Strange.....almost every film I have seen of Liston he seems to fight fair with no rabbit punches and no low blows, and is always respectful to his beaten opponent. And then your hear the rumors about "juiced" gloves in close fights against Clay, Williams, and maybe Folley. Always hard to judge Liston.
He used plenty of dirty tactics against Machen, including low blows. In fairness, Eddie was no boy scout himself.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqWl75lOUi8[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98j8I00Prec&feature=related[/ame]
Apart from his low blows, his headbutts, his holding-and-hitting, (and his alleged juicing of the gloves), I dont think anyone can deny that he was a fine gentleman in the ring and a jolly good sport !
Liston was (quite rightly) a mean ruthless fighter who more than matched dempsey and marciano for rough tactics. he admitted that if he could do anything else he wouldnt fight so he put all his eggs in one basket and gave it evrything. yes he was dirty. so were a lot of champions.
Not really. He was a rough fighter but far from a Fritzie Zivic or a Bernard Hopkins. If possible, he liked to keep the fight as clean as possible. If he was faced with a challenge, he did whatever he needed to win. Maybe holding & hitting was his worst offense but then again Lennox Lewis did this in every fight of his. He went below the belt against Machen but in fairness he was working Machen's body a lot in that fight. Liston using illegal substances to blind his opponents in any fight other than against Ali seems to be a myth in my opinion. If you disagree then point out where and when exactly such substances were used. Liston may have been a bad loser but in winning he showed a lot of class and always made sure to congratulate his opponents for the fight they put up, no matter how viciously he had beaten them down.
"Liston using illegal substances to blind his opponents" Burt Sugar quoted Folley as saying this happened to him. Sugar also implied there were other fighters who made this charge. I have no idea how reliable Sugar is. Folley died in the early 1970's, but Sugar is old enough to have interviewed him.
Found an article where Machen says he was blinded: http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...pg=4287,4122944&dq=sonny+liston+blinded&hl=en
That puts a different light on the matter. And if Machen, why not Folley? Perhaps like the proverbial broken clock, this is the time Sugar is correct.
I wonder however why all these accusations came after the first Ali/Clay fight. I don't see any point in the fight where Machen appears to be blinded. Folley was probably blinded by the right hand that flattened him.