Sonny Liston or Wladimir Klitschko who rates higher as a all time heavyweight?

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by Ryeece, Mar 12, 2025.


?

This poll will close on Mar 12, 2027 at 3:21 PM.
  1. Sonny Liston

    22.0%
  2. Wladimir Kiltschko

    71.2%
  3. Can't decide

    6.8%
  1. BCS8

    BCS8 VIP Member

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    All the huggery killed me though.
     
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  2. GlaukosTheHammer

    GlaukosTheHammer Boxing Addict banned Full Member

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    You mean the joke strap his idols owned?
     
  3. GlaukosTheHammer

    GlaukosTheHammer Boxing Addict banned Full Member

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    I didn't say anything about disliking the bodies.

    He's literally in a league below Liston and that's why you need to make the discussion about anything but winning the award that is proof you are best during your era.

    Resume is not objective, it's an act of bias. Like by definition.

    Achievement? That's what my whole post is about. Wlad achieved being half a Liston for a long time. That is the objective truth. What you are doing is called rationalization.

    Title defenses? How many undisputed title defense has Wlad got? 0. Cool, and since he fought only mandos that means he's skipping out on someone's mandatories doesn't it? Did Liston? Oh, didn't have the luxury of seeing WBA mandos exclusively.

    No matter how you cut it Wlad did not bother. It should matter but instead rationalize why it doesn't.
     
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  4. GlaukosTheHammer

    GlaukosTheHammer Boxing Addict banned Full Member

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    That's why I mentioned him. Holmes under Wlad.
     
  5. MaccaveliMacc

    MaccaveliMacc Boxing Addict Full Member

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    I mean the strap that legitimized Bermane freakin' Stiverne as the champion after he beat Chris freakin' Arreola, lol. The belt doesn't make the man, the man makes the belt.
     
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  6. themaster458

    themaster458 Well-Known Member Full Member

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    Saying that undisputed status alone puts Liston above Wladimir Klitschko is absurd. You act like one fleeting moment of belt unity outweighs a decade of dominance.

    Liston held the WBA and WBC in a two-belt era, knocked out Patterson twice, then got dethroned by Ali—a reign that lasted 17 months. Impressive? Sure. But razor-thin. Meanwhile, Klitschko unified three belts in a four-belt era, ruled for nearly a decade, and beat far more ranked contenders and champions. You call that “half a Liston”? That’s delusional.

    Your claim that Klitschko “didn’t bother” with undisputed ignores the obvious reality: His brother held the WBC, blocking him from full unification. That wasn’t a choice, it was a deadlock. Meanwhile, Liston never faced top contenders post-Patterson, and Ali bypassed mandatories to take his belts.

    If we’re talking resume and achievements, Klitschko beat eight titleholders or top-ranked contenders: Haye, Povetkin, Chagaev, Byrd, Ibragimov, Peter, Rahman, Pulev. That’s clearing out a field far deeper than what Liston ever had to deal with.

    Undisputed isn’t the sole proof of greatness, it’s about dominance. If you really believe one-and-done with the belts is all that matters, then you’re left arguing that Liston’s 17-month reign is greater than a decade of Klitschko ruling the division. That’s nonsense.
     
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  7. MaccaveliMacc

    MaccaveliMacc Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Yeah. Imagine saying Leon Spinks was greater than Larry Holmes, only because he was undisputed.
     
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  8. CooperKupp

    CooperKupp “B.. but they all playin NBA basketball again!” Full Member

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    “B.. but dat intimidation liston had doe!!”

    lol could you just imagine if liston tried that **** on Wladimir :D Wlad would just meet his gaze back with his own and proceed to crack sonny with the hardest 1-2’s he ever ate in his life. If ali’s right hand put his ass away… Lol!

    liston definitely was a good tough heavyweight but Wlad would show him within the first round that there are levels to this sport.
     
  9. MaccaveliMacc

    MaccaveliMacc Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Fury vs Usyk comes to mind :D
     
  10. Greg Price99

    Greg Price99 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    So your ranking criteria is literally undisputed champions over unified titlests, over single titlests, over non-titlests, without applying critical thinking or any other kind of analysis?

    If so, whilst your ranking criteria is your own and you're certainly entitled to it, I can't consider any criteria seriously that results in an outcome where Canera is ranked as greater than Wlad and Holmes, Kambosos over McFarland, etc.
     
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  11. Greg Price99

    Greg Price99 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Yeah, his criteria is his own and it certainly doesn't offend me or impact me negatively in anyway, it is just I'm normally interested in the rankings, and rationale for those rankings, of others, even when they differ significantly from my own, but I consider his so absurd I neither respect it nor does it hold any interest to me.

    Speaking frankly, I suspect he's a troll - "oh look, I have an unconventional approach and consider Canera as greater than Holmes and Wlad". Fair enough, no harm done, he's just not to be taken seriously, imo.
     
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  12. Seamus

    Seamus Proud Kulak Full Member

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    Wlad by a good margin. Too dominant for too long. Great set of tools. Utter dominance during his long prime. Rarely lost a round for almost a decade.

    GOAT.
     
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  13. GlaukosTheHammer

    GlaukosTheHammer Boxing Addict banned Full Member

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    You mean I do not insert myself into the mix.

    You guys go by what you call resume despite it being a cherry picking of the actual records and rating despite not recognizing any rating that actually effects a fighter's ability to gain a title. That's not critical thinking buddy. That's inserting your opinions to rationalize rating a man who categorically did not achieve the heights another did over him.

    My criteria, if you want to call it that, is acknowledging the actual achievements boxers made regardless of what my eyes, my knowledge of boxing, or peers have to say. Because though youse preach objectivity I defy you to explain to me the objectivity of consensus, the objectivity of resume, or the objectivity of rating based on writers' opinions whose credentials begin and end in writing.

    The reality is Holmes nor Wlad did not achieve what Primo did and that should matter a whole lot more than how some of the names or performances during other mens' careers made you or anyone else feel.

    It's not me being stupid and self important here pal.
     
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  14. GlaukosTheHammer

    GlaukosTheHammer Boxing Addict banned Full Member

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    I don't act like, it does. It is a higher honor. There's literally nothing higher in all of boxing.

    You act like Wlad dominated a division he mostly avoided. Better names overlap his career than are found on his record. Absolutely 0 vols. Allowed anyone who wanted to co-champion with him. He simply did not dominate. Doesn't matter if him fighting short fat no hopers gives you the tickles buddy.

    Champion is meant to be singular and mean best. Liston did that. Carnera did that. Wlad shared.


    How long can a man reign as a co-king before their authority is absolute? Ah, by way of being co-king and never the singular king one can never have absolute authority.

    Doesn't matter how much you liked watching Wlad or what you thought of his comp. He's a co-champ, end of.
     
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  15. GlaukosTheHammer

    GlaukosTheHammer Boxing Addict banned Full Member

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    You are wrong and childish and that's why you avoided the history I allude to.

    It certainly wasn't the IBF nor WBO Wladimir Klitschko grew up watching and hoping to achieve under.

    Why is it more the body's fault Wlad did **** all nothing than it is Wlad's? Why do you blame the WBC for putting on a title fight for their belt using the fat no hopers of the k2 era rather than blaming Wlad for happily allowing another man to be officially his equal in this sport?

    Have you a wank over resume some more buddy. You guys totes ain't been in a bubble or nothing.