If Sonny Liston didn't die after his fight with Chuck Wepner

Really? Then why was he able to outslug and TWICE deck George Foreman with raw power punches? Joe Frazier, Tommy Morrisson, Shannon Briggs, Evander Holyfield were all unable to floor Foreman with one of their bombs.

Lyle was a physical beast. He used to do 1,000 pushups a DAY in prison.

 

His power would always make him a factor, but truthfully, I think Liston was finished by 1970. He was convincingly KO'd by Martin and took 10 rounds to break down Wepner.. In order to establish any sort of presence in the division, he would have to go through either Quarry, Ellis, Frazier, or Mathis, and frankly I don't know if he could have beaten any of them at that stage..

 

Outslug Foreman? Who ended the loser after 5? Foreman was certainly at a very vulnerable part of his career, just coming off the KO loss to Ali, destined for another loss and KD against pitty patter Young. That's really no effort to hang your hat on.

He never KO'd an elite heavyweight outside of the not-so-durable Shavers, plain and simple.

To qualify him as an elite puncher in the division is really the most inexcusable case of nostalgia getting the better of sense.

 

lol i agree, no way this liston would beat ron lyle... if a bum like martin could ko him imagine what lyle or quarry might do to him... prime george foreman and prime joe frazier would beat any version o liston, simply like that

 

you forgot norton, bert cooper,michael moorer or gerry cooney.
mccall said that cooper was harder puncher than lewis.

 

Liston would have carried on with a series of B fighters,until an attractive fight with a major contender came up. A third fight with Muhammad Ali maybe ? Ali would probably included Sonny in his long list of opponents following FOTC. Liston would have lost heavily to Muhammad again,and retired.

 

I think that Liston was well past his prime when he fought Chuck Wepner, and I also think he was going to decline verry rapidly from there.

If he fights on beyond that he is likley to be a name only. I don't reaqlly see him adding another chapter to his career. He would have to choose between tarnishing his legacy by loosing to ever weaker fighters, as Mike Tyson did, or getting a job as a greeter at a casino.

 

Liston was about 50, and washed-up. And he didn't like training.
Leotis Martin levelled him in 1969. What more do we need to know ?

Besides, Liston did die, if it was natural causes or drug abuse it kind of makes a nonsense of him being fit to box through the 70s.

 

Lyle was a big puncher.
Frank Bruno and Gerry Cooney were big punchers too. They never KO'd anyone good who wasn't badly over-the-hill, but they were still big punchers.

 

you(not nobody) have no proof on it, the official date is 1932, so he was 37 not 50.

 

Sonny croaked after the 'Wepner' fight of 1970.....good

MR.BILL

 

Sonny Liston had a contract to fight George Chuvalo when is was found dead in las vegas.Chuvalo fought Jimmy Ellis instead

 

His date of birth is unknown.
They just made up the date, I've seen it listed anything from 1917 on one extreme, and 1934 on the other.

Everyone he fought, everyone who knew him, just about everyone thought he was older than that.

 

still no proof....pure speculation, i watched fights of young liston in the 50s, and he did look like his "official" age ( a boy in his 20s, not more).
to say that he was born before of 1930 is simply absurd and lie

 

He was too old after wepner.......... Guys like joe frazier/jerry quarry/george chuvalo/ali(again)....ellis/bonevenna/thad spencer/foreman woulda beaten a 1971 version of sonny liston if he didnt die.....he was ancient