1964-1965 WBA HW tournament

1. Ernie Terrell
2. Sonny Liston
3. Cleveland Williams
4. Zora Folley
5. Eddie Machen
6. Floyd Patterson
7. Doug Jones
8. George Chuvalo

Who wins? based on the 1964-1965 period? I personally don't have a clue, they were all great punchers, and if they weren't great punchers, they were great boxers

 

but Terrell beat him in the second fight, and was on his way up. It is interesting to think about Williams' career if he hadn't got shot tho. Ali vs. Williams may have been a real punch-up if that was the case!

 

hmm, does the apparent 4th-round knockdown Williams scored have anything to do with your decision? I think the second Terrell-Williams fight was even on rounds, I gave Terrell rounds 1-3, 6, and 9 and Williams the other 5, but on points, I had Terrell ahead a bit. He threw more punches, Williams was inconsistent in his flurries.

 

imo, in a 64-65 match, Terrell opens fast, utilizing the jab for 3-6 rounds, but gasses out, Williams takes command in the middle, and there's a lot of see-sawing, but I say Terrell outjabs Williams in a very hard-fought contest. I actually think the fight would be reminiscent of Norton-Holmes, although Terrell was a rather sloppy finisher.

 

Liston is overrated, although I agree most of those guys couldn't beat 'em. Williams, Machen, and Terrell are the only ones I think could beat him. Folley maybe. If Williams focused on boxing Liston for a while, instead of letting him in close, he could beat him. He was a great puncher and a good boxer, Liston was just a good puncher. And I think Machen beat Liston anyway. I also think Folley could beat Liston if he didn't slug it out with Liston like he did in their fight. Also, Terrell was peaking in 64-65, Liston was declining, Liston could beat him if he tagged him, but I could still see a Terrell victory. If Leotis Martin could knock out Liston, Terrell could certainly outbox Terrell for a 15-round decision.

 

true, but Terrell was a bit overmatched, I don't think he was ready for Terrell, and I read on boxrec that he looosened up after the first three rounds, and slugged it out with Cleve more, and of course got tagged. In the rematch Terrell focused on jabbing and staying away from Williams, and that's why I think he beat him.