Classic forum's opinion:Corrie Sanders v. Cleveland Williams

liston looked awesome in that clip and was probably at his best.
williams was really giving it to him and i think that the big cat would win the battle of the bangers with sanders.his chin wasn't as fragile as sanders either !!

 

Williams by sparkage IMO.....

 

Just a note on Sanders' stamina. Having seen 90% of his fights on television I can tell you he did not have bad stamina. When he was younger and motivated, his stamina was fine.
A lot of people are judging him off youtube and his last few fights and forming an opinion based off that, which is understandable but ill-informed.

 

Stamina comes into play in fights where you have a live opponent who punches back. Beating on patsys that are there to lose isn't a test of stamina. Unfortunately for the main part Sanders opposition was daibolical

All we have to go on is the Rahman and Vitali fights. In both fights Sanders faded and was taken out. Sanders was probably around his prime for the Rahman fight too.

 

Correct. Sanders had no trouble going the distance when he was motivated or younger.

It is unfair to view a fighters last fight or two and judge him on that. Williams was in even worse shape when he was in his late 30's, and looked worse on film.

 

Exactly Sanders was geared for the early Ko but his conditioning made him fade as the fight progressed..he never had his heart in boxing...he also KO'd Cyz early...Still think Williams would be too open to getting hit

 

Williams had flaws but his speed wasn't one of them. He had fast hands and was arguably as good a puncher as even Liston, he just didn't have the chin of Sonny.

 

Which of these TV fights are you referring to?

Sanders did have an ankle or knee injury prior to the Rahman fight, which stopped him from being able to do roadwork, hence him gassing as early as the 5th. However, during which bouts did he prove to still be effective by the 8th? I'm not saying he didn't, but i'm curious to find out.

 

Well first we must establish one thing, and that is that Sanders was a front-runner, as most probably know already. Like most fast starters, he tended to be less effective as the rounds wore on.
Not ineffective, just less so as opposed to earlier rounds. I think his record reflects that, pretty much.

If memory serves, he went the full 10 round distance around 4 times or more as an emerging heavyweight. Yeah okay, his opponents were hardly world class or anything, but he still looked relatively fresh after going the distance.
If he suffered from two stamina related flaws, it was this:

1) He'd get over-excited if he had an opponent hurt and would sometimes flail away, wasting energy and thus would need a breather in the next round if he didn't get his opponent out of there.In other words, he didn't always pace himself that well.

2) At some point in his career, he simply stopped giving much of a damn about training. He came from the Volbrecht stable and despite Volbrecht's limitatiions as a trainer, if there was one aspect he was good at it was getting his fighters into excellent condition.
Volbrecht's fighters were always in great shape.
I don't know what triggered the thought in Sanders' head that he could get away with slapdash training, but it started happening more and more.
And let's be honest, Volbrecht wasn't going to chase him out of the gym because Sanders was his most valuable asset.
He should have, but he backed down.

We saw the condition he was in for Vitali (no excuse for the loss, by the way) in possibly the biggest night of his life. It was wretched.
Sanders never had the type of body that looked very muscular, but one could still tell when he was in good shape or not.

If you want specific fights, then the Rouse fight, his fight against Wade and the Mike Evans fight come to mind. Sanders' best weight was somewhere around 220, maybe a bit lighter.
I'm not sure what he weighed for the Vitali fight, but I'm sure it was considerably heavier than 220.
He looked his best against Du Plooy, where I think he was just under 220.

 

How was Terrell green at 23-3?? Also, I have the 2nd fight on tape and I scored it 5 rounds to 4 with 1 even for Cleveland Williams. The AP scorecard had Williams winning by a point too. This split decision is very controversial, since williams legite knocked terrell down in the 4th round, but the ref incorrectly ruled a slip. Had he counted the knockdown, Williams would have won the fight on the judges cards.

This is debatable. Sanders has just one win over a Ring Magazine top 10 fighter. Wladimir Klitschko. The rest are wins over Journeyman. He is basically a one trick pony. Cleveland Williams on the otherhand, beat 2 Ring Magazine top 10 contenders and a slew of Fringe Contenders/young prospects.

And Williams didnt? He landed on Liston and broke Sonnys nose in both fights before sonny got to him. Sanders would never take the kind of punishment from williams that sonny took.

So did Williams. Williams not only had ridiculous fast hands and lethal power, he also moved around the ring like a cat and had tremendous stamina. Sanders was a 3 round fighter at best.


One thing not being mentioned here is how much better stamina Williams had. Williams had the early ability to tag sanders early, but if that didnt work, williams proved his ability to go the distance and win on points. Sanders was a 3 round fighter, a man who showed up flabby and out of shape to fights...I doubt he could beat williams in a fight to the finish.


I like C Williams here by KO in round 7, similiar to muchmoores prediction.

 

Yet he couldnt beat weak chinned hasim rahman in a fight to the finish. Big Cat was faster and all around better fighter than rahman.

Please tell me your kidding here. Were talking about a man who was SHOT IN THE BACK by a .357 magnum and was declared clinically dead in the hospital in 1964....The very fact he even returned to the ring again with one of his kidneys and intestines missing shows you just how bad of a mother****er the man was.

Corrie was a fat out of shape slob in his 30s

 

This content is protected

This content is protected

 

SANDERS KO 2