Could Liston Have Gotten Up From The Leotis Martin Knockdown?

It was stunning to see the way he abruptly deflated late in the previous round and sagged to the ropes, a sudden turnaround Cosell reported dramatically. Cleveland Williams also made him taste his own blood, but back then it seemed to fire Sonny up.

The way Leotis was boxing and moving, it would never have been easy for Liston to take him out, but Sonny had Martin virtually beaten on the cards, and would have coasted to the decision if in prime condition. Leotis unloaded on him like that because Liston was fading so drastically. I don't think Martin would have dared attempt to pull the trigger like that on the Sonny of the Machen bout, but opted for mere survival as Eddie did in 1960. (Incidentally, Machen got in some very hard whacks on Liston, and Eddie carried respectable power.)

Conditioning is a critical factor in being able to take or recover from a punch. It has been theorized that it's impossible to be knocked out when in peak form, and one sees the punch coming. Sonny clearly saw and knew what was headed his way before he got flattened. The man was running on empty.

Signs of what would happen with Martin were in evidence when Sonny stopped Henry Clark a year and a half earlier. Late in that one, Cosell made note of Liston's huffing and puffing, something Sonny did not do when younger. The warning light was already flashing.

 

Liston, was out cold even he tried to get up the ref would have stopped the fight.

 

A younger fitter prime Sonny Liston would have knocked Martin out inside 3 or 4 rounds, (or possibly had Martin running for dear life all night), so, yeah, I think age was a big factor.
Those were big punches, but Martin didn't even have much chance to open up like that with solid shots until Liston tired.

 

I believe those 3 punches could have gotten the job done on ANYBODY at any stage of their career..the critical thing about the young Liston was that he would have gotten Leotis out of there much earlier and it would have been a moot point about Sonny being knocked out. Liston was bleeding and beginning to unravel when he was ko'ed in '69..the prime Liston was all about making the other guy unravel.

 

CRAZY ****** you are lol! nut:nut

Leotis Martin was only 199LBs, And had a featherfisted KO% of 52%...And he turned pro @ 160LBs lol! :rofl

 

:goodhe was gone.the only time in his career

 

If he'd won,Sonny would have been in line for a title shot.

 

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KO ratio doesn't always tell the story. For example, Jimmy McLarnin has less than a 50 percent KO ratio, yet is considered one of the harder punchers to have ever stepped inside a ring.

As for Martin, he had already stopped a number of heavyweights prior to meeting Liston (Mildenberger, Spencer, et al) so he was capable of finding the sweet spot. He found the sweet spot against Liston that night, and if he lands those same punches against a lot of other heavyweights, they're probably taking a trip to the canvas, too. :deal

 

:rofl:rofl:rofl..keep on talkin' hook...you have a credibility percentage of only 25%..

 

Sonny was about as KO"D as I have ever seen

 

Poor ol' Leotis..his greatest career triumph and his career ends. This was surely a Phyrric victory for him as Sonny ruined his eye in the process....if the detached retina never happened, and he had survived into the early 70's, he may have gotten a crack at Ali..and what a contrast that would have been, with the loquacious, glib Ali vs the stuttering, stammering, barely intelligible Martin...I'm sorry he had to retire though, what a bum deal that was.

 

This is not a good question. It would be hard to find a worse KO to ask this about. Liston went down like a sack of bricks, he barely moved before the count was up, and it was much longer still before he was able to get up. He was knocked ****ing cold.

 

As we know, Leotis told Cosell he wanted Frazier next. That would have been interesting. Does Martin look to bomb Joe out in round one, or does he move and try biding his time for an opening again, as he did with Sonny? Already 30 when he beat Liston, had posted a duo of wins over previously unbeaten Blue Lewis to close 1968 and open 1969, showing he could beat a big young heavyweight. Four ninth round stoppages, over Banks, Spencer, Lewis and Liston, suggest he was equipped to hang with Smoke for a while.

 

I'd say he was getting tired, and got caught with clean shots that took the fight out of him. Unlike others I don't think he was out "cold", just completely spent in the fight and as a force in general.

 

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