Sonny Liston vs Evander Holyfield primes

Holyfield is one of the best counterpunchers and combination punchers I've ever seen at heavyweight, in any era. A bigger question (it seems to me) is how much trouble the jab will give him. If he deals with it well I could see him wearing down Liston and getting a clear decision. If not he could very well get busted up and actually stopped in the late-mid rounds (6 or 7).

 

That's not my pick but it's certainly plausible.

 

Holyfield is the slight favorite here

 

It's a 60/40 fight for me, in Evander's favor. Holy is being undersold here. Besides Ali, Liston has never met anybody as good as Holy was. Holy can fight on the inside, outside and anywhere in between. Holy, for his part, has fought bigger men, and frankly some better boxers, and wasn't overwhelmed, yet I'm supposed to believe Liston overwhelms him? Nah. If anything, I see Liston losing confidence as the fight progresses and he realizes Evander isn't going anywhere and his scowls pre fight didn't make him pea his pants. I'd pick Evander if made it choose, but it's a good fight.

 

But...as the poster said a 1959 Holly. A prime 95 Holly vs. a 59 Liston would have been a dandy! But factoring in eras, IMO, the Bear PvP locates and destroys.

 

Negativ.......

For the 1000000000 time Holyfields entire reputation is build on beating a washed up Tyson after prison......on one end Tyson is no good but when it comes to Holy/Lewis he is a monster while both never were even close fighting a prime Tyson.....they got a hold of the Tyson impersonator.

Holyfield is 1-2 with Bowe, 0-2 with Lewis, 1-1 with freaking glass chinned Moorer..........plus he struggled with cannon fodder Stewart/ Cooper.......he lost more than he won...fact.......he won T W O fights out of the above and needed the fan man otherwise he looses that one too.

Prime Holyfield always brawled and he would eat some viscous leather from Liston plus Liston will go for the body and that ultimately will stop Holyfield........Bowe slowed down Holy with body shots but did not continue and went head hunting..........shot Tyson landed one body/head combo and Holyfield almost folded.....and ultimately Toney stopped a washed up Holy with bodyshots.....

The blue print was always there, Holy got a good chin but can be stopped by bodyshots....his weak point.

Prime Liston and prime Tyson both will stop the brawling Holyfield with bodyshots and finish him off with head shots when he gets up.

 

Holy or Liston, it seems the one thing we all agree is that Evander doesn't mind turning a boxing match into a slugfest!!

 

Tyson was far from "washed up" at the time he fought Holyfield. That is revisionism .. He in short order dominated Mathis Jr. who could fight, looked exceptional against Bruno and decimated Seldon. He was not the 1988 vintage but he was still a very dangerous fighter. The first two Bowe fights were classic. The Bowe that Holyfield fought was in my opinion a top ten all time heavyweight. The Lewis he fought is likely a top three all time heavyweight. He fought all these guys when he was the older fighter. Only Bowe stopped him once and something was clearly not right physically with Holyfield in that fight .. as far as him having a suspectability to body shots , I think you're exaggerating the point.

Liston was a very strong, tough and talented guy for sure. A monster puncher and an underrated technician .. I am not saying it's not very possible that he beats Evander but I don't see him steaming through him early and then as a matter of heart I favor the guy who showed a ton opposed to the one who I"m simply not sold on goes balls to the wall at crucial moments when confronted against the best . Either way I would not bet it.

 

Tyson didn't dominate Mathis Jr. In fact, he fought him on even terms until the KO.

 

There's so much wrong with the post I don't even know where to begin. So in which fight, besides the ancient Toney fight, was Holy taken out by bodyshots that you believe this can be easily replicated. You act as though this is a known weakness of his that has comeback to haunt him a few times... So which times in his prime or close to it did this occur?

Frankly, doing as well as he did with Lewis, while passed his best, is likely a bigger bridge to cross than Liston ever overcame in his career.

 

Holyfield W15 or maybe even late round stoppage... TKO14 for example.

Liston was a worthy title challenger in 1960. At the end of 1960 he was 30-1 (20). He beat Johnny Summerlin in two close decisions, went 2-1 (1) vs. Marty Marshall (suffered a broken jaw in the loss), Cleveland Williams KO2 and KO3, Zora Folley KO3, and Eddie Machen W12 among others. We all know he went on to beat Floyd Patterson x2 and lose to Ali x2.

At age 30 Holyfield was 28-0 (22) overall, 10-0 (7) in world title fights, and had wins over Hall of Famers Qawi x2, Foreman, and Holmes. He also beat DeLeon, Ocasio, Parkey, Booze, Tillman, Tillis, Thomas, Dokes, Douglas, Cooper, and others. He went on to get 6 more wins and 2 more draws in world title fights. He went on to beat Hall of Famers Bowe, Tyson x2, and draw with Lewis when he (Holyfield) was past-prime. He beat Moorer, Mercer, Rahman, and others as well.

Liston was used to being the bigger and stronger man. Williams looked the part but really wasn't very good. Holyfield beat plenty of fighters who were much bigger than him, talented big men who were much better than Williams.

Holyfield had quicker hands and better footwork. Both had good chins. I'll give Holyfield the nod on stamina. Liston used his jab more and it was stiff. Holyfield was usually the smaller man at HW so his jab wasn't going to win these fights for him. Holyfield had great combinations and stiff hooks and uppercuts. Liston stood no more than 6'1"... Holyfield may use his jab a good bit in this fight. Yes, Liston has long arms but he is also the shorter man.

Holyfield was the better overall fighter with a much better resume.

 

Tyson opened as a 25-1 favorite in '96. By fight time the odds were 6-1 for Tyson. Holyfield was supposed to be washed up, he hadn't looked great in his recent fights. People actually feared for Holyfield's life going into that fight. Revisionists will tell you a prime Holyfield beat a washed up Tyson... and even had to cheat to get the win. Holyfield actually dominated Tyson, broke him down, then stopped him. Both men were past-prime but still very good.

 

Almost impossible for this one not to be a barnburner. Highly competitive with Holy advancing successfully behind combos and unsuccessfully into Liston's jab and the occasional uppercut. I've changed my mind twice on this in the past 5 minutes but will decide based on Liston being the more relaxed, efficient fighter. Holy could get wound-up and tight and gas out a bit. Liston by decision sweeping the latter rounds.

Give me 5 more minutes and I'll probably change my mind.

 

I remember that the day before the fight local NY papers were working for Holyfield's life predicting he'd get massacred .. totally remember that ..

 

Totally w you ...