[CLIP] Leotis Martin's ko of Liston

great KO, liston a sitting duck though.

 

That right hand prior to the 1-2 was the real money punch. Left Sonny too stunned to stop the finishing blows.

 

Ah, gotcha!

 

Beautiful knockout...I saw it when it happened, and I swear, I thought for a while that Martin killed Sonny....he was down so damned long!

 

Sad:
1965-05-10 : Sonny Banks 205 lbs lost to Leotis Martin 183 lbs by KO at 2:59 in round 9 of 10

• Location: Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Referee: Joe Sweeney

Banks died three days later due to injuries sustained in the fight.

 

One previous poster called me out in my praise of Leotis calling him nothing more than "Jeff Merritt" plus??
Ridiculous?! His career after the tourney was impressive; went globetrotting to cement his contender status. And his losses, after the tourney, were taken on short notice often. IMO here was a Philly "bad ass'' boxer-puncher'' who may have been a factor for 2-3 more years sans the detached retina against Sonny. He fought stupid against Ellis in the tourney but seemed to be coming on as the fight progressed. And he could have told his grandbabies that he ended the dangerous Bear's comeback brutally. Would have liked to have seen a fall-68 Leotis-Jerry s c r a p. IMO Jerry wouldn't have stopped him and they both would have been countering with Martin landing his share, possibly cutting Jerry. A Jerry UD? perhaps, but Martin could have stolen that fight.
My somewhat limited $0.02

 

That "one....one-two combo"....Martin hit Liston with was pretty vicious.

 

George Foreman's story of the aftermath in Liston's locker room was a sad ending of George's perception of Sonny and really Sonny's career. Sonny had told George it never bothered him if he won or lost but George saw tears in his eyes and knew he had lied. Sonny's statement that he had the flu as a partial reason for his loss also was a dishonest view of the fight as he was the fresher fighter on his way to a decision win when caught with a perfect right hand that left him wide open for the left hook that put him out cold.

 

Liston was slow this fight. His movements and his punching pace.
However, he still put on a great performance, putting Martin down, and retiring him.
The way his age affected his ability to get his jabs and straights off on a younger, more athletic opponent is somewhat reminiscent of Louis around 1951.

Martin put on a great great performance. His IQ was razor sharp, as was his jab, reflexes, movement, and showed great spirit. It was the kind of dismantling sustained effectiveness you saw from Schmeling in the first Louis bout. Martin had trained with Liston and was a sparring partner of his. I think they sparred for years, and knew each other pretty well. And like I said in another thread, never underestimate a B level fighter on their best night.

I feel that at this point of his career, Liston was better off fighting bigger Heavyweights, so he wouldn't be as outmatched on speed and mobility, but could still match the strength and power.

 

Watched it that day back in December 1969 on "Wide World Of Sports"...BIG upset!!!

 

Sonny's nose and mouth were torn up, ironically much like Leotis's fight in the tourney with Ellis...but...Martin weathered Ellis's early onslaught and appeared to be coming on at the end. Would have liked to have seen a Ellis-Martin rematch or a Leotis-Quarry fight around that time...

 

He DID kill Sonny...

 

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