A tense meeting between Marciano and Liston

The story I heard was Liston said paraphrasing I would have beaten you and Marciano thundered go get your gear! Implying they would fight in the ring. A lot of these things are legends that get enhanced or fabricated. Does anyone believe a prime Liston would fear a 7 years from his last fight Rocky? Maybe it was that Liston was embarrassed at disrespecting the so thought of legendary ex champ and stood down but afraid of a whoopin??? Naah.

 

Liston represented a new breed of HWs post Marciano.. bigger, stronger.. a debate as to who would have won isn’t just about size.. though Liston had upwards of 30lbs on him & a huge reach advantage.. it’s about contrasting styles, eras, and intangibles.. Liston’s size and power give him a theoretical edge in a H2H matchup, but Marciano’s record, resilience, and ability to defy odds make a strong case for him.. Liston never came close to achieving what Rocky did despite having numerous physical gifts & advantages.. gifts that Marciano never had. That's why I rate Marciano as a greater fighter.

 

Best analysis of this incident so far.

 

Rocky used to lock himself away before fights. Didn’t even see his wife for 2 weeks prior as I’ve read it.

I would assume that type of isolation would’ve meant “let alone” doing interviews or the like.

This sounded like the day of/day prior to fight time - very close to fight time at any rate.

As the fight drew close, Sonny’s team probably should’ve called for a shutdown on visits and media blackout themselves.

 

Liston didn't even come into contention before around '59, when Rocky was 36. Why should he have come out of retirement at 36 to face a contender? It would make no sense for him to come out of retirement for anything else than a title fight and he was closing in on 40 when Liston became champ. At no time did it make sense for him to face Liston.

He was contemplating to come back and challenge Petterson. By then he was only in his mid 30's I think but still decided against it, which makes perfect sense to me.