And Liston would strike fear into Wlad like he did to Patterson. Liston stops Wlad in the sixth round by KO. He can do everything better than Wlad, even his jab was better.
It's very possible. He only weighed around 220 though so bigger fighters could give him a big problem.
I think Liston even at 212 would do just fine today. His full physical measurements obivously reflect how he was far "bigger" & more powerful that his height & weight suggest. Around his prime he looked like he was carved out of wood. All natural muscle, no fat or extra bulk & obviously no damn steroids.
Sorry... but little Liston wouldn't be striking any fear in Wlad. Try again. Liston would put on his best scowling face, and Wlad would probably reach down and pet him, mistaking him for a bulldog.
His jab was heavier maybe, but that's about it. It was slow as ****. Machen completely neutralized it. Whitehurst slipped it plenty, as did Besmanoff. Liston is one of the slowest heavyweight champions in history despite being only 6'0 and 210lbs. He would do very well today, and vice versa; Patterson would be lucky to win a round against Wlad as would Machen. Williams would probably be stopped early though he has a puncher's chance. Foley, Westphal, DeJohn and Harris would all easily be disposed off. It would be funny seeing Klitschko fight those little men that Liston built his reputation on.
Little men? There are things far more important than size in that ring. Size is a factor -of that there is no doubt BUT if Heavyweight boxing history has proven anything, it's proven that size isn't everything. *Dempsey TKO3 Willard. *Louis TKO6 Carnera... and then Louis had hell with Billy Conn who was 169 for that bout against the 200lb Louis. *Mickey Walker, a 5'7 natural MW, handled Bearcat Wright who was 6'1 and 210... and he stopped Arthur De Kuh who was 6'3 and 225. *Sam Langford, Joe Walcott, Jack Blackburn... the list goes on. Holyfield by all reports at 46 won that fight against a man who was 7' and outweighed by about 90 lbs. ...and finally we have Lamon Brewster. Lamon Brewster is of comparable size to Liston, though he had a shorter reach and was 225 with some fat on him. He is inferier to Liston in every way and yet stopped Wlad. You mentioned Mike DeJohn in that list of "little men". DeJohn was 6'3. Iron chinned George Chuvalo was asked who him the hardest out of Foreman, Frazier, Bonavena, Williams and the rest of the bangers he faced. He said DeJohn was up there with any of them. DeJohn also cracked Liston drunk for a minute too -and these two guys have chins that make both Klitschko's chins look like a potato chip. And I can almost promise that DeJohn would not be meek like many of the current HW crop.
Nobody under the age of 60 or even 65 could really comment much on this topic in any real intelligent manner. He got slaughtered twice by a feather-fisted Ali and K.O'ed. Before anybody gets excited I saw Ali interviewed and he always joked about his lack of punching power; always wished he had real power like Foreman. Liston was a thug like Tyson so people overrate him. The huge superheavy's like Lewis and the Klits of the modern era would not be intimidated by his foul mouth and his thuggery inside gambling casinos. They would see him for the illiterate, insecure loudmouth he was just as the young Foreman knew him to be. They would destroy him with superb boxing skills and overwhelming true bigman power.
I'm not sure if this is still true but Liston had the biggest fists of any heavyweight champion. (It was definitely true up to the mid 1980's) Yeah bigger than Foreman's fists. Also of note, Liston was past his prime when he finally got his world title shot against Patterson. Liston was a much better fighter before that, the only reason he got his shot was because he destroyed all of the other contenders. A lot of people are completely underrating Liston on this thread. The Ali/Clay fights are no reflection on how good Liston was in his prime. That was a old, slow, past prime version of Liston. I hope people are not basing their opinions on Liston from those two fights. That would be just wrong.
.... Nobody [sic] who knows little or nothing about boxing before the 1990s could really comment on this topic in any real [sic] intelligent manner.
The man had a 17 1/2 inch fist. His hands were so big he had to have special made gloves. He had one of the hardest jack hammer like jabs in boxing. In his prime there were very few men that could withstand his jab or right hand. He was a 227 pound monster.
For that matter, most of the top 10 of the 60s - 70s would rule today's heavyweights. Why do you think that those that have followed boxing for the past forty years of longer, all say today's heavyweights suck?