1958 Sonny Liston vs 1967 Muhammad Ali

Liston's slow feet would have always been his curse against Ali. He'd struggle to establish dominance with his jab, and when he did land, one of the greatest chins in heavyweight history would likely endure it.

In the end, Liston would be trying to chase a ghost, and probably couldn't deliver the damage with the few scoring opportunities he would have.


Ali UD. Not one-sided, but clear, not particularly close. 9-6, 10-5, 11-4 range.

 

Seriously?

 

Very even fight until the latter rounds. Muhammad's speed would still be a huge issue for Liston,as well as his quality in not being intimidated by Sonny.

Ali by tko anytime between the twelfth and fifteenth.

 

ali's peak speed and movement is gonna give any ATG fits - not just liston.

 

why oh why didn’t Liston take a warm up fight between the two clay fights?


when sonny met clay in Miami he only had 6 rounds (13 minuets) of action in 4 years. This was a virtual exile Liston could have been as badly prepared for clay as Dempsey was for Tunney.
　
Sonny would have built on the world class rounds he got in (albeit losing ones) against clay first time around had he sought more competitive rounds against machen in a rematch or even doug jones had he started a proper comeback.

Facing Ali in an immediate rematch was utter madness, maybe Liston knew this all along?

 

Eight months was considered less "immediate" back then, and remember, Liston was looking to redeem himself. He was also really an alcoholic by then. Even when he was ~208 for the Boston match he wasn't looking so good physicallly. He was probably overtrained, even if he was inspired.

 

One mans definition of "alcoholism" would not count for much in Scotland or Ireland. Liston was no shambling wreck, he was not dependent on a drink. By the sounds of it sonny was but a social drinker at best. A lot of fighters like to party and remain successful. nobody complains when they are winning.

 

Nah, Liston was a lush.

 

I agree. To even rate him in the top 10 is even a stretch, he just doesn't have the resume.

 

2 is too high.

But You would have a hard time excluding him from the top 10.

 

Potentialy Liston is top ten but once considering his 4 title fights one must knock him down a few pegs. pre-championship sonny wiped out 2 good rated contenders and outpointed the #1 in great style then beat a frozen and reluctant patterson. thats it.

Liston is 2-2 in title fights and he only got any resistance in 2 of them. Great head to head at his 1960-1962 best but not deep enough resume to bet on at world level beyond that. However great he looked thats what we have to go on.

 

He pretty much cleaned out the division before he beat Patterson, and only lost title fights to the GOAT.

That combined with his h2h fearsomeness puts him at 7 or 8 for me.

 

Precisely :good

 

I agree. Liston bowled Patterson, Westphall, and Folley over with such ease in his previous fights that he probably thought he would be able to do the same to Cassius.