1964-1965 WBA HW tournament

Sonny Liston, after the the rematch in Maine against Ali in 1965, he faced mediocre opposition in Sweden. Promoters in the U. S. did not trust Sonny anymore because of his association with the underworld

 

I think that Sonny Liston beats the fighters listed, Ernie Terrell was on a roll at that particular time. He defeated both Eddie Machen and George Chuvalo during the year of 1965, then in 1966 he beat Doug Jones by decision. A Ernie Terrell vs Sonny Liston fight would have been very interesting, Liston used to say that Ernie Terrell Hugs More Than I Hug My Wife. Terrell had a peek a boo defense, a good left jab and wore opponents out with his clutching, grabbing and wrestling. Ali called him the Octopus, because of his long gangly arms. Terrell would have frustrated that version of Liston. But because Ernie lacks power in his punches, Liston wins it by an ugly unanimous decision.

 

Well, if you followed traditional seeding, where the top seed fights the lowest seed, it would begin with:
1. Ernie Terrell vs. 8) George Chuvalo
2. Sonny Liston vs. 7.) Doug Jones
3. Cleveland Williams vs. 6.) Floyd Patterson
4. Zora Folley vs. 5) Eddie Machen

Then the winner of Terrell-Chuvalo would fight the Folley-Machen winner.
And the winner of Liston-Jones would fight the winner of Williams-Patterson.

Terrell fought Chuvalo in 1965 and won a decision. Folley already fought Machen twice and had a draw and a win.

Sonny Liston would be a huge favorite over Jones, and he'd already knocked out BOTH Williams and Patterson twice.

So it looks like the final would be Liston vs. the Terrell-Folley winner. (And Liston had already knocked out Folley, too.) (If Machen got thru, Terrell had a decision over Machen in 1965.)

So Liston vs. Terrell in the finals.

Kind of a blowout tournament.

 

In tournaments, you don't usually pit the top two in the semifinals. That's why you rank them. So if no upsets occur, your final has the #1 against the #2.

 

Liston and Terrell would be deserving of the finals.

Terrell beat Machen, Chuvalo and Jones in 1965/66 in real life. And Liston had dominated the others - Patterson, Williams and Folley (none of whom made it past three rounds with Sonny).

In 1965, I'd still take Liston over Terrell. I don't think Sonny would "phantom punch" it.