Would Sonny Liston rule the HW division now?

I think that when you compare fighters from different generations you have to adjust the size factor, considering mankind has already evolved in size from Liston time to Wlad time.

IMO, If Liston was coming up today he would be a 6'2 227lbs HW fighter, which is not really undersized.

Other greats would be:
Joe Louis 6'4 220lbs
Marciano 6'0 210

 

:blood

Come on now, comparing eras is speculative enough as it is. We don't need people making up their own statistics on top of that.

 

Yeah, I think this is exactly the wrong way to do it. Saying that with weigthlifting/creatine/steroids/hgh etc. they would come in heavier is probably about right, but changing a guy's height just doesn't work.

For my money, I say that Liston would win an alphabet soup belt, and call out the other champs calling him out while all of them stay comfortably on their side of the yeard beting up on the Okhellos and DAvis-Drummond's of the world.

Would he dominate- no.

 

Liston was 31 years old when Ali beat him the first time. Exaggerating on the age a bit? You rounded that number up quite a bit didn't you? Just another example of the exaggeration that goes on when talking about old fighters.

 

Hell, I would give him a great chance against Vitaly and favor him against Chag. I think also Wlad would be a great fight (though I think Liston had a very long reach for his height and could possibly outjab Wlad) and Povetkin, just because of the number of punches Sascha throws.

My point is more that in today's era, there is no opportunity to "dominate." It is because of the promotors and organizations not wanting a unified champ, bu the fighters, who are businessmen, play it. The question is not if Sonny could beat Vitaly, but if they would ever step in the ring.

 

...This indicates that you what you know about Sonny Liston goes only inches beyond boxrec and the youtube's posts of the Patterson and Clay fights.

... This indicates that you either (a) missed the point of McGrain's bringing up Tyson or (b) that you tactically ignored it. Let's put a light on what happened: You said that Liston would be "TINY" by today's HW standards. McGrain brought up Tyson -who you should know was shorter than Liston, had a shorter reach than Liston and although he usually outweighed Liston, was not as physically strong as Liston. That is not only a valid comparison, it laid that point of yours to waste. Instead of conceding the point, you brought up incidentals that had nothing to do with Liston's being "TINY".

... This indicates that you have a sense of humor. You launch an attack on McGrain for "tooting his own horn" by ....tooting your own horn section.

... This indicates that you would accept an invitation to the Classic section. Pound for pound, the posters there are more serious fans, analysts, and historians than anywhere else that I know of. I don't recall seeing posts of yours over there, and if you have posted there, it's not very often. So come on over and let's see if you mean what you say about your boxing knowledge. Bring your friends! I would bet the house that McGrain will humble you again with half his brain tied behind his back.

 

Through the tail end of 2003, and throughout 2004, I used to post in the classic section just as much as the general forum. However... it has just been redundant ever since. I will be honest and say that I haven't even bothered to look at the section in about a year.... because all that it became was the same old "Fighter A vs Fighter B, who wins?" threads, which I honestly get tired of. Back in the day, we used to really discuss boxing, and the history of boxing. We would break down and discuss fights from the past. We discussed fighters, their strengths and weaknesses, ect.... and we did discuss the odd "how would this fighter do in this era" thread... but it was only few and far between. I liked it much better when we would all post old footage that we had, and things of that nature.

You may have been around then, or maybe you weren't... I don't know. Maybe it is better now than it was for the couple years before I stopped bothering to even look in the section anymore. However, if posters act like you are right now, and accuse me of only know what boxrec tells me, then I am sure that I won't enjoy myself in the classic forum. To be honest... I am not impressed with McGrain's posts in this thread. I never had a problem with him before, but he really isn't showing me anything other than bias in this thread.

 

Hey, if feather fisted Ali can ko louis twice, I have no doubt that either Klitchko sparks him. He had trouble with zola foley right?

 

So you are disputing that Vitali Klitschko could beat Liston?

 

He had longer arms than the Klitschkos and probably more firepower. He also had a lot more fight in him. It would be funny to watch an ugly little black guy terrorizing those big white movie stars! :yep