If Sonny Liston had beaten Leotis Martin in 1969 and not sadly pass away, what top fighters in 1970-73 do think he could have beaten? Another question is do you think he could have potentially became world champion again?
Great question. Considering how competitive this era was and Liston likely at the end of the road anyway, I don't see Liston grabbing the title from Frazier or Foreman in this time frame. Let's see here, who would he get matched with? Quarry, Bonavena, an Ali rematch wouldn't happen, a Patterson rematch would be nice though, Norton-maybe, Chuvalo is a possibility, as well as Ellis, Shavers and Bugner maybe as well. I would look for Quarry, Bonavena, Frazier, Foreman, Chuvalo, and Ellis to happen. I think Liston could beat all of them but Foreman and Frazier. I think Liston could put together a couple good wins to get a shot at Frazier, which in 1970, would be heaven for me.
So, if Sonny Liston hadn't been so old that he got iced by Leotis Martin, a good journeyman but no more, how would he have got on getting older and older as the heavyweight division's greatest ever era was about to get underway? That's nearly as silly a question as, if Max Schmeling hadn't died of old age, how would he fare with today's heavyweight division? But not quite.
A 40-something Liston who had done nothing but beat fringe journeymen after losing to Ali and got KO'd cold by Leotis Martin probably wasn't going to pull up many trees fighting in the 70s.
By then Liston would have been late 50s early 60s. He would have nothing more than a hail Mary punchers chance. But then again that's exactly what Foreman did so who knows.
An old Liston against a prime Foreman and Frazier? The mob wouldn't have needed to kill him. He'd have already been dead after facing those two.
Sonny could've won that, IMO. Consider, Cleveland Williams did fine against Chuvalo that year. Sonny was always a lot better than Williams. A number of guys Liston had dominated were contenders in the early (to even mid) 1970s. Floyd Patterson. Henry Clark. Chuck Wepner. The heavyweight division in the 1970s had some of its greatest names, but they were at the very top. The bottom half of the top 10 in the 1970s usually had some guys who you were surprised were even there. In the early 1970s, had he lived, Liston would've been able to beat some guys (he was still ranked in the top 10 by Ring when he died). On a given night, with that jab, he could've chopped up Jerry Quarry and scored an upset. Or bashed out a Jose Urtain. Or toppled Patterson in a rubber match. But I don't think there would be any chance he takes the title from Frazier. So there would be no titles for him.
Well, Patterson was ranked in the early 1970s and Henry Clark and Chuck Wepner were ranked in the mid 70s, and he had no problems stopping them, some at less than his best. And Leotis Martin was a top 10 contender when Liston fought him, and Liston had him down in that fight, too. And Martin retired after that because of the eye injury he sustained in the fight. Wepner suffered a cracked cheekbone, a broken nose and needed 72 stitches to close his cuts. So Liston wasn't a pushover, even in 1970. And it's not like Jerry Quarry or those types did substantially better against Ali than Liston did. Liston would've been able to match most of the contenders in the early 70s. He beats some and loses to some.
I disagree with the folks referring to Martin as a journeyman. He was a pretty damn good fighter that was always hell against who ever he fought. Shame he suffered a detached retina and lost his career. Regarding the subject at hand, Liston was definitely slowing down but was still dangerous. I don't think he ever would have won a title again but I could see him having success against some of the guys out there. More so than his age it was his drinking and going out that eroded his skills.