If Sonny Liston fought in the 1990's ....

That's speculative. He may very well have been bigger, then again he may have turned out exactly the same. When analyzing head to head matchups, we have to go by the assumption that how a man was in his day, would be the way that he'd show up elsewhere.

 

True,

Chris however clearly listed Liston as being around 212 lbs, indicating ( to me ) that he is operating under the assumption that this was how Liston would show up. At no point did he illude to the fact that Liston would be bigger had he been brought up in a later era. And frankly, its not unreasonable to think that 212 may have been his natural weight even during the 90's. There were still loads of guys back then who were around 6'0", 212 Lbs. Also, how do we know that adding an additional 15 lbs would have helped him?

 

Indeed, but in order to equalize Liston's chances, we'd have to make the assumption that he'd be bigger. I don't know that he would be. He might very well have been a larger fighter who could benefit from additional weight, then again he might have stayed the same, or been handicapped from any such weight gain. Right now all we have to go by is that fact that he was 6'1", 212 lbs in his prime, and that that's what he'd likely be going in against the 90's crew.

Now, being the smaller man of the bunch, does this mean that he'd be automatically doomed? No, absolutely not. But, I do think that it would place him at a disadvantage, given that he was usually larger than most of his opponents, wheras here he'd be on the other end of the spectrum. Furthermore, the larger men of this era, were talented and fought very well at these size dimensions. These were not men like Gerard Zech. Bowe, Lewis, and several others would have posed a real problem for Liston in my opinion, as would Holyfield.

 

I have the same view. I think he knocks out the majority of the lower-tiered stragglers, posts a convincing win over Bowe over 12, and beats Holyfield in a competitive, up-and-down affair. He'd also assuredly knock out a post-prison Tyson.

I'd tip Lennox to handle him, though I have argued for Liston not so long ago. It could go to either man by the slightest of edges.

I also think he'd stop the relics, Holmes and Foreman, in the 90's.

A fight with Ibeabuchi would be most interesting especially if Liston is starting to decline by then.

 

He would be the unified champion

 

It was his eighth pro fight. How can you judge him on that ?

 

It was just a sidenote. I could expand on it, but let's not derail the subject here.

Yes, i think so. Look at him. He is incredibly bulky already at 212lbs; he was on "natural" steroids, if you will. And even at that weight, his feet were stuck in the mud.

Many consider his sixty second destruction of Bethea to be his peak fight, and he weighed 204lbs for that one; this was when he was 28-30 years of age, and had already more or less matured into his frame. And it's not like he was lacking in power or strength in the first place. At 225lbs he'd be moving slower than Valuev and not really gaining much other than some (already abundant) physical strength.

Like Magoo says, it's speculation how well he'd handle it, but it's a given that he's not going to be faster.


At 6 feet, he's going to be a short un non the less.

How he'd do in the 90's, is analysing head to head matchups only, and certainly speculative, yes.


As i indicated more extensively in my initial post, i think the step up in class AND size would pose several problems for him.

 

You obviously have never seen Liston outside of the Ali fights.

I think Liston beats all the 90s HWTs tho Lewis might outpoint him but Id still favour Liston, the guy was a very good boxer, could hit like a truck & knew how to finish a man, he`d be dominant in this era, it took the greatest HWT that ever lived at his peak to beat him & Liston still took 2 rds of the 6 fought.

Dont underrate Sonny Liston, he was easily a top 10 all time HWT.

 

Liston cleans out the division apart from Lewis who its a close battle with. Holyfield could always spring a suprise but a prime Liston dominates him in a way that makes Bowe look a pussycat. A few rose-tinted glasses for the 90's era here me thinks.

 

I give a prime Holyfield with the right gameplan perhaps the best chance to beat Liston. I picked Sonny over Lewis in the other thread and gave my reasons, I'm not going to post those again but I'd make Liston the favorite in that match. Bowe at his best would be a tough fight for anyone, if Liston caught him at the exact right time for Bowe he would of been in a scrap. I struggle to pick an 80's Tyson over Liston, a 90's Tyson would be a fairly big underdog.

I think Evander, if he sticks and moves enough may be able to frustrate Liston and win in a battle of will. If Holyfield gives Liston a few headbutts, we may see Liston retaliate by getting points deducted for low blows and/or take him out of his gameplan.

 

WOW you clearly don't think to highly of liston. i see it totally different. the only tough one would be lennox lewis. whom i see winning of sonny 3 or 4 out of 10. (sonny beating lennox most of the times tough). holyfield had a great heart so no ko but sonny will take a ud over him. tua wouldn't make it to round 7 same goes for mcCall and Bowe.
as for tyson. well mike was really strong and really fast and could take a punch as well but psychological he would have already lost. and in mike's case that counts for something. so maybe a ko in the late rounds or otherwise a ud in favour of sonny