Sonny Liston vs Hasim Rahman

Rahman was far from a bum. He was a HW champion. Nuff said.

He'd KO most guys just not ATGs

 

I'd say Patterson, Williams, Machen, etc were better than Rahman.

 

I wouldn't. Not head to head at least.

 

Rachman was a very low talent hwt. King of the walking statues so prevalent the last 15 or so years. He would be an open target for Liston.

 

I'd say they were. (Patterson I'm least confident about.).I think his win over Lewis however puts them over all of them in terms of greatness with the exception of Patterson.

 

Yeah I wouldn't say he was a bum. Bums don't hold a win over Lennox Lewis (even a badly prepared one) and become world heavyweight champion.

 

Short answer: No. Long answer: Nooooooooooooooooo. Gtfo.

 

So do you agree this might lead to a competitive fight?
Before it gets to Cleveland Williams: Light handed Ali put him away in three, as did 176 Satterfield before Liston.
Patterson was an exceptional talent, but Rahman and co. were at least one weightclass and power level over Chuvalo, Bonavena and Quarry. I see him at CW these days.

 

A motivated Rahman would give almost anyone problems, and he was powerful. The key word is motivated, Rahman lost to John Ruiz, how I still don't know.

 

1. Ali wasn't light handed
2. Cleveland Williams was shot (both literally and figuratively speaking)
3. Satterfield was a murderous puncher
4. Williams was a late replacement for the Satterfield fight

 

Their is a difference between being a bum and being given a chance against a man with every conceivable advantage.

Ali was not light handed by any means especially at that point in time. And this was when Williams was shot. Both figuratively and literally

That 176 pounder was very possibly one of the hardest hitters of all time.

No argument there. Except Bonavena who's power I feel is very underrated.

 

Whatever you think of his talent I think he deserves more respect .Civilians calling brave men bums sticks in my craw.

 

Rahman wasn't a bum, he was one of the weaker champions but far from a bum. Not on Liston class but don't diserspect him.

 

Rahman was one of those heavyweights that should have been better than he was, although being a lineal champion he still deserves a lot of credit. Sort of in that class of guys like Tim Witherspoon, Ray Mercer, Henry Akinwande, Oliver McCall, Larry Donald, Kirk Johnson, all good fighters, but lacking something also.