Does Anyone Believe Joe Frazier Could Beat Sonny Liston?

Liston is not as big, strong, agressive and did not push his opponents like Foreman did and FOTC Frazier is another kind of animal compared to Frazier that fought Foreman, so it would be a lot closer fight, like 60/40 for Liston.

 

Frazier could beat the 1968-69 Liston

peak Liston? I don’t see it. According to those who saw them in person, Liston hit nearly as hard as Foreman but with better technical skills.

if Frazier had beaten big hitters like Lyle, we might have a better idea

 

I think the same

 

Geniuses often think alike

 

Yank thought so.

 

Yes…. I consider it as a possibility. I might not favor him to do it though. But I believe he has a chance. While Sonny Liston no doubt has one of the very best heavyweight jabs, Joe Frazier was the master of slipping the best jabs and creating openings. Liston also got rocked heavily by some left hooks from Cleveland Williams and Nino Valdez. And even though he beat those men convincingly, in this case he’d be facing just about the greatest left hooker of all time. With all the above said, I think Liston’s power and precision punching breaks down Joe over time leading to an eventual stoppage. But a Frazier upset isn’t outside the realm of possibility.

 

I think Frazier could do it. He was not much smaller than Liston and I think Liston did his best work with a little space available. Frazier will suck up that space and put him in the fire. Not sure who to pick, and I don't think either of these guys had the greatest chins. 50-50 at a thumbsuck.

 

Could? 100% Frazier is an ATG Heavy with a lot of intangibles. Would he beat a prime Liston? No not in my opinion, I think he'd have to catch an awful lot to get on the inside and I see Liston's jab peppering him all night.

 

Prime Sonny stops prime Joe much like Foreman did. Joe has a chance against the Sonny that fought Leotis Martin if he boxed at the start like he did against Forman the second time.

 

100% in agreement with this post--even FOTC Frazier couldn't beat peak Sonny. (Unfortunately, Joe would suffer a similar fate to the Foreman demolition in 1973 if he fought a prime Liston.)

 

Really peak Liston? Only if he carried a .357 magnum into the ring. This may be the worst matchup for Frazier, great though he was, that either a human brain or AI could conceive.

 

Of course.

Joe Frazier was a better fighter than Sonny Liston.
Joe Frazier beat better fighters than Sonny Liston.
Joe Frazier beat all their common opponents ... Liston didn't.
Joe Frazier took punches better than Sonny Liston and came back strong.
Sonny Liston wasn't George Foreman, not even remotely.

I imagine the Frazier-Liston fight wouldn't last any longer than Frazier-Chuvalo, before Liston quit or was flattened.

Sonny Liston thought big, stiff robot Cleveland Williams gave him a hard time. Frazier would've beaten the living hell out of Liston (and Williams.)

Liston was a classic frontrunner. When he fell behind, it was over for him. He never came from behind to win. Ever.