Picture of Sonny Liston and Rocky Marciano

Liston is a significant bigger man, in shape or fat .fact. Taller, more athletic build in shape or just big when fat.

Marciano is a midget in comparison, just look at when he fought Grandpa Louis who barely had any hair left and he looked TINY in comparison to old Louis........could not get away from shot Louis's jab until the shopworn warrior's gas tank was empty.........and now Marciano is negating Liston;s jab with ease ? Laughable, he is going to be busted up at range .....eating left hooks and when it comes to "crowding" time, he is eating uppercuts.

Back to size again........on a Talk show when Rocky showed up with some Swedish chick in pretty much flats she was taller then him.........I do not even believe the 5'10.5 measurements, IMO he was a weak 5'10 at Best and probably closer to 5'9.

It has been well documented that I am not high on Liston but prime Liston is all wrong for Marciano, while Liston is slow, Marciano aint no speed demon either, while Liston is not hard to crack so is Marciano, he was busted up literally in all his signature fights.....the key difference is Marciano's poor footwork and especially slow foot speed, that will make the difference in Liston keeping him at the end of his jab and busting him up with heavy Artillery when Rocky lunges in.

Liston's kryptonite is speed .......but Marciano will never beat him to the punch, Tyson would, Holyfield would, hell even Morrison would until he gasses.

Prime Liston would have been the hardest puncher with skill Marciano would have ever faced and IMO his management would have kept him away from Liston as long as they could.........Liston had plenty gas in the tank up to Patterson and did not have 65487 fights on the cl;ock, was ko'ed by ham and eggers, was skinny or chinny. or a Pensioner or some light Heavy with a soft pouch.....he was a legit modern Heavy which Marciano was not.

As far as heart is concerned, well, Gatti had heart, Corrales had heart, hatton had heart....made no difference when they met the superior fighter in Mayweather, they got beat from pillar to post and stopped despite FMJ is not a big puncher...........natural talent apple to apple will always beat heart.

 

Liston v Marciano

....... is basicallly this :

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Nothing to hate about Rocky he fought and beat who was around at his time,he could do no more.
Some of the Rockista's on here are another matter!

 

No, to be an elite puncher requires just one attribute, elite punching power ,and Williams had it in spades!
And we have the testimony of Liston ,Foreman and Terrell endorsing that fact!

 

Where was this elite punching power, he lost to almost every decent fighter he faced. Name me some fighters he knocked out?

 

But he has no limitations!

If you follow the argumentation here to its logical end, you must accept that Marciano is a once in a century talent that must be in the discussion as the greatest boxer LB4LB ever.

 

Where are the KO victims of Shavers and Morrison?

 

Good post! However Liston only looks a inch or so taller than Rocky in the photo. I must admit I thought there would be more in it,maybe Liston was a flat 6 foot and not 6 1” that he was billed at?

 

Name me some Lyle,Ruddock,Foster,Sheppard,Durelle,Morrison knocked out .
How about Shavers apart from Ellis and a washed up Norton who did he ko?
Cooney?

Do they have to have big names on their resume to be big punchers?
YES or NO?

 

In the strange logic of some here, Marciano, despite knocking top fighters flat on their backs and stopping them, doesn't deserve his reputation as a "one punch power" fighter or "ATG elite puncher" .... (because he was more of an attrition puncher).
BUT Cleveland Williams, who probably didn't knock out any ranked fighter in his whole career, and whose best win (against not-yet-ranked Terrell) ended with his opponent still on his feet taking punches, was an "elite puncher" and doesn't need anything other than a few quotes from other fighters to prove it.
Seems like double standards, moving the goal posts.

 

They all hit hard.
But when rating punchers, the guys who knocked down, knocked out or stopped TOP fighters of their day on multiple occassions probably deserve to be ranked ahead of those who didn't.

 

IMO , that pic looks favorable to Marciano's claimed height.

Louis, roughly similar sized than Liston TOWERS over Rocky in the Ring, just watch the fight, it will become crystal clear.

 

Hit the nail bang on the head right there.

 

Again what's Shavers or Morrison got to do with anything.

I'll ask again for the answer, name me any fighters Williams knocked out?

I don't want myths I want facts, just give me 5 please.

 

It has everything to do with the question. Shavers is considered by many the hardest puncher in the division's history. But where are the elite victims? Perhaps it suggests that being the hardest puncher does not mean being the greatest KO artist. Sorry if that zipped right over your noggin.