Always had the idea that Liston was a bit bigger, but this clip suggests otherwise. 2:30 This content is protected
That’s what the official measurements say, but when I’ve seen Louis compared to other guys, like Walcott and Charles who were supposedly only 1.5 inches shorter, Louis looked a good 2-5-3 inches taller in the ring. I feel like either Louis is taller that it says, or that everyone else typically adds an inch or so onto their height and Louis didn’t.
If you slow it down, Joe appears to be wearing shoes with heels. Sonny is in boxing shoes. I love these discussions of man size.
Makes you realize how physically large some of those guys in the 30s and 40s actually were who Louis fought who made Joe look a little small in the ring. Those height and reach measurements don't always tell the whole story. Primo, the Baers and Abe Simon had to have been quite intimidating in real life. The first time I saw Lennox Lewis enter a room, he looked enormous. I've met people who were taller and heavier. But just the way he carried himself. When he walked in, you got the impression he could beat any man in the world. He had a presence about him, along with everything else. In a lot of fights, Sonny Liston looks big in the ring, until you realize how small a lot of those guys were that he just bashed around. Most of them were quite small, especially by today's standards. Hell, many of them weren't big by the standards then, either. I don't know how well Sonny would've done head-to-head against most of the top heavyweights who came along after him. He never beat a decent heavyweight after Patterson, and Floyd would've looked tiny in the ring against Gilberto Ramirez.
In the ring, I don't know how much bigger Sonny actually was. Joe Louis is older and has street clothes on here. But Liston also has multiple towels UNDER his robe over his shoulders and over his robe around his neck. He did that on purpose to look 'bigger' than he was, as well. In every still photo of Liston and Louis in regular clothes or t-shirts, they pretty much are similar in size. Not much between them.
Liston fans can't take anyone being superior than their hero in anything. Btw there's a picture of Marciano with Patterson and Marciano with Liston, Marciano ain't that small and he looks much bigger than Patterson.
This post is stupid, Louis is old and fat and wearing shoes + was already an inch taller than Liston. Liston and Louis prime for prime, when Louis was trim, would see Liston being bigger. Both of them are 200+lbs, so it doesnt really matter that much though. A much more notable occurrence of this was that photo of Marciano and Liston where Marciano looked to be pretty much the same size. Now THAT was something.