Let's play around with the great Sonny Listons time frame a little, and say he turned pro at around 1935. So he's working his way to a shot at the Brown Bomber. Let's say he first faced Schmeling and Sharkey, but not as champion s. Then he meets former champ Baer. Then he meets the man himself.. Joe Louis. How's all these fights pan out??
Destroys Sharkey, Carnera and Schmeling Has one of the greatest slugfests ever with Baer, Liston takes the win on that Louis axes him but with major trouble, has less trouble in the rematch Walcott retires an aging Liston
This. Liston even in his prime has a good chance of losing against either Schmeling or Sharkey. I could see Liston struggling a lot with Schmeling’s timing and Sharkey’s footwork and combinations.
In his prime Schmeling lost to Sharkey Hamas Baer Drew with Uzcudun In his prime Sharkey lost to Risko Drew with Heeney Drew with 169.5lbs Walker Who beat a prime Liston?
He beats all the contenders and today I have Sonny beating Louis. Tomorrow might be a different story
Sharkey and Schmeling fought a lot more ranked contenders than Liston. Yes Liston was better than them, but they were probably both better than Eddie Machen for example.
Eddie Machen took him the distance, as did Bert Whitehurst. It is not a huge leap to imagine somebody like Sharkey or Risko giving him a competitive fight.
Yes they did but among those ranked contenders they beat,[Schmeling7,Sharkey11]were guys like Scott,Stribling,Gorman,Uzcudun,Risko.Hamas,Neusel,Maloney,Delaney,Carnera. Would Liston have any trouble with them?
Risko was ko'd by Schmeling ,don't you think Liston would do the same? Whitehurst was knocked completely out of the ring in the 2nd Liston fight,he was in the process of trying to get back in when the final bell rang at the count of 7 saving him from a ko. He was never in the fight. "referee: Harry Kessler 50-37 | Fred Connell 48-39 | Howard Hess 50-40 Whitehurst was knocked through the ropes, and was attempting to climb back into the ring as the final bell rang at the count of seven"
At this stage, Liston s coming in to his own, he's ready for the title. Sharkey and Schmeling and Baer have seen better days by around 1937/38. So I'm pretty sure that Sonny, with his eye on Joe s crown, would deal with the former champs effectively. Hard hitting Liston with that massive reach blows em out of the ring
Most of them would have been early KO wins, like most of the contends of Liston's own era. I could see a couple of them giving him problems though.
