Sonny Liston vs Big Daddy Bowe

Bowe actually offered the title fight to Lewis in 1992 which Lewis turned down and you can hear that from both of their mouths in this interview which was broadcast live on British TV. Go to the 25:15 mark. Lewis admits to turning down a mega fight with Bowe but most people don't even know that this happened and have never seen this interview.

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As much as I usually disagree with Dino, I think he's spot on here.

Liston had problems with Ali, and basically quit after getting leathered, and Ali is not a big hitter. He fell apart after Marshall bust his jaw. Bowe kept on going after Golota landed seven shades of hell on him and used his balls as a pinata. I'm no fan of Bowe and if anybody remembers my posting history, I often pick against him. But nobody can say that Bowe had quit in him. He also had some serious power, and I don't think Liston would handle it too well.

Let's not forget that Liston achieved success against a smaller field of fighters that simply were not as big or hard hitting as the guys that Bowe faced. The one big skilled guy with power that Liston faced in Williams beat the crap out of him in the first round. Luckily for Liston, Williams had a glass jaw and couldn't handle the incoming - that's right, I also don't believe that Liston's power is as galactic as advertised, much as he doesn't have an 82' reach.

There is a case to be made that Liston has a technical edge on Bowe. Maybe. But is that edge enough from keeping Bowe away and from executing his normal infighting and power punching game? No. I think Holyfield was better than Liston technically and he couldn't really do it either.

Bowe takes Liston to deep water and drowns him.

 

He probably did, its easy to have a legendary jab against Cleveland Williams.

 

Sonny makes "Big Daddy" his hunny.

 

Bowes biting off more than he can chew here.

 

He did not and his ponderous defense is going to be a huge problem

 

Out-jabbing Holyfield > Out-jabbing Williams man.

Will it? How hard does Liston even hit for a modern HW? Who did he KO?

 

I didn't hear what you claimed you heard. What I heard and saw
were both men expressing the experience from there point of view,
each man disagreeing with each other with what actually happened behind the
scene.
Yes I knew about that particular interview from years back, and may have
watched it live.
But that doesn't change the fact we also saw Bowe place a portion of a
heavyweight championship into a garbage can rather than defend it
against Lennox Lewis, for whatever the reason.
Most championship Titlist in history would want to get their amateur conqueror
back in a boxing at the professional level.
But not Riddick Bowe.

 

These are my thought's too. There's a ton of people whom I came across that have agree with that assessment.

If you look at Eddie machen and zora Folley and Cleveland williams not a single one of them had a great "modern jab" Patterson never really got his going and when someone actually did get a modern jab going like Leotis Martin he had issues. Sure he was older but the fact remains Liston wasn't equipped for a guy who could jab with power. People just assume with his reach he would win a Jab contest that is something I don't believe, his defense had big-time cracks the little guy's like machen & bethea just couldn't capitalize on that fact, so we over inflate Liston based on guy's who dwarfed him. I think Even a big tough skilled guy like Holmes would beat him, Liston is straight up & down with lazy footwork even Williams took advantage of this and he wasn't a top 30 guy. Liston in no way resembles a modern heavyweight to me he just another Ernie Terrell made to look better than he was.

 

The difference with Holyfield is that he had to get into range to land, whereas Liston could land from arm’s length, which gives extra security, especially with Holyfield being the much smaller man than Bowe, it was risky being in that kind of range, especially when Bowe could uppercut.

Liston had a more variable jab and land hand in general, and I believe Liston would get the better of it on the outside, and Liston is much better than Hide at catching fighters on the way in with power punches, he had much better technique, whereas Hide was wild, which allowed Bowe to see it coming better.

Donald doesn’t have that in his arsenal at all, Bowe didn’t have to show him any respect as Donald wasn’t a puncher.

 

Liston destroyed Williams he didn't just "outjab him" Williams was still a top heavyweight and Liston KO'd every top guy he beat besides Machen. Holyfield beat Bowe on the outside in the second fight and Bowe had a good jab but his strength was never being rangy, Liston could get more extention on his jab than Holyfield, had a heavier jab than Holyfield and hit harder, was also better at measuring with it. Liston is a better jabber than Herbie Hide who was giving Bowe problems in addition to hurting him badly and Hide isn't bigger than Liston.

Foreman considered Liston to be a huge puncher

 

Ok? I said “out-jab” because we were talking about jabs, what are you even talking about? Their second match was incredibly close, and it was the best boxing performance of Holyfield’s entire life. And Hide’s handspeed and power was the problem, not his jab, and he got slept in 5 rounds despite Bowe putting in a terrible performance.

You guys have this idea of Liston and his capabilities for virtually no reason at all. “He had a harder jab than Holyfield, he hit hard bla bla” Ok why? Why? Who are these “top HWs” that he KO’d? Hell who is the toughest guy he KO’d? Who did he out-jab? Williams? Machen? Folley? Are we really basing all this on the words of a teenager Foreman?

Holyfield out-jabbed and dropped Ray Mercer. That alone exceeds anything Liston did in his life in both categories.

 

Everybody knows that Lennox rejected the first low ball offer from Riddick's camp. But he was the mandatory challenger, so he was entitled to wait for the purse bids to determine his worth. But Riddick, rather than go to purse bids, decided to drop the belt. So ultimately, it's on him that the fight didn't happen and therefore it's a duck from his side.

 

I love Sonny as a fighter but suspect the best Bowe is too much of everything for Liston. Is Liston a BETTER boxer? Undoubtedly. But Bowe is big, tough, hits hard, good at all ranges and, like Ali, can be all kinds of crazy. I don't think Liston would relish sharing a ring with him. RSF around the tenth...

 

Honestly Liston accomplished more in his career, the image of Bowe who was afraid of Lewis and make his WBC Belt in the bean... Even if he is an entertaining boxer like Mahyar Monshipour or Joshua, you cannot compare them to the best in history only for that reason. (Even if Mahyar was a demon mentally if you compare with Bowe).

Riddick Bowe was a well-rounded boxer, but mentally not always as strong as elite boxers like Liston. I could easily have seen Liston win by Bowe's retirement.