Sonny Liston (1960) vs "Iron" Mike Tyson (1988) - who wins?

We could take down almost every powerpuncher in history via this criteria. Very biased.

 

:deal

Doesn't look all that slow to me.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK_LWFpgY74[/ame]

 

Tyson simply wasn't as hard to hit or brilliant at slipping jabs as some people will have you believe.
As I noted recently in another thread, Pinklon Thomas hit him quite a lot with jabs and one-twos, but that was an already badly-faded Thomas just flicking out arm punches with little power.

Having said that, Tyson can hit Liston too. But the difference lies in that Liston was comfortable covering up, boxing on the backfoot for instances when he needed to, and getting straight back in control.
If Tyson gets hit hard repeatedly and his rhythm is broke he loses his whole game. There's no reverse gear or adjustments under fire, it's just dip, duck and spring forward, and if he's hit out of that regularly he's got nothing else.

 

Excellent post! Tyson's speed could trouble Sonny momentarily ,but prime Liston eats come forward fighters . Liston by ko around midway.

 

Tyson KO and early. Tyson could get inside the jab and would outquick Liston in devastating fashion. Liston does not a great inside game. Tyson works the close to mid distance very well. Furthermore, I would argue Tyson is the stronger of the two.

 

yes they could
I can think of six fighters easy:
Muhammad Ali
Larry Holmes
George Foreman
Sonny Liston
Evander Holyfield
Lennox lewis

 

yes he does.
He's actually a better in-fighter then Tyson, because Tyson is not an in fighter.
Tyson explodes at mid range, unlike joe frazier or marciano who lean on a man and work on the inside, they don't explode at midrange.
Liston fights at long and he can in-fight.

 

I knew someone would say this. I don't think Liston was better than Tyson inside, rather he had a bunch of spindly, weak-ass opponents who he could bully. Tyson could move and manipulate the monsters of the late 80's and 90's. He was able to create just enough room for the sick body shot and uppercut. When Liston fights someone with his own or better strength, I think we find he does not get away with the tactics that worked against the stringbeans of the late 50's.

 

Well, with Foreman in the 1970s, there's little besides Peralta. Davila was a tall and experienced 36 fight heavyweight who only had to last eight rounds with Foreman in just George's first year of professional competition. He shut out 42 fight veteran Forte, but Levi did have to get off the deck early to last ten. Foreman left Ali pissing blood, and he did have Young in very serious trouble.

In the case of Frazier, only Bonavena and Scrap Iron were really able to stand up to Joe prior to Foreman taking his title. Overall, Foreman and Frazier can be argued to have fewer different resistant opponents between them at their peaks than Tyson's four different adversaries, Tillis, Smith, Green and Tucker. (Actually, I was surprised that a peak Frazier surpassed a peak Tyson in this respect.)

 

I think Tyson's strength is being very underrated here. He impressively handled many athletic, talented men who were significantly larger than Liston.

Liston never defeated anyone of the caliber of Tyson, and that says something to me. You don't look as impressive, and things don't go as well, when you fight someone of a high talent level. This goes both ways, of course.

I also disagree Tyson was "horrible" on the inside. He could be inconsistent, yes. But in his prime, he was a devastating body puncher.

I will also never understand holding "Tillis, Green, Smith, and Tucker" against Tyson. He decisively defeated all of these men, and against Green and Smith, he absolutely dominated the entire fight. Anyone can fight a survival fight. That isn't Tyson's fault.

 

I like Liston in this one. I wouldn't suggest Tyson was prime against Douglas, but Liston was better than Douglas and could pull off a similar gameplan. However, I think it's close and could see Tyson getting Liston out of there. Liston wins 3 of 4 for me.

 

Tyson tried to get off devastating combinations on the inside and often did. He wasn't a great in-fighter in a traditional sense. Watch the foulfest clinic he put on against Biggs though or the devastating uppercuts against Jesse Ferguson. I guess I'm saying he could be effective on the inside in his own way.