Rocky Marciano Would Knock Out Sonny Liston

Marciano v Liston would be a good fight.
I wouldn't want to bet on either one. Both can KO the other.

 

Liston was very mentally fragile. Not sure what would happen but I know one thing once Liston figured out that Marciano could take his punches and keep coming it would end with Liston quitting on his stool. :deal

 

Hi Rocky. Something to consider:

If that were the case why didn't Sonny quit when Marty Marshall broke his jaw? Why didn't he quit when Cleveland Williams broke his nose and hit him with thunderous blow after thunderous blow?

Another thing to consider: if a little light-heavy like Archie Moore can floor Marciano, what's Sonny going to do to him? If Walcott was tossing him around like a ragdoll early in their bout, what is the bigger, stronger, meaner and harder-hitting Liston going to do?

It works both ways my friend

 

Never happened before, except when Liston was past his prime and way out of prime fighting condition.
he was not mentally fragile.. if he was, he would have quit against his other tough fights too.

 

So you're comparing Marciano to a near prime Ali style wise and using a mid thirties Liston as your gage on this fight ? Wow, you're good ! Why not use the 35 year old bald , fat Marciano who was commentating on Patterson fights as your example against a 1959 Liston while you're at it ?

 

:good exactly. says it all really. Liston was impresive to watch during 1959-60, I have always said this, but the point is Liston should be measured by what he did as a champion. He repeated an easy win against a very poor floyd (who for whatever reason could not perform against sonny) then wimped out twice in title fights.

Big cat willliams was never world champion material or even rated at that time. zora foley and machen were solid contenders but not ATG's so from Listons prime that leaves the roy harris win, its not that strong of a prime.


Listons fans seem to want to build his resume on his reputation alone and NEVER on what he actualy did at world level.

 

Marciano was winning every round against Charles and had already knocked him down, makes sense he wouldn't want the fight to be stopped. Liston also got his nose broken against Williams and his jaw broken against Marty Marshall, without quitting.

 

Liston took his lumps in some competative fights but never at world level. In title fights it was one way trafic or quit jobs with no inbetween.

 

It doesn't really matter where he tooks his "lumps", especially when he was being avoided for a world title shot. It's easy to see he could have been a champion by 1959 had he been given the shot. This would have made Folley and Machen title fights, but it doesn't make them any more significant. Those were difficult fights and Liston overcame the challenges. Folley's counter right hand was a dangerous punch, but Liston absorbed it and overwhelmed Folley with power. He patiently outpointed Machen for 12 rounds. The man was a real fighter and a nightmare match-up for Marciano stylistically, no matter how much you'd like to brush him off as a mere coward.

 

Liston wasnt a mere coward its just that his record as a champ dosnt stack up very well. He must be measured as a champion not as a contender.

Liston wasnt avoided that long. He hit the ratings in 58' for winning 7 fights against unrated fighters who had all lost their previous fight. 59' was the year sonny started fighting rated fighters but ingo quite rightly went ahead of him for iceing machen. It wasnt until 1960 where Liston was facing fighters rated above him in the ratings anyway.

Eddie machen was rated from 1956 until 1965 without ever getting a shot at the title..

 

:good

 

Only if he was called roy harris that day...

 

Yoy really hate & don't rate Liston, huh?

 

I see a few of the replies here are using a little 'artistic license' shall we say, to get their point across to suit their agenda. Thats all fine and dandy, most of us have done it at some stage, but what we have to consider in this match-up is BOTH in their respective primes, and judge it on what we know.

1. Marciano is one tough guy with a proven will to win.
2. Liston, too, is one tough guy,with a track record of having fought guys who hit as hard, arguably harder, than Rocky and coming out victorious.


So,for me, it comes down to styles, and i dont fancy Rockys chances. Dont get me wrong, Marciano gives ANYONE a hard night, but a prime Sonny has too much in his arsenal for the rock. Possible stoppage or cuts in the mid/late rounds (10-13)

 

Why? A fighter is to be measured based on his overall record. I've noticed you always make up these odd "rules" of yours to discredit Liston, such as when you gave no credit to Liston for beating Machen, Folley and others because they had been previously stopped. Well, so were Marciano's best opponents. Liston beat the best in his time as did Marciano. That's what counts.

It wouldn't be Marciano's shiny 49-0 record facing Liston's 50-4 record anyway, but the man facing the man. In such a match-up, regardless of who you view as greater, Liston seems to be the favorite. You may disagree but in that case it would be better to try to point out how Marciano can get past the enormous reach difference and Liston's devastating uppercuts and hooks than to pick apart their records.