Let me imitate everyone else to come to this thread soon. "Blah,Blah,Blah, Foreman, punchers, crap, rubbish, crap." Now, me. Frazier wins. Yeah, I said it. Frazier. Wins. Liston will never have seen anything like him. He'll go up in smoke. My comment is first, therefore, I am correct, and everyone else can go to hell.
This is a good one. I'd put my money on Frazier. Floyd Patterson did a great job bobbing and weaving on Sonny in the beginning of their fight but he didn't pack a hard enough punch to deter Sonny. Frazier could duck Sonny's punches too but he's gonna make Sonny pay with his left hook and body shots. And Sonny loses confidence rather quickly so with Frazier continuing to do this Sonny might quit or Frazier could drop him.
Liston by TKO between rds 6-8....Joe is my favorite, but liston is one of the only 2 men I favor over Joe!
Prime per Prime, I think Frazier may edge Liston, very barely edge him, on his workrate.But he's going to have to survive some hell to do so.
joe frazier is made for sonny liston.even late on in sonny's career joe's management avoided this fight
I don't see how that fight would have made much sense at any time after the horrific spectacle of the second Ali fight when Joe was still a newcomer, up to Liston's last fight with Wepner.
Talked about is one thing, it doesn't make it an "avoided" fight with the stigma that old Liston was a worry for any version of Frazier that wasn't a newbie. Liston wasn't really doing anything by the time Frazier had come along in the pros that I can think of. Nothing that would make his management specifically avoid him anyway.
archie moore was advicing joe to avoid liston.whether liston would have had enough back in 69 or is another matter but at their peaks liston would've bombed frazier out in 2 or 3 rounds.
Frazier in his prime vs the Frazier that fought Foreman was 2 different fighters. That said Liston would be a tough fight for Joe because of Sonny's jab and power but lets not forget Frazier had heart and a speedy left hook and even in the Foreman fight got up 6 times also Joe got off the floor to win and came back from being hurt. Prime vs Prime, the early rds may be a tough spot for Joe but the later rds are Frazier and Joe could keep Sonny on the stool or Stop him. People forget Frazier went toe to toe with Quarry, took Bonavena punches in the rematch and was a in shape rugged guy before Ali 1.....I may Favor Frazier here with some early turbulence Frazier had a very short prime but in his prime he was a SOB
I'm not one to automatically dismiss Frazier against big punchers. I think this fight could go either way. If Frazier can consistently get inside on Liston and take it to the late ronds, the pendulum swings in his favor. I guess I'd favor Liston, but I don't think it's an easy bomb out by any means.