How do you rank Liston's defensive skills?

They are excellent. some of the best I've seen at heavyweight.

 

I remember watching the Williams fight for the first time and weirded the **** out that his defense and boxing ability were top-notch. Reading the Ali books, I thought he was purely a slugger. Extremely powerful but one dimensional.

 

I once tried to put together a defensive compilation highlight for him from the Patterson fights and there was literally almost not one time he picked off a punch or did anything defensively successful in either of those fights. Like, not enough for a compilation or anything. I've seen better defensive highlights in Red Tube compilations chosen at random, after some extensive research.

 

Liston was great at blocking and parrying. Off the top of my head he was probably the most effective user of the, nowadays widely used, high guard that history had seen up to that point. Had solid head movement but could be caught by taller faster guys. Used his feet well when necessary. His jab was also a very effective defensive tool. Was so long that it'd push even taller opponents out of range. He was an overall very defensively sound fighter, though not unhittable.

 

Definitely solid defense. He was also more mobile in the upper body than some gave him credit for.

 

Very underrated.

Novices think of Sonny Liston like he was Hasim Rachman or something.

He was very athletic and skilled for a heavy and adept at blocking, rolling, and parrying shots.

 

Solid defence but not special it’s clearly not a stand out and I’m shocked to hear otherwise…. SL was a good all rounder no doubt but if Louis was an A+ in everything for pure boxing Liston was like C+ maybe a B- as far as it goes for heavyweight champions. Sonny made up for a lot with his physicality, SL fell very short of the Brown Bomber he tried to emulate.

 

This is a nice montage showing off Liston’s defensive skills - thanks to @haNZAgod.

Sonny did display excellent head movement but he also employed subtle/nuanced defensive measures otherwise - incorporating features of the Philly Shell, including the shoulder roll.

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Before February of '64, Liston was considered to be THE total package. I wasn't there, but he must have had a Tyson-like aura about him.

 

He looks ok. I mean, he got lit up by guys before but those highlights also show that he knew what he was doing.

 

Liston had a quite complete, multi faceted defense. He had good instincts and reflexes as well. On top of this, subtle footwork measures were also deployed, both in attack and defense. I'm often shocked at just how nimble he can be in those earlier days. When he's skipping forward in attack he's invariably in great positions to deliver hefty clean punches from great angles. For a hefty guy he's actually very nimble on his feet when he wants, or needs, to be.

 

Spot on. He judged the distance of incoming offence very well, taking just enough step back to avoid same whilst also covering up.

Even during the Bethea fight, as brief as it was, we can see Liston defending himself perfectly when Bethea tried on a few early attacks.

Liston was well removed from a one dimensional slugger looking to end a fight by forcing the bombs as soon as possible.

I mean, Sonny might’ve chose to slug with Bethea in that moment of Bethea’s own offensive charge and still come out on top but he elected to defer to his boxing skills first and foremost. Terrific discipline and boxing IQ.

Sonny started the fight patiently, quickly establishing the long left jab - but Bethea chanced his arm - Sonny coolly dealt with Bethea’s early offence and then took the presented opportunity to strike back hard himself.

For as short as that fight was, Liston shined absolute and particularly relative to the limited duration.

Quick on his feet as you said and defensively sound as required before landing what were fast, hard, textbook and accurate punches - he struck exactly when the opportunity was right and had trouble finding Bethea even when Wayne was well on the retreat.

That was Liston at a relatively light 206 lbs but he still looked big with obvious and appreciable power of punch well transcendent of his body weight.

It was as consummate a first round KO as one could hope for or want.

Suffice to say, Feb64 Liston, while still formidable, was a far cry from 58-60 Liston.

Not that Liston necessarily wins in this scenario but a prime Sonny vs a prime Ali is quite the fantasy match.

PS - I know it’s been asked before - but is there no film of or no chance of Liston vs Folley turning up? I’d love to see that fight it was actually available.

 

You're right about that nimbleness JT. It's apparent in his training. Works the rope like a smaller man, for example. Great to watch.

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