Sonny Liston vs his biggest opponent Gehard Zech, 6'5, in good quality

Interesting, is he the only southpaw Sonny fought?

 

Yes. He attempted to get a fight with Mildenberger whose manager wisely steered him clear. Liston at that point in his career was the definition of high risk low reward.

 

That would’ve been a good one.

 

Sonny looked real sloppy there,didn't he ,he took some good shots from the German though.

 

Zach was previously stopped by Joe Bygraves, lost to Earnie Terrel, KO'd by Zora Foley, KO'd by Dave Baily who was 14-14-3, lost to Mildenberger 2X, and Juergen Blin X2 and KO'd by Gregorio Peralta so while he did show heart, I'm sure nobody expected an upset.

 

Holy crap, that guy is basically Vitali Klitschko! Proof yet again that Wlad's era was the worst ever and that Liston would have destroyed them all

 

Mildenberger would've taken Liston into the deep waters and defeated him, at that point.

In 1966, Karl had lost one fight in seven years, and was otherwise smacking around all the usual suspects at that time - Machen, Folley, Daniels, Rademacher, Bethea, Bygraves, Erskine, even Zech.

He was rolling.

The only reason Karl didn't fight Liston was he was offered a title shot against the guy who beat Liston twice.

 

Karl was a helluva fighter.

 

How many of those names were even ranked when Mildenberger beat them, other than perhaps Daniels? And Daniels was coming off three consecutive losses, so it's doubtful he was holding much of a ranking by then.

How many of those fighters were actually ranked when Mildenberger beat them, aside from maybe Daniels? And Daniels was coming off three straight losses, so I'd be surprised if he still held much of a ranking at that point.

As for Folley, calling that performance "smacking him around" is a massive exaggeration. Mildenberger only managed a draw in a fight that many observers felt Folley deserved to win. The bout was held in Mildenberger's own backyard in Germany, and even the local crowd was reportedly stunned when the draw was announced. If that's the example of him supposedly rolling through top opposition, you're not making much of a case.
"Veteran Zora Folley gave young Karl Mildenberger a boxing lesson Friday night but the judges evened it up and called it a draw - a verdict that stunned most of the 12,000 fans that jammed the Messehalle here to watch the two highly ranked heavyweights in what was billed as an elimination match. Folley carved out cuts under Mildenberger's eyes and repeatedly scored with solid left jabs and straight right hands over the southpaw efforts of the German challenger. By the end of the 7th round Mildenberger had cuts under both eyes while Folley bled from the nose as a result of Mildenberger's left. Referee Otto Nispel took it upon himself to stop the fight time and again to warn Folley on butting and in the 8th round Nispel stopped the fight while he took Mildenberger to his corner and wiped the blood off his face so a doctor could come to the ringside and examine the cuts. Mildenberger, although clearly outclassed, never stopped trying and absorbed a tremendous amount of punishment from the American. He was still trying gamely in the 9th and 10th while Folley was content to coast and that was all the judges seemingly needed." -European Stars & Stripes

• Unofficial Stars & Stripes scorecard - 7-2-1 Folley
• The UPI reported that Folley, "appeared to have the upper hand against his 26 year old opponent." While the AP reported that Folley, "appeared to have piled up a good margin. He gave the German a battering in the 7th and 8th rounds."

And while we're talking about his record, simply saying he only lost once in seven years leaves out a lot of context. That lone defeat was a first-round knockout to Dick Richardson, who was at the tail end of his career and coming off a loss to the unranked Howard King. It's not exactly the sort of loss that strengthens the argument that Mildenberger was operating at some untouchable elite level.

And if we're talking about how Mildenberger would supposedly have taken Liston into deep waters, it's worth noting that Amos Johnson managed a draw with Mildenberger, yet Liston knocked Johnson out early.

What's more, an even older Liston performed better against Leotis Martin than Mildenberger did. Liston dropped Martin and was ahead on points before eventually running out of gas and getting stopped late. Mildenberger, by contrast, was largely dominated throughout his fight with Martin and was dropped three times on his way to being knocked out.

Of course, none of this proves Liston would have beaten Mildenberger, but it certainly doesn't support the idea that Karl was operating on some level that an aging Liston couldn't handle.

 

Really low judgement on your part.

 

And Karl Mildenberger performed better against Ali than Liston did in two fights. Liston didn't last 12 rounds with Ali in two fights combined. And Ali was better in 1966 than he was when Liston fought him.

So what?

Karl and Sonny had completely different styles. Liston won with power. Karl won with boxing.

My point was, Mildenberger was on a roll. He lost one fight in seven years. He was fighting all the usual suspects that everyone else fought, too - Eddie Machen, Zora Folley, Billy Daniels, Pete Rademacher, Wayne Bethea, Joe Bygraves, Joe Erskine, Howard King, even Gerhard Zech - and he only lost one fight over seven years.

You made it out like he was avoiding Liston when in truth he got a title shot, that's why he didn't fight Liston.

When Ali was stripped in 1967, and the heavyweight tournament commenced, Karl Mildenberger was the #1 WBA contender. His record was 52-3-3.

His career ended the following year. But he was a fine heavyweight and, when on a roll, was one of the top heavyweights.

If Karl fought Liston in 1966, I said he'd take Liston into the deep waters and beat him. If you disagree, fine.

 

And Liston lost in one to Ali, while Karl went 12.

It's not like Liston fought Bonavena.

Hell, Bonavena did better against Ali than Liston or Karl.

And Oscar beat Martin, when neither Liston nor Karl could.

Styles make fights. Karl won five 15-round decisions. Liston never went 15 rounds in his life.

 

Primo Carnera was better than Zech and used the same style as Vitali. Therefore, according to your logic, Carnera is a top fighter of the modern day.