen was more interested in not getting kayoed.A way past it Machen made it to the tenth with pressure cooker Joe Frazier.Does this mean Ingo takes Liston and Frazier?No.Tunney had his face broke up by a middleweight,{Greb},so maybe I will assume Liston,Kayo's Tunney.

 

Ingo was very shrewd in the benchmark performances of his career. He drew Machen in by retreating around the ring, and nailed Eddie advancing on him. Against Patterson, Ingo won the title by first throwing Floyd off with his unexpected left.

Johansson-Liston would have been an interesting matchup. Ingo couldn't take Sonny's best, but could Liston have stood up to Ingo's right if Johansson had connected first? Frazier had the heart of a lion, but if Ingo nailed him early, how do we know it wouldn't have been Foreman-Frazier I, or Johansson-Machen all over again?

I consider Frazier to be a top five all-time HW titlist, someone who would have beaten more of history's other HW champions than Big George would have, but Ingo was only defeated twice (once after he had floored Patterson two times). In peak condition (rare for Ingo), he would have to be given a puncher's chance against nearly anybody he could get to. (Don't forget that Ingo scored a pair of 13th round stoppages before facing Machen. He carried knockout power throughout a match, and would have likely proceeded against Liston with the sort of caution Patterson abandoned.)

 

i think genes boxing skills could carry him to a victory in this one but i would pick liston by late ko.....i think he hit harder than dempsey and had better overall skills

 

I know, him being out of shape didnt take away his footwork and knowledge.

 

Tunney is very underrated, he would box Liston´s ears off. Sonny was simply to slow on his feets to fight with a boxing master like Gene. And Tunney had a good chin, he survided some hard shots of Dempsey and this man had more power than Liston, IMO a wide UD for Tunney... (10-5)

 

Greb butted Tunney as soon as they came together in the 1st round ,breaking his nose,he followed this up by giving him the laces and ,"in the nuts",treatment,Tunney was a mess at the end ,but in subsequent bouts,he mastered Greb with short punches to the stomach and chest taking the wind out of Harry and sapping his legendary stamina,its entirely possible thatr Liston might stop Tunney but to use Greb as a guide to the result could be misleading.

 

Wow. Found a Liston-Tunney poll from waaaaay back.

 

A tougher match up for Liston. Liston was good at engaging stationary types of targets. He was not good at cutting off the ring. Liston I think had some issues with speedy fighters, and tended to swell and be somewhat cut prone.

Tunney had an iron chin and will to match. He could move and box all night long.

I would not use the Machen fight as an example. Machen liked to counter, and stayed on the ropes, something Tunney would not try vs Liston.

Tunney could win a close decision here by using his speed, and keeping Liston off balance. However, Tunney would need to need to avoid the ropes and corners at all costs! Tunney was one of the smartest champions in the ring so I think he would fight the smartest fight for him.

The few the rounds, the better for Tunney. In 12, I like Tunney via split decision.

 

Funny how the popularity of certain guys ebbs and flows with no real catalyst for the change. It's not like we know anything more about either Sonny or Gene now than in 2007. Still, I don't know if any classic heavyweight's stock has increased like Liston's has in the 2010's, while Gene's has faded a bit.

 

Liston was very talented and a hell of a puncher .. People look past just how old he was when he lost to Ali .. that being said Tunney would have been a hell of a challenge for him .. Gene was just as fast and just as well conditioned as Ali .. smaller true but likely just as good a hitter .. if Eddie Machen could give Liston a fight so could Tunney and more so .. I favor Liston but believe it would be very interesting ..

 

Gene would carefully study Liston and pick him apart successfully. While retreating, he'd also be unloading his jab first and outscoring Sonny three and four to one, if not considerably more. I also expect that Liston would be too busy defending himself to pull the trigger much.

Sonny couldn't stop Machen, and he couldn't stop Whitehurst in two attempts. He had to settle for a decision in his rubber match with Marty Marshall, and may well have dropped a ten rounder in a rubber match with Summerlin. Hard to see Liston taking a decision over Gene at the final bell of a 12 rounder.

 

What 190lb. guy beats a prime Liston?

KO-3.

 

Lmao!!!! You must be joking liston did follow clay in circle around the ring like a ****ing idiot

 

Marty marshall was 180 1/4