Sonny Liston's resume

Floyd Patterson, Eddie Machen, Cleveland Williams and Zora Folley were all very good fighters.

Mike DeJohn, Nino Valdes, Roy Harris, Henry Clark, Wayne Bethea, Johnny Summerlin, Marty Marshall, Chuck Wepner were other notable opponents that he beat.

He doesn't have the strongest resume but I think it justifies a top 10 spot.

 

Yeah he comes in at #10 for me.

 

Same here, i don't mind him being just outside though.

 

I now rank Marciano over Liston and am pretty comfortable with having Sonny outside the top ten.

 

Prime versions of Machen, Folley, Williams, and Patterson are really nice wins. Throw in guys like DeJohn, Clark, Cut and Shoot Harris, Marshall etc. and you have a fair bit of depth.

Obviously his resume is not that of Ali's or perhaps Louis, but really no one apart from those two even come close. I'd put his resume up there with about anyone else, Lennox being a little higher perhaps.

 

It was alright. He gets the most credit for consistently beating top 10 competition on his way up to the title, even if the division itself wasn't great at the time. He'd fight anyone, and that alone scores him points in my book.

 

I think Lennox's is clearly superior, but that's just my two cents. If the two were to swap spots and fight the other's career, I think Lennox would've gotten the better of it.

 

Definintely top ten. Arguably top five.

 

i think we shouldn't judge him only on his resume. first of all sonny fought everyone and didn't duck or avoided no one. second : a person can't help it if there isn't a "better" competition around. and third : achievements/titles doesn't mean anything.. let me explain what i mean. for example you're a fighter and you're prime is the same period as joe louis has his prime. you beat everyone except joe. you are way better then everyone except for joe. who is a bit better then you are. so all those years you never become a champ. you're always the number 2. does that mean that for example frazier or patterson where better then you cause they became champion ???

probably if ali didn't came along he be champ for 4 to 6 more years.
and i think if liston had to fight all those who ever became heavyweight champion he would win the majority of those fights

 

Because he was an over-aged stiff at the time, tho still with numbing skill.
An old Sonny put up and coming Henry Clark to sleep...
IMHO it's all about your circumstances and Sonny got a late start. I still think he was older than that 1932 birthdate often ascribed to him.
You can say this about numerous fighters but had he gotten the right people around him, I think a seasoned brought along well Sonny circa 54-55 would have blown the Rock out...
We're here to debate but I still feel he was one of those handful of fighters that wasn't ''jumpstarted'' correctly...

 

Henry Clark was rated in the Ring Magazine top ten when Liston beat him :good

 

I think Amos Lincoln was once top rated and Amos Johnson may have been. Gerhard Zech was a decent European level fighter but not in Liston's class. "Scrap Iron" Johnson was as game and tough a journeyman as there ever was. Elmer Rush wasn't terrible.

I wouldn't say that any of the fighters I named were good opposition though.

 

liston battered nino valdez on his way up the contender list.

after the ali 65 fiasco when he found it hard to get fights he was still considerd too dangerous for joe frazier and avoided with good reason