A comparison of Liston and Usyk's best opponents

I started doing this in a couple of different ways in a couple of different threads, and thought it would be fun to put it all together. Right now it's Usyk vs everybody, but Liston is a guy that people have been intrigued to compare him against for a long time.

A few caveats:
1) The rankings are of course what they were when our boys fought them, although I thought it was fair to mention that some of Usyk's are former champs, as that has a certain prestige. I included a lot of guys under Liston who were ranked at one time or another, some briefly.

2) I cannot find WBC archives for Uysk's oponnents

3) I cannot find New York State Athletic Commmision Ratings for Liston, and those are purely NBA

4) Because of rehydration, some of Uysk opponents may have been significantly heavier on the actual fight night.

5) If anyone wants to suggest fighters be added, or subtracted, go ahead.

6) I did the best I could but this was a lot of work, so let me know if I missed something.

7) The rankings are a bit of an approximation for month. Because I don't have the day that the rating was released, if I went to the month the fight happened, I might be looking at the rating after the loss. So for a lot of these, I took the month before.

USYK'S BEST OPPONENTS
Glowacki- 6'0", 199, WBO Cruiser Champ
Mchunu- 5'11", 198.5, #12 WBO, #14 IBF
Hunter- 6'2", 199.25, #9 WBO Cruiser
Huck- 6'2", 198, #9 WBO, former champ
Briedis- 6'1", 199, WBC Cruiser Champ
Gassiev- 6'3.5", 198, IBF/WBA Cruiser Champ
Bellew- 6'3", 199, #1 WBO, , #4 WBA cruiser, former champ
Chisora- 6'1.5", 255.5, #8 WBO, #10 IBF, #11 WBA, all at heavyweight
Joshua- 6'6", 240 IBF/WBA/WBO Heavyweight Champ
Joshua- 6'6, 244.5, #4 WBO, #4 IBF #4WBA, Former Champion
Dubois- 6'5", 233, #8 WBO Heavweight (and mando somehow)
Fury-- 6'9", 262, WBC Heavyweight Champ
Fury- 6'9", 281, WBC #1, WBO #1, WBA #3,
Dubois- 6'5", 243, IBF Champion

LISTON'S BEST
Patterson- 6'0", 189, World Champion
Patterson- 6'0", 194, #1 NBA contender
Foley- 6'1",198.5, #3 NBA contender, #1 Ring Magazine
Williams- 6'2", 215.5 Unranked
Willlams- 6'2", 210, # NBA 10 contender
Machon- 6'0", 196, #2 NBA Contender, #3 Ranked Ring Magazine
Valdez- 6'3", 211, #2 Ring Magazine
Summerline 6'1", 201, Unranked
Summerline 6'1", 206, Unranked
Marshall, 6'0.5", 18, Unranked
Marshall, 6'0.5", 179, "Honorable Mention" at LHW
Wepner, 6'5", 228, Unranked
Clark, 6'3", 215, #5 NBA contender
Rischer, not listed, 200, Unranked
Bethea, 6'0", 204, #8 Ring magazine
Westphal, 5'7.5", 195, Unranked
Besmanoff, 5'11", 201, Unranked
Harris, 6'0", 195, #6 NBA, #7 Ring Magazine
Dejohn, 6'2.5", 202, #9 ranked NBA, #8 Ranked Ring Magazine

 

FIx'ED!"

 

I agree, and like I said in another thread, I always accorded the same standards to Ezzard Charles--giving him credit for beating LHWs and middles who were good enough themselves to beat some heavies.

Really, guys fight guys coming up from other weight classes all the time. Liston himself suffered a bad break and got the SD loss to Marshall, who was a ranked LHW, and Holmes, who is listed here by many as a top 3 guy, lost to a LHW, and you can go on and on with that, so I don't see why Usyk's victories over strapping cruisers don't count for something.

Still, at the end of the day, it is fun to see that both guys have records that are remarkable for their day.