Sonny Liston: “The Strongest Heavyweight I Ever Dealt With” - George Foreman

He's not saying he knows for sure. What he's saying is that it might not be fair to judge Liston against Holyfield, for example, based on Foreman's testment as George sparred with Sonny when he was still learning, growing and developing his adult strength.

The impression Liston made on that version of George may have been different to what it would have been on the fully developed George. George, with the benefit of age and strength may have had a much easier time and not been so awed by Sonny. Similarly had Holyfield been pushing a younger version of George around rather than the bigger, more experienced version, George may have remembered Evander as the stronger man. He is remembering the impression made on him rather than measuring strength.

He's not completely discounting what George said, merely putting a caveat by it. Seems fair enough to me.

 

u paraphrased my quote, nice development there, but i did it on 2 lines.

georgio is just judging his strength. I trust him.

 

Thanks, that's exactly what I was trying to say.

 

There's none so blind ...

 

But you guys r contradicting your own logic.

If size and weights are so important, if u were to hypothetically have a young foreman meet holyfield instead as a rising pro and train with him, hed still be the bigger man. Foreman was 2 inchs taller and 15 lbs heavier than a prime Holyfield even as a young man.

 

There's no contradiction at all.

 

I see it this way .. If most people wanted nothing to do with Liston, either in the ring or out .. That is one incredibly strong and intimidating specimen walking the planet

 

No contradiction whatsoever. Kevin and I have maintained throughout that what Foreman thought at the age of 20 might not be a completely foolproof argument as he would not have been as strong at that age as he was later in life nor as adept at keeping guys off him (he had only started boxing three years before).

Neither me nor KoolKevin are saying Liston wasn't the strongest man Foreman ever fought or sparred, just that the opinion should come with a caveat that what happens to a green 20 year old might leave a different impression than it might have on a seasoned veteran who was bigger and had grown into his adult strength. That really is all.

 

Foreman weighed 220 at his pro debut 5 years later and he weighed the same against Muhammad Ali. That man was done growing.

"Adult Strength"? That's broscience. Do you have any actual science to support this?

 

FWIW, he boxed on his back foot in spots in other fights too. Read somewhere that he'd wanted to do more of that but his trainers talked him out of it.

 

Just to be clear, do you think that it would have been just as easy for Liston to intimidate and back up the experienced 250-260lb version of Foreman who fought in the 90s? Do you think he would have made as much of an impression on that version of Foreman as he did to the 220lb (teenage?) Foreman who'd only been boxing for a few years?

 

If Foreman made his pro debut 'five years later' that means you think he sparred with Sonny in 63/64 as a 14 year old, nearly four years before he ever put a pair of gloves on. No wonder he was so impressed by Sonny.

Foreman wasn't done growing at 220lbs at the age he turned pro. What heavyweight in history had 'done growing' at the age they turned pro? Maybe Tyson, who was a man child freak of nature and who had been training full time for years. That's it.

As for adult strength, it's not a myth. Google 'what age does a man's strength peak' and the first page of answers will all give you an age range between late 20s and early 30s. Not one entry suggests 19 or 20 - the age at which Foreman did actually spar with Liston - might be the point where strength starts to plateau out.