Anthony Joshua vs Sonny Liston who wins? Poll

Honestly, people overrate past fighters wayyy too much...Liston had powerful jab but he was busy knocking out small guys... Liston would get bulldozed by Joshua and whiplashed by wilder...

 

This poll is a F joke!

 

I think it's unfair to say Liston had no heart. He had no education, couldn't read or write and didn't have the backing of Matchroom or PBC to protect him. In fact he was controlled by the mob. Plus he could've been as old as 38 when he fought Ali the first time.

Being only 6'0" would work against him but he did have good reach and one of the best jabs in history.

AJ should be able to do enough to coast to a UD but would not be surprised if Liston found a way inside to topple him.

I'm a little biased as we're expecting a son any day now and we're still decideing whether we'll go for Marvin (after Hagler) or Liston as his name.

 

I'm still only 60% convinced AJ can win this. He has improved quite a bit and devloping in to a well rounded fighter who can box behind a jab, can use some lateral movement, and can slug on the inside. But the main two things that are still bugging me about AJ are his stiffness. For one, he's obsessed with looking like a Nike model and still hasn't improved his head movement. No doubt all that excess muscle only makes this glaring weakness even worse. The Ruiz rematch was great, but if we're being completely honest Ruiz was lighting him up multiple times with flush hooks and uppers anytime he managed to get close. And that was a morbidly obese slow footed Ruiz who didn't bother making adjustments, not the determined focused Ruiz from the first fight.

The second thing buggin me about AJ is that we haven't really seen him tested in a fire fight outside of Whyte and Wladmir and those bouts were ages ago. Whyte was a fairly inexperienced one dimensional slugger at the time, and Wladmir was past 40 and hesitating to pull the trigger. To give AJ credit, he got hurt badly and came back to win both fights against 2 of the best opponents in the division. But lately he hasn't really been pushed or tested outside of a bloody nose from Povetkin. Parker accomplished nothing and neither man really exerted themselves in a fairly boring uneventful fight full of clinching. Takam was interesting but sorely lacked the power to really bother AJ. I thought Pulev might be able to pull something off but he got dismantled completely from start to finish.

I think we'll know for sure if AJ is a complete package and a h2h monster if he can beat the winner of Wilder/Fury and Usyk. Wilder will answer the question of Joshua's chin, if he can survive that and win no one can question it. Fury will test his boxing IQ and see if he can make adjustments and beat a highly skilled boxer his own size. Usyk can potentially take him into deep waters with his scrappyness, experience, and southpaw stance. Plus in regards to Liston, Usky's fairly similar in size so it can give us a blue print on how AJ would deal with old school skilled fighters.

 

I agree with most of your post except the bolded.

Unless you have slick footwork and superb outside ability, no boxer in history is going to "coast" to a clear UD over Liston. You will be in for a rough night.

Congratulations on your son. Those are some badass names.

 

Liston would kill him.

 

I'd make Liston in his prime maybe a 70-30 pick.

 

Liston had a much better jab, a better chin, much better stamina, was more accurate, was a smarter fighter, MUCH better head movement. Those are off the top of my head, you say Joshua definitely hits harder because he has a higher KO percentage. Are you serious? Do you not understand this sport at all? He also has a higher KO percentage than Earnie shavers, which one would you rather take a punch from? Sonny’s KO percentage was 68% because he had a difficult time pinning down smaller lighter on their feet fighters who often fought to survive against him. Show me some clips of Joshua putting his opponents through the ropes or knocking them out cold like Sonny did. Joshua has to take 2-3 rounds off everytime he puts a few combinations together and you think he is going to walk through Sonny Liston? Cleveland Williams, although limited - was also a big musclely specimen who had fast hands and put combinations on Liston, who weathered the early storm and then destroyed him, this fight would go the same way of AJ tried to take Liston out, and if he tried to box Sonny, he would have more success but I see him getting hurt and stopped late in the fight. You really need to learn more about Liston if you think he is as overrated as you say.
Guru

 

AJ could win but I can definitely see Liston winning so it would be who implemented their game plan best on the day AJ would need to use his speed and athleticism and Liston would need to use that excellent jab.

 

AJ too quick and well rounded overall for Liston.

 

Just because you declare your opinions facts does not make it so. Salt water weighs 8.6 lbs per gallon. That's a fact. You can use it to make various calculations. Your declaration that Joshua has greater power than Liston (or various of your other statements) is an opinion. There is no science behind it. You cannot back it up by citing a study that measured their respective power by psi, nor speed or in any other way because those studies do not exist. That you declare it beyond debate is laughable. However, this is a common failing recently. I don't blame you in particular.

FACT!

 

Liston gets knocked out in the first round in a complete mismatch. Old fighters can't compete with elite modern fighters, especially when they are also physically disadvantaged.

 

LOL, but a obese non ranked short average punching power Taco Bell stand owner made him spit his mouth piece out and quit........

 

In a matchup between two of the heavyweight division's most notorious quitters ...

I see both guys trying to land first ... Both graze the other ...

Liston goes down on his knees from a glancing right ...

While Joshua falls down from a glancing left to the top of the head and spits out his mouthpiece ...

Liston gets on one knee ... and then rolls over on his back with his arms over his head waiting for a count that doesn't come ... gets on a knee again, rolls over again ... still no count ...

Because the referee is in the opposite corner with Joshua trying to put Joshua's mouthpiece in ...

But as soon as the mouthpiece is back in Joshua spits it out and points to it on the ground ... wanting it rinsed off.

The bell rings ending round 1.

Liston and Joshua remain in the corners ... Liston is complaining of a sore shoulder ...

While Joshua keeps nodding yes ... and keeps spitting out his mouthpiece and pointing to it on the floor wanting it to be washed off.

The bell rings for Round 2.

Both guys remain in their corners. Neither will move, Liston continues to rub his shoulder while Joshua continues nodding yes and spitting out a mouthpiece.

Because neither will leave his corner, the ref DQs them both ...

Joshua, suddenly all smiles, puts on his Beats by Dre headphones, grabs the mic and thanks James Corbin for coming (he hasn't seen him since the first Ruiz quit job) ... and he says see you all next time ... while Liston puts a towel over his head, grabs a syringe from the bucket and shoots up a speedball.

Then, everyone switches over to the Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul exhibition.

Yep, that's how it goes down.

 

Andy Ruiz would also beat Liston.