Ali beats him all day long. Liston was Taylor-made for Ali. Prime Ali way too fast, too good. He beats all heavyweights on the planet.
It's funny how these forums work. All of a sudden it's a given that Liston was past prime because so internet warriors say so. Simple fact of that matter is that he came from his two best performances ever and would go on unbeaten after the Ali losses for almost the rest of the decade. Clay was the one who looked the furthest from his prime at the time and I see nothing that has come up since that changes that. Clay was in better shape, though. That much seems pretty clear. But Ali at his very best probably stops Liston or gives him a reason to quit more times than not. He was just the better fighter. Easy as that.
Like I said in an earlier post,what seems to have been forgotten is how well Ali fought in that fight. Most of the talk over the years has been "was it on the level", "Liston was over the hill" blah,blah,blah, but Ali actually fought a great fight. Contrary to what some have said,the fight wasn't that close Ali was probably schooling Sonny,the state of his face at the end told that.
There hasn't been another heavyweight who could make Charles Sonny look so slow and ponderous.Walcotts lateral movement would make Liston look silly for 6 rounds but Sonny would get him in the end. Liston would never ever beat Ali but that second fight was definitely bent.
I do not agree but Chuck Wepner once said "in his prime, I don't think anybody could've beaten Liston. Including Ali."
I don't care what the scorecards may have said in that fight, I can't even remember. There's no way that fight was close, Ali was administering a beating on Liston, who couldn't even land on Ali when he was blinded in the 5th round.
It was indeed pretty close but the momentum was with young Cassius. He was getting stronger while Liston was tiring.
You would not only have to have a prime Liston, you have to have an unfixed fight. I think it's anybody's guess who would win under those conditions.
Liston was great but what made him greater was the ease he beat good fighters. . And good fighters knowing this had a lot to do with sonny getting the worst out them. sonny did this by either being stylistically wrong for them, simply being better than them or that a good fighter was just plain horrible on the night Sonny squashed them. I don't think Sonny would ever bring the worst out of Clay. Sonny was not stylistically wrong for clay, he was not better than clay since they were both elite fighters, I don't think Clay would ever have been just plain horrible on the night either. So no, Liston would never beat Clay unless clay was just plain terrible on the night.
