What asset was most important for Sonny Liston’s success ?

He was like a giant Jimmy Bivins w power. But I’d also add his stamina…man threw a lot of punches a round.

 

Agree his reach made him very hard to even run from. His big jab stretch damn near across the ring. His fists were larger than normal. One former sparring partner said Liston had hands the "size of hams". They had to custom make gloves to fit.

One thing that many overlook is Sonny was pretty quick on his feet for a bear of a man that he was. His lefthook might be the single greatest weapon in heavyweight history from a power perspective.

People talk about George Foreman in the 1970s. George was a terror but with some flaws that made him more beatable.

If you took prime Foreman and gave him a better boxing IQ, using his jab consistently, more patience, better stamina, sharper, shorter punches, then you have Sonny Liston.

 

I met Sonny in person once. The man had HUGE hands, and I mean HUGE...and this is coming from a man who has large hands.

 

How was he?

 

Sonny usually depended the most on that ultra long, ramrod left jab.. Everything offensive and deadly came off that big, massive jab of his.

 

Long reach, GREAT jab (I think only Holmes and Ali can compare), and he could do more than punch. That last might have been the key factor...he was capable of acclimating himself to another's style, even if that opponent changed up he could usually adjust. I'm not sure any other puncher besides Louis was as good at that.

 

His intimidation

 

Michael Grant
Let’s get a bit shorter and add that to the wingspan. Michael Grant is two inches shorter than Fury at 6’7,” but at 86 inches has greater reach than the Irishman. The Chicago, Illinois native had an orthodox stance and used it to good effect to claim IBC heavyweight title. He would add the NABF heavyweight title but would lose it all to the equally wide Lennox Lewis. Grant spent time in the shadows but was in championship reckoning again when he claimed the NABA USA heavyweight title in November 2008. Before taking up boxing as his profession, the Big was a three-sport star at Chicago’s Harper High School, being equally talented in baseball, basketball, and football.

Efe Ajagba – Super Heavyweight
At 6’6” and with a 88” reach, the Nigerian Efe Ajagba is a physical wonder to behold. The 26-year-old is a Bronze medalist at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and followed it up with a gold medal in the 2015 African Games. During his amateur career, he fought at super heavyweight and is now enjoying life in the all-encompassing heavyweight category. Ajagba is unbeaten in his 14 professional fights, getting his hand raised in 11 through knockouts. With the Fury and Wilder trilogy postponed, the Nigerian boxer is on the shortlist to take on the Gypsy King for a December 2020 fight. He also has the record for the fastest victory when his rival left the ring within one second.

Julius Long
The average reach for a heavyweight is around 76.3 inches, but as we know that many are not bound by the law of averages and stand beyond them. Julius Long is the outlier. The Romulus, Michigan native, grew to over 7’1,”, but this was still smaller than his 90” reach. However, it was his height that earned him the nickname “Towering Inferno”. Long’s exceptional reach did not do him favors in the ring, and he has a negative record against his name. He has only won 18 of his 43 fights, losing 24. His last fight last year ended in a draw. Despite this, Long did manage to contend for the World Boxing Foundation World heavyweight title, which he lost to Peter Graham. However, he did lay claim to the WBA Oceania heavyweight title in 2016 but did not defend it in a competitive match.

Gogea Mitu
Julius Long has the record for the largest documented reach amongst professional boxers. However, we have to go back over a century for the man with the unofficial record in this category. It is easy to understand these claims as Dumitru Stefanescu, better known as Gogea Mitu, was 8 feet and 2 inches tall (8’2”). He suffered from gigantism, which adds to the claims that he had an arm span of over 100 inches. In addition to claims about his reach, the Goliath of Romania is also listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest professional boxer ever. Mitu was trained at the Paris School for Boxing but only managed two professional fights under his belt as he died at the tender age of 26.

 

Janitor once made an excellent post regarding this very topic

 

The Psychological effect played a huge role in the early success of Sonny Liston. Liston was associated with underworld figures Blinky Palermo and Frankie Carbo, he broke limbs for them in collecting overdue debts. Sonny's reputation of a cop beater also played well during his incarceration in the Corrections system (Sonny assaulted a policemen in 1957, put him upside down in the trash bin in an alley..) Sonny's cold hard stare had opponents quivering during the referees instructions at ring center. Liston was 6"1, weighed 218, had a long reach and massive 14 inch fist. He was one tough hombre, he fought on with a broken jaw against Marty Marshall in 1954, and lost a decision. He took solid blows from Cleveland Big Cat Williams in 1959 and 1960, but in one of those fights had his nose broken by the Big Cat, but did manage to stop him both times. He was so fearsome that Cus d Amato did not want his charge Floyd Patterson in the ring with him. Even President John F. Kennedy got involved with Patterson giving Sonny a title match in Sept 1962, the President told Floyd that he better win. Muhammad Ali once admitted years later following their two fights in 1964 and 1965, that he was secretly intimidated by Liston.

 

As Janitor aptly did, mentally isolating Liston’s elite power (say put him at average HW power) and what have you got? Still one helluva all round fighter.

While judgement of a fighter is relative to the quality of his opponent to a reasonable degree, Liston was absolutely so much more mobile, defensive (very nice head movement) and faster with his hands vs Williams then he was for the later Ali fight. Williams himself was that much better than the version that face Ali Houston ‘66.

Having a good beard is one thing - and IMO prime Liston had a great chin - but to remain as cool as Liston did under serious fire and literally being hurt, is something else.

To watch Liston cooly stick to his game to both box and power punch his way through Cleve’s missiles is incredible. Interesting also to muse that Cleve might’ve started with the advantage of the so called “styles make fights” concept, but Sonny still worked that out and overcame it. He was close enough to the whole package - individual attributes integrated to cover for and complement one another. (e.g. - upon lapse in defence, enter safety net chin etc.)

Finally, at least against Liston, we might’ve seen the very best version of Williams at least concentrated (knowingly) into an abbreviated fight - Cleve understanding that against Sonny, it was very much a case of kill or be killed - the first whiff of blood (viz Sonny being hurt) Williams went ballistic but the executions were still technically very good.

IMO, Cleve would likely have still lost but if he chose to box a bit more on the outside as he did at the start - he might’ve lasted that bit longer and put even more damage on Sonny - but it was The Big Cat - when the opp. was there, he’s going to try punch a hole through you - and he knew if heat least tried to get in first v Liston, he might rate a better chance of putting Sonny out early and avoid the guaranteed return fire from a still standing Liston - and as we history showed, Sonny ultimately did return fire with interest.

 

Excellent post!

I've always felt people draw the wrong conclusions from Liston-Williams -that being Williams had a glass jaw for losing early. I look at it the opposite way. Not many can go toe to toe with Liston for a minute, let alone multiple rounds giving better than they got. Patterson wasn't engaging Liston head on like Williams, but still couldn't last nearly as long as Williams did.

Cleve could've chose to box him, and lasted longer (he certainly had the skills to do so contrary to popular belief).

Also I think Williams would've had a much better chance facing the Liston of the Ali bouts.