Eddie Machen did really well against Sonny Liston

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This was a good losing performance from Machen. Commentary describes him as #2 going in, can someone confirm this? Liston was on a 9KO streak, having clubbed down Cab [8], DeJohn (6), Williams (3), Valdes (3), Besmanoff (7), King [8], Williams (2), Harris (1) and Folley (3), but he couldn't stop Machen. Machen was 34-2-1 going in having won 4/5.

Liston had significant advantages in reach and weight.​

Eddie wins the first two rounds for me, and he does it by staying just out of range with small steps, a dangerous game against Liston who has a jab that can crash "through doors" according to commentary. But he does well making Sonny miss and then countering whilst Sonny is coming in. That's great strategy against Liston because he used his jab to cover his lack of handspeed on longer punches, coming in behind the jab to use shorter punches technically or to close the distance for his "longer" punches (longer in the technical sense). After shucking one of these longs jabs, Machen quadrupled up the left hook, leaving Sonny looking a bit confused in a defensive crouch. Machen also showed smarts pinning one or the other of Liston's hands whilst in clinches, and Sonny would become less and less keen to employ clinches as the fight continued, which is counter-intuitive, but Machen really is a beautifully balanced fighter and he did well in cliches throughout, although he did ship body punches.

Machen also did well with lead left hooks in these rounds, and smiled a couple of times upon making Sonny miss, which he was able to do with most of the big man's big punches.

Liston landed a low blow in round one and drew a warning from the referee.

The fight changed a bit in three upon Sonny landing some really good body shots. Machen smiled a lot less after this and Sonny began to have things his own way, although Machen was dangerous throughout with counter-left hooks and some jabs. He also showed good variety, sometimes fighting out of a jabbing half crouch which Sonny didn't really solve, sometimes on the move, somtimes countering over the top and trying to bull Sonny. He was able to bull him a couple of times.


My card:

Round 1: 10-9 Machen
True to his pre-fight bluster, Machen didn't seem scared at all and landed good punches.

Round 2: 10-9 Machen
Machen was able to slip behind Liston at one point and land a good combo on the future champ as he turned out of the ropes. He laid the blueprint in these first two rounds.

Round 3: 10-9 Liston
Liston turns the tide with hard punches to the body and head, but he has actually put the really heavy, swinging artillary to bed for the most part at this point, which was the right thing to do I think, and a good adjustment. Machen gets on his bike a bit for the first time.

Round 4: 10-9 Liston
"The winner of this one is thoroughly deserving of a title shot." Liston establishes his jab and Machen looks worried for the first time, continually moving rather than trying to tempt Sonny in for the counter. Ships a good one-two in this round. Liston declining to clinch.

Round 5: 10-9 Liston
Liston is trying to get across the heavy artillary again. He had some success with the lead right to the body but less with the left upstairs. Liston is wary of getting countered, but Machen scores a beautiful counter left and bulls Liston back.

Round 6: 9-9 Liston is docked a point for a low blow.
This is a really close round with Machen scoring with lead left hooks and Machen scoring with the right, Liston probably wins it in the last minute with the left, but a tied round is also fair. Liston hits Machen very low at the end of the round and he is furious, the ref takes a way a point.

Round 7: 10-10
They fight evenly again. Things have been bad-tempered at close quarters through the last two rounds. Both land good lefts.

Round 8: 10-9 Liston
Machen has some trouble in this round and begins to fight out of a crouch with which Liston has some trouble, but the big man is able to take advantage when Machen slips on what I think was water and lands his first uppercut of the fight! Machen really took that shot away from him, with good hyperactive movement, careful placement in clinches and good balance (never tilting in or to the side when punching). He was also careful not to remain stationary when crouching. Great skills. Liston shows his own though, landing the best combo of the fight ending in a clubbing right hand, thrown curved and with beautiful accuracy. He also scores with body blows on the belt line - the referee lets them go, but I thought they were debatable.

Round 9: 10-9 Liston
Liston is bringing pressure, bulling and throwing more punches. Machen is mobile throwing out jabs whilst on the move, but Liston does well to slip.

Round 10: 10-9 Liston
Liston returns to the jab as Machen stays on his bike. Machen lands his best punch of the fight, a left hook, but he is being bullied for the first time, and the size discrepancy is suddenly obvious.

Round 11: 9-8 Machen - the referee takes away TWO points for a low blow
Liston is frustrated and looking for the KO, lashing out at anything, really pouring it on. Machen shows great balance and awareness to keep himself out of the way of the uppercut. Machen hits on the break and Liston tries to get at Machen through the referee who looks a bit grumpy. Machen ships a really low uppercut and the referee gives him a minute to recover. Machen seems furious and shows great heart. They continue fighting after the bell.

Round 12: 10-10
Machen leading with hooks, Liston does good work to the body.

TOTALS: 115-112, Liston​

Official Scorecards:
Referee Domstad 119-112
Judge Caston 118-114
Sam Heller 118-116
All for Liston​

I don't think that the Ref's card is up to much, but the other two are probably fair. Still, the rounds were close even if many of them were clear, and Machen showed great elusivenss, awareness, tactical ability, counter-punching, variety, chin, recovery and heart. He was never stared down by the pitbull in the other corner who had 15lbs on him.​

Also, a quick word about low blows. In rounds 2, 3, 4 and 8 Liston lands blows that could be deemed as low - Machen would often bend at the knee before bouncing out and it seemd to throw Sonny's range a little bit. Anyway, he could have been in trouble if the referee had been tougher, and I imagine Cus would have jumped all over any DQ loss and made Liston wait. ​

Liston showed excellent stamina in this fight, he was fighting harder at the end than the beggining, he was really pouring it on given his normal style, happy to try and bust his way to victory. Good fight. Underated fight. Here are some highlights:​

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lhAdAhaRnk

 

Thanks

Yeah, he made Sonny look ungainly at times. Machen's ballance was beautiful, he was excellent in that regard. He bridges the strength gap at times.

He really did, he finished stronger than he started - it wasn't a frenetic pace but Liston was chasing his man through a lot of the rounds.

He was on a great KO streak coming in here, you could see his frustration at not being able to rid himself of Machen.

thanks.

 

When a puncher hits a guy perfect the guy goes.

See Griffith-Carter for another example!

 

Yeah, it's a fair shout Woller - my only guess would be that the scorecards were read out without deductions, either by accident, or on purpose with a view to applying deductions on if they were relevant. Interestingly, this would lead to an SD rather than a UD...anyway, the fight was scored on the ten points must system.

Anyone else?