Idk if Conn hit hard enough to get Listons respect. Ali def annoyed him. Can def see Conn getting under his skin but eventually the big bear is gonna get him
I suspect that Liston would have adapted a bit better than Louis, if things were going A over T. He could think on his feet a bit faster. This might be one fight that Liston handles a bit better.
The thing is, Conn developed a very specific plan for fighting Louis that was based on an absurdly good read and with a fighter good enough and brave enough to execute it. Looking back on it it's "yeah, of course" or a bit, but at the time nobody thought that was the way to fight Louis. However, it absolutely is not the way to fight Liston. I've no idea how this would go in detail except to say that Conn wouldn't approach it like he approached Louis or Pastor. What they would come up with is anyone's guess, but I presume it would involve running away a lot.
This is more or less what I had in my head, I Imagine Conn would fail to mount enough offence with Liston's jab in the way and Conn on toes to avoid being took out.
Liston was a lot stronger fighter than Louis and Sonny was very rough in the clinches as well as being an artful kidney puncher and he was very adept at holding and hitting. I find it hard to see Conn surviving very long despite Billy’s speed and his huge ticker. If Conn was say Eddie Machen’s size then I would give him a much greater chance of surviving or even doing fairly well. In my opinion it’s very hard to see a 170 pound fighter surviving Liston’s inside assault. Cheers All
