1988 Tyson vs 1960 Liston

I would give Liston the stylistic edge here, so I might nervously make him the favourite.

 

It's difficult bcuz the closest style Tyson fought to Liston would b Holyfield and Tyson was still champion level but past prime by then.

For Liston its Patterson but Tyson had more power n durability. Can easily argue was better w putting his punches together too.

Tyson admitted Liston would intimidate him so there's that as well. Would've been interesting what Liston would say about Tysons reign. Needa brush up on Pattersons opinion of Mike too.

 

Mike did once say he felt like a girl scout next to Liston so it looks like Liston would have the psychological edge even before the first bell.

 

Liston IMO

 

For anybody who is **** sure, ask yourself how many times two heavyweights of this class, clashed in your lifetime?

You are talking Holyfield Lewis, or Lewis Klitschko, to get near to it.

 

I'll just say that while Ali's own acute speed allowed for a decided edge over Liston, it was a past prime, ill prepared Liston (at least in Miami re the latter condition).

Liston would never be called necessarily fast but looking at his fights in and around 1960, he looked that much faster than the version that fronted in Miami and Lewiston. And the incremental losses in speed trended through after Sonny lost the title. By the later 60s, Liston had become that much slower again - but his technical executions were still well on point.

Mid-range, while still very good, Mike's slipping wasn't as constant or effective as it was when Mike expressly launched himself to get inside - that was Mike's true offensive/evasive forte, imo. As to Liston's jab -well, to cover its multipurposed use might take a few paragraphs - and its broad use was driven by Sonny's boxing IQ. For one thing, Liston knew how to feint with the jab and then follow up with another punch to full advantage.

He could turn the feint into a power hook underneath and catch his ducking opponent. He could also follow up beautifully with the right hand - the jab feint having forced his opponent into the right position.

Totally agree that this is one of the more compelling fantasy matches and the first 3-4 rounds (see: fireworks) might reveal which way the fight would ultimately go.

 

Bull’s eye but Tyson would be competitive.

 

Tyson was an ATG no question, regardless of the bite fight. I'm no Tyson fanboy, it was disgusting what he did, but it doesn't detract from all the good work he did. Yeah, he wimped out, true, but Duran did the same in my view in the 2nd Leonard fight. Duran found a way out of that fight, but he is still an ATG.

 

Liston by late TKO, but he'd have to be at his absolute best.

 

Liston had too good a jab (rivalled even Holmes and Ali's) and hit too hard.

That said, Mike would be absolutely no joke during this contest. I imagine Liston would have to do his best to keep Mike off him early on, which is no easy matter at all.

It would be in the middle rounds where Liston's awesomely nasty and ubiquitous jab would start finding its mark, and Mike would slow waaaaaaay down, looking for the one punch.

Liston in 8.

 

Totally agree. It's one thing if a fighter bails the first time he is under duress. That wasn't the case with Mike. His defeat at the hands of Douglas was his shining badge of courage and the Ruddock fights are also in that realm.

Same goes for Duran and all the other examples of his non-quitting ethic otherwise.

Some go by the view that any instance of quit means that a fighter had quit in them all along. But those same fighters might have equal and opposite examples when they didn't quit - even when they possibly had even more reason to quit IF they were generally disposed to dropping tools when the going got tough. As with every other aspect of fantasy matches, we're supposed to take the BEST examples, not the worst.

How much a fighter is prepared to endure can and has varied later in their career, when beyond prime.

 

This would be a terrific fight to watch for sure.

 

Liston is the one who quit on his stool, not Tyson.

 

I'd favor Liston personally. He's an intelligent fighter as witnessed by his strong utilization of the uppercut against the bobbing and weaving Patterson and he also wasn't afraid to throw where he thought his head was going to be. He'd jab at Tyson luring him into uppercuts and he'd also be letting his hands go a lot more than Tyson's opponents were. When he did hit him solid he'd stay on top of him. Tyson's best chance IMO is straight out of the gate. If he can't get Liston out early he's cactus.

The level of skill and timing here is horrific. He's dropping down as he starts that jab in perfect anticipation of where Pattersons head will be and simultaneously sets himself up to get full leverage on that huge right hand and gets himself nice and low for the follow ups. He keeps poor Floyd in perfect range.

Liston was also busy and positive in the clinch and could actually set up fight endings in there as he did in Patterson 1. Tyson quite the opposite.

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