There is an interesting article, from the 60's I believe, where former Liston opponents talk about it. One thing that comes up is that Liston was front heavy with the jab, which made it harder for him to follow up on it. But as other posters have said, all fighters have flaws. I think Liston was fundamentally sound with good technique overall.
and ezzard charles called him clumsy and didnt think he was anything special, I think he was the best in a weak era!
He was very green when he was Charles's sparring partner, so I wouldn't make too much out of that. And very few fighters have dominated strong eras. The early 70's was a strong era, but Ali didn't really dominate it, even though he came out as top dog. Liston, Patterson, Terrell etc was probably the strongest HW era that was dominated by one person - Ali.
Charles himself acknowledged how much Liston improved after they sparred back in 1954. Asked if Liston was being overrated based on his wins over Patterson: "I don't think so," said Ezzard carefully. "Liston used to be my sparring partner. That was seven, eight years ago. He ws a big, tough guy even then. He was good. I didn't think he'd ever be champion but he was good and he's much better now." https://pasteboard.co/K9jNuWy.jpg
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VcgyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8-wFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2492,1394285 good thing this quote came after the ali fight and not the patterson fight, (ezzard was right in your article you make liston miss and hes really open to counters etc) How many fighters other than clay you dominated Liston , fought with a game plan of make him miss and then swing ?and who was skilled enough to execute it ?
Using your guys own criteria against yall, Wilder was the bigger man stronger too! and faster with hands too, Nevermind analysis thats the criteria with you guys and boxing has evolved right?
Charles was a bit of a *******. He didn't have too many nice things to say about anyone not named Ezzard.
Sonny Liston overrated because he couldn't throw his jab how it should be? Sonny learned to box in prison when he was 22+ years old. For a boxing trainer to say he ain't **** and break it down scientifically, @Samtotheg you must be training some current or future world champions with your astute knowledge? Or maybe its you who ain't ****, it's you who has been into boxing since you were a child and you never became even a national champion or trained anyone to even reach half of the level that Liston did.
I think Liston was a great fighter. He certainly was unquestionably the best heavyweight in the world at one point. A tremendous talent with wonderful attributes. Loved his power. his punch placement was brilliant. Aggressive but purposeful. Never reckless or uncontrolled. Used his distance like an expert. Power at the end of the punch and at short range. And like the very best, Sonny had Two handed power. If you score champions on their combined prime, technical and physical ability hardly anyone is better. Regardless of his outside rep, or excuses for his criminal record, either side of his championship days, the man was always a solid, hard working professional in the ring. I measure Liston as a clear cut case for greatness. It’s justifiable to quibble about his legacy in comparison to other legacies from the history of the sport..but his credentials for greatness is undisputed so far as I am concerned.
The underline component is he had balance issues, Boxers back then (pre liston era with quality boxers) made you miss . I asked the question how many boxers made Liston miss, Ali was the only one and look at how bad that result was , Joe Louis got waxed by max schmeling cuz max made him missed and punished, Dempsey made carpienter miss and punish etc. You can see this on film with boxers all the time , The lunging Sonny liston did was the exact sort of thing that got him destroyed by gene Tunney. Sonny swings sonny misses and sonny gets wrecked by many a DECENT heavyweight boxers .Also Ezzard Charles had an opinion on Liston saying he was clumsy, I will take what he has to say over some liston groupie on the net.