Joe Louis vs Sonny Liston of 1960?

Or 22.

 

It’s the least likely option but potentially as doable as the other two scenarios. The man who became Sonny Liston was one of three brothers.. If Sonny really was Charles Liston he is born 1930-31. If he is Curtis Liston he was born in 1929. if he is Wesley he was born in 1938. That’s really the only options if he exchanged identity with one of his brothers.

 

That still makes the range 10 years either way. Not to unreasonable. So he was 40-50 when he died, which is how he looks.

 

This is true. The first 15 fights Sonny had up to 1956 didn’t make much of a splash. Then he went to Prison.

when he came out of prison in 1958, within a very short time, Sonny was an instant sensation.

 

Sonny was old before his time. Sad face. Hulking kid. How old did Tyson look at 30? Sonny could have been so much younger than he looked.

I don’t think Sonny ever looked older than Joe Louis did in 1951. And Louis was retired before 40.

 

a couple wins of Summerlin, and a couple wins over Marshall-both one-hit wonders. Liston piled up plenty of good wins after prison: Cleveland Williams, Nino Valdes, Mike DeJohn, and Bethea, Besmanoff, Hunter, Whitehurst, and Mederos for kicks. I think that supports the idea of Liston being younger in the 50s.

 

true, Sonny just had an old face. Kind of like Foreman. In the Rumble in the Jungle, Ali's 32, and he's 24, and you're like Ali looks 32, Foreman looks 40.

 

Right. Liston was a much better fighter when he was relaunched after his second stint in Prison. The interruption in his pro career seemed to be very beneficial. There’s almost no comparison between the pre Prison version of Sonny and post prison Sonny of his pro career. It was a phenomenal relaunch.

Sonny could have been too young and green before Prison. coming out he was a man.

 

I wonder how many fights he got into in prison. A good prison stint will toughen anybody up.

 

Summerlin was a ranked fighter.

 

i thought so since he beat Zora Folley and fought Satterfield and Machen.

 

Yeah those wins came after losing to Liston.

 

No it was nothing of the kind. Sonny always was legitimately behind Ingo in the ratings. When Sonny justifiably became the outstanding contender at the end of 1960 all the contenders had to sit out until the rematches played out between Patterson and Ingo. That’s all it was.

 

Not true,Cus used Liston's connections as an excuse to duck him,all the while Cus was connected to the mob himself via Fat Tony Salerno .Liston walked into Cus' office and demanded of him "is you or is you aint gonna give me a title shot?" Floyd and Ingo tied the title up for 3 years with those ubiquitous return match clauses.
Floyd fought Ingo in59,60,61.After regaining the title and defending it successfuly in the rubber match he then fought unranked Tom McNeeley.
Liston was the number 1 contender in 1960 and 1961,
In Dec 59 Folley was number 1,Floyd number 2 Liston no3
In Dec 60 Liston was no1 Ingo no2.
Dec 61 Liston no1 Ingo no6



And everyone knew Sonny would be champion, just as soon as he could get Patterson into a ring.

 

On the contrary, don't you think Floyd could have defeated Liston if he applied a stick-and-move approach?