Is Sonny Liston the most well rounded heavyweight ever on film?

Tyson didn't have greater skill than Liston, most certainly not for mine anyway. Tyson had no back foot game, he could only fight going forwards. Tyson's effectiveness was awesome, inside his own refined style. Liston was more multifaceted, defense wise as well.

 

Louis was the most well rounded and textbook.

 

Not sure he was the most well-rounded, he could maintain a simple, uncomplex approach to fighting without a lot of holes given his power and reach. He did the basics well, was defensively responsible and made opponents pay for mistakes or for taking risks... that pole ax jab afforded him a lot of leeway by controlling distance and direction, and was a great enforcer.

 

Lewis is more well rounded

 

Butterbean is by far the most well-rounded

 

At heavyweight, yeah Liston is surprisingly well rounded and technically sound. He also had underrated defense and stamina for a heavy hitter. At his peak, he gives virtually anyone in the division a rough night.

 

Joe Louis.

 

Excellent analysis of the great Sonny Liston.

 

I would argue No, not #1 or even top 3.

He was big & strong for his era, had a big left & a strong (but not necessarily fast) jab, & decent fundamental technique.

His right hand was noticeably less effective than his left, especially @ close quarters where he had a tendency to club w/ it.

He may have had deceptive speed for his size, but still wasn't particularly speedy of hand or foot in a general sense.

Most significantly perhaps, he never learned to cut off the ring in a technically correct manner & was content to just lunge & reach from the outside - which he got away w/ for most of his career b/c most of his opposition was physically outsized & overmatched.

w/o being tested & proven vs. bigger men to the extent that Holy, Usyk, Louis, or even Dempsey were, we don't know how well he would've carried his power or how well his chin would've held up vs. bigger men. & there's reason from what we actually saw from him in his career to be skeptical of his ability to do so.

He didn't have the arsenal of punches that Foreman had, he never demonstrated the capacity to starch a big, Cooney-esque hw the way Foremen later did, & he was never as skilled or talented a pure boxer as Holmes was.

That Ali happened to be the 1st fighter to expose his faults to the world doesn't mean that other hws couldn't have capitalized on them, either.

Ali went on to become the GOAT hw IMO, but he hadn't yet reached the height of his powers @ the time of the liston fight & had shown some obvious vulnerabilities in his last few fights, which is 1 reason he was such a big underdog. I would argue that Liston was still closer to his best @ the time of the Ali fights than Ali was to his own.

Ali's power was sufficient to wobble Liston early & eventually discourage him enough that he quit on his stool only partway thru the fight. The fight also highlighted Liston's lack of knowledge & experience in cutting off the ring vs. a mobile hw of comparable or greater size. Shortcomings like that wouldn't have been exclusive to just Ali to exploit.

 

I think Louis and Holyfield were more complete. The main thing I don’t see with Liston, and I admit this is personal preference, is combination punching. Holyfield could do that and everything else really well.
Louis had the precision, power, heavy jab, but also was really adept at setting traps too.

 

He had a good spread of skills but he lacked heart, a good inside game and footwork the “overall” best HW is Louis by a mile. Liston was a bit single track with how he chased guys, unproven against big men who could really fight. I’m not sure of his chin either… Usyk and Holyfield succeeded due to there approach to fighting, it was despite being small Liston did not fight that way, he fought to his physicality first and used his brain second.

 

Lennox Lewis was well rounded, Evander Holyfield, movement and fluidity is a part of being well rounded, Louis, while flat footed, could box going backwards, he could counter, jab well etc while going backwards.

Ezzard Charles could be the most well rounded guy skill wise who fought at heavyweight.

 

I don’t think Sonny had the discipline to maximize his abilities, and boxing is a sport that demands it. He was too easy to discourage.

So I think there was a mental strength element that he was lacking.

I also think he falls short on the physical side of the ledger with not having outstanding (or above average) hand speed, and he wasn’t particularly good at cutting off the ring.