What would have happened if Sonny Liston had been invited to the WBA Tournament in 1967?

Although a beast in his prime, Sonny was old in 1967.
Hard to say how he would have fared.

 

Prime vs prime, he clearly beats all of them.
In 1967, who knows, maybe he beats them or maybe he gets tired like he did against Martin.
Personally, I'd favor him even in 67, but I'm not confident enough to bet on that.

 

He was pretty old and more importantly unfocused at that point which would spell trouble for him. If he was in shape and focused he would beat everyone but anything less would look like his fight with Leotis Martin.

 

At that point I see Quarry outboxing Sonny. Prime for prime would have been very different,though. Same applies to Jimmy Ellis but Sonny would beat the rest.

 

I see him beating Mildenberger, behind on the cards but catching up around the 10 th.

He gets a surprise win over Quarry, when Jerry gets cut over the eye. The fight is stopped in 7.

Oscar could pull off a win here perhaps. He's tough, durable, awkward and also good enough to put Frazier down twice. After an hard fought fight, Oscar gets a points win.

Terrell also gets the win. Ernie another one akward and a decent chin, manages to survive Liston s hardest shots, ties him up and get s the decision.

 

That's it, he still had some abilities but without the conditioning he would need to end fights early.

 

I think Sonny gets deep into the tournament, assuming he draws the right opponents. I do think Ellis had a good shot to beat him, at that point, but it's certainly not guaranteed. Liston could have caught him with a good one at some point in the fight.

 

Think it would have depended on who he faced early but he probably still could have beaten some of those guys in 1967

 

That tournament was a little odd in that the #1 seed didn't face the #8 seed, or #2 didn't fight #7. Usually, in tournaments today in sports, the top seed faces the lowest seed first so, if all goes according to plan, the final comes out to #1 vs. #2.

In the WBA tournament, #1 fought #2 first. #3 fought #4 ... and on down. Ellis and Martin were the lowest seeds and faced each other in the first fight.

Title Vacant

1. Karl Mildenberger
2. Joe Frazier
3. Oscar Bonavena
4. Ernie Terrell
5. Thad Spencer
6. Floyd Patterson
7. Jerry Quarry
8. Jimmy Ellis
9. Leotis Martin
10. George Chuvalo

Frazier bailed, so Martin moved up to fill the gap.

If Sonny was the lowest seed and Martin wasn't invited, Liston would've faced Ellis first, followed by Bonavena, and then Quarry.

How Liston performs against those three would've been interesting to see.

 

I think so, too.

Ellis moreso than the other two. Quarry maybe the least. I could see Liston's jab carving Quarry up. And I could see his jab bothering the brawling Bonavena.

Ellis would be the problem. Jimmy was on a roll at that time. (He'd also beat Quarry and Oscar.)

If Sonny snuck in the ratings near the bottom, he'd have had to fight Ellis first.

 

Actually, a win over Sonny Liston in the WBA tournament may have lifted Jimmy Ellis to Hall of Fame status.

He's currently not in the Hall of Fame in Canastota.

But a winning streak of Liston, Bonavena, Quarry and Patterson over a 13-month span in 1967 and 1968 may have lifted him up there.