What i am doing is avoiding going out on a limb with a brash assessment, gun. If you've seen him in two bouts realistically you have very little idea of the in's and out's of his power. Two bouts and boxrec stats don't tell much of a story. Records can be very deceiving anyway. There are plenty of massive punchers thru history who's power is far from backed up stats wise. There are also very moderate punchers with great KO percentages. Too many variables to be certain just on paper.
Ah,the famous Leotis Martin.I guess it is a pretty easy,to pick out a guy ,who won the golden gloves,beat an Olympic champion,was a world champion,had a 50 win 4 loss record.Out of those 54 fights,find the worse fight of his career,the only loss that there was not some controversy,and say this guy was a bum.
Martin was very tough and game albeit undersized for heavyweight. Having watched that fight I saw nothing that would have lead me to believe that Martin would done this to Listen a few years earlier. Liston was slow and lumbering but still landing frequently and winning on points. Martin's eye was damaged to the extent that he never fought again. He uncorked one beauty of right cross and Howard Cosell went into to one his patented and legendary episodes of "Liston is knocked out! So ends the career of Charles "Sonny" Liston!"
I'm not too impressed by Martin overall, but that right hand he landed was PERFECT. What a punch. Reminds me a little bit of Shavers-Holmes II.
Liston had stamina problems. He was sucking hard for oxygen went he came out of his corner for that round, he looked dizzy, and he was wide open. Then Martin put him on his face with a nice right hand. It was too bad for Martin that the detached retina couldn't be surgically repaired so he could get a big pay day after that win.
Actually, Leotis Martin caught Sonny with a very good counter left hook, at 1:08 left in Round 8. During the second half of the 8th Round, a round in which Sonny had controlled, Liston landed a few good punches on Leotis Martin, which shook him and drove back into the ropes. Martin was hurt momentarily, and he went into the ropes. Sonny came in and threw an overhand right which landed, but he left himself open. Leotis Martin countered with a hard left hook, square on Sonny's jaw. Check it out, with 1:08 left in the round. Sonny was stunned, but fought for about 10-seconds, before the punch took real effect. Martin was up against the ropes, as Liston half-walked into Leotis. Sonny was out for a flash, but fought on. Sonny really got hurt by that left hook.
My point was he had pop, but not murderous power. he didn't. and he hit sonny completely flush on the chin with a right hand.. and let's not forget Liston was also tired was pretty much done as a serious contender. I'm sure Ellis or bonavena at that time would have stopped sonny... Great that he killed off sonny banks. Banks also got KO'd by a green Ali and had probably sustaned some real damage from his career. I guess killing someone like that is a good show of power but my point is jones probably lost some punch resistance.
Some claim that Sonny Liston had not properly trained for this fight, and he had only 2-weeks to prepare. Not sure if thats true. Someone claimed, that Sonny was in Tuscon, Arizona, filming an episide for Love American Style (ABC Comedy). The Sonny Liston vs. Leotis Martin fight was in December 1969. Sonny Liston filmed the Love American Style segment in Paramount Studios, in Los Angeles in September 1970. In truth, Sonny had about 4-weeks to prepare for this bout. The first ever NABF (North American Boxing Federation) title. Plus he was living in Las Vegas, so he did have ample time to train, and was more than acclimated to the weather. He fought well, but just gassed-out. And clearly, a 42 year-old man.
Very possibly also diluting his knockout percentage afterward. He stopped previously unbeaten Blue Lewis in nine, then gets taken to an SD win in an immediate rematch. Did Lewis improve that much in three months, or did Leotis take his foot off the accelerator in a situation where letting the final bell sound in his opponent's Detroit home was a risky chance to take? Leotis had shared the ring with Sonny in sparring, so he certainly had some idea of what to expect. (How many former sparring partners of Liston besides a young post Olympic Cassius Clay ever went on to compete against Sonny anyway?) Liston's huffing and puffing as the rounds progressed against Henry Clark were there for all to see. Martin had the earlier sparring experience and power Clark lacked to exploit the susceptibilities Sonny had been recently unable to conceal in longer bouts. Yes, Leotis was under 200 pounds for Liston, but so were Marshall, Whitehurst, Machen and Joiner. It wasn't necessary to be big in order to extend Sonny into the later rounds. (Honorable mention should also go to Howard King, who took a peak Liston eight rounds while weighing 195 in their first bout during 1960.) Although Sonny had dominated through most of the bout, he had not gone 12 rounds since Machen over nine years earlier, and had only recently been extended the ten round distance by the relatively harmless but talented underachiever Billy Joiner in their rematch. Even if Leotis had never drawn blood in this one and let it go a couple more rounds, Sonny would have been sucking fumes before having a chance to touch gloves for round 12. Martin bided his time, boxed intelligently, and made Liston's adrenaline surge and follow-up attack worked against him after being knocked down. (Sonny was a very good, but not great finisher, as Whitehurst previously showed. Bert and Leotis survived being hurt by Sonny using similar tactics.)