Liston brings nothing to the table Tyson has not seen before, a jab followed by a right hand and the occasional uppercut............Bruno had a hard jab /right hand....Thomas had a hard jab/right hand.....Tucker great jab/good right hand plus upper cut......Bonecrusher hard right hand....and so on plus every single one of the above are taller and heavier than Liston, all in great shape, no fat. Liston's claim to fame is blowing out a glass chinned Light Heavy twice, good wins but he did absolutely jack afterwards, he was not even remotely competitive with a green Ali who nobody knew how good he would be eventually..............he could not deal with ANY speed of foot and hand....he could not even put a dent in a blind Ali courtesy of Listons corner substance glove trick. Liston had never seen a fast full size Heavy like Ali and he never saw a full size Heavy like Tyson who punches even harder than him,who never feasted on sub 200 pound fighters and is as fast as Ali. Replay of the Pinklon fight, except Liston will be stopped sooner , he aint got Pinklon's chin.
Literally two posts below this one you've scoffed at Swag "The Real Deal" Delfadeel for putting forward Liston's form against someone you call a journeyman. The clip is also not showing Tyson in the shining light you think it is.....but it's just a spar.
In fights he still wouldn't try anything while clinching, this evident in almost all of his fights. If he does this against Liston it would not be pretty.
The only notable thing I saw Mike try while in a clinch was look to the ref. appealingly AS IF clinching/fighting in close was somehow not allowable and that the ref. should break them up or worst case, admonish the opponent for not fighting to Mike's strengths. Liston's inside game was pretty much in evidence in all his fights at some point or another, as and when required. And, he had an excellent inside game. While it might be fair on "paper" to reason that Liston's extraordinary reach might impair his ability to fight on the inside - that fact is, it didn't. We can see Liston's ability to throw tight, short jolting power punches on the inside with both hands, head and body. To extent, Sonny often enjoyed the best of worlds - in close and at range - such were his skills and intelligent application of same.
Interesting one. Tyson had the tools to beat Liston but would he have been able to have used them against a man whom he may have been nervous of?
Cmon man- Like I get what you're saying he won't get spooked by Liston but that statement- Tyson is pretty much exclusively known by casuals and at large as a guy who did that very thing.
This might be the most pertinent question. Both Holy and Douglas showed no fear whatsoever. Liston would give Mike a look that would make Holy's second pre-fight glare look like Howdy mah fah DOODY. Know whum sayn'?
Foreman said Liston was the only person that made him actually go backwards. Tyson's plan is to go forward on this man? Good Luck.
LOL. Yes I love this quote. Yes Liston former HW champion backed up a limited 19 year old amateur boxer fresh out of the olympics. What a feat!
Top contender Cleveland Williams who might have beaten ATGs Ernie Terrell and Eddie Machen. Wow. Mike Tyson would slip that long left jab of Sonny’s which moves about as fast as an Eel on land and drop a right on the button- consistently enough to stop him by about the 8th. The same flaws he had against “Bear Slayer” Mathis have always been there on a technical level- he’d be a sucker for a right with how he jabbed against Mike. Sonny was unintelligent and limited enough to have his nose broken by Willaims, Tyson will improve on that and waste him. Tyson’s whole strategy revolves around looking for counters right after the jab- he’d love a long jabbing, smaller, weaker guy who comes forward and expects to bang his man out.