Ali himself said Rocky would be a tough out and I believe any iteration of Frazier would be a tough out because of the relentless pressure and fighting small.
Mike Tyson fought less than 3 1/2 rounds from 1991 to 1996 and still managed to beat Frank Bruno and Bruce Seldon back to back to win the WBC and WBA belts, respectively. Gerald McClellan had a string of first- and second-round KOs and then beat Julian Jackson. Thomas Hearns didn’t break a sweat in a pair of first-round KOs and managed to overcome his inactivity to knock out Pipino Cuevas. Hell, Floyd Patterson got KO’d twice in one round by Liston, then beat a guy in eight rounds before topping Eddie Machen on a timeline that parallels Sonny’s through the second Ali fight. It’s a Festivus miracle!!!
I have Liston eighth on my ATG list behind Ali, Louis, Holmes, Johnson, Marciano, Foreman and Frazier and ahead of Tyson and Lewis. If you disagree, I hope we can disagree agreeably.
Good list. I guess he is worthy of consideration and I was perhaps being a little harsh but for me Tyson and Lewis are well ahead of Liston. As well as Holyfield, Wladimir Klitschko and possibly Jack Dempsey as well.
I think there was note about few rounds per fight Foreman had fought going into Zaire - Bob Sheridan also made reference to it in his pre-fight commentary, and during the fight he also noted the point at which Foreman had passed the most rounds he’d fought in several years.
For as long as it lasted, Ali looked superb in Lewiston. Unfortunately, due to how it went down and the brevity of the fight - I think we missed out on what could’ve perhaps been lauded as Ali’s great performance in its own right. Ali’s mobility was incredible and I do believe he was looking to hit hard from the outset - he caught Liston with a good right from the get go and then another jarring right shortly after that. Ali was that much lighter and shredded (206 lb?) but he looked that much stronger (than he was in Miami) at the same time, imo.
Sonny should be favoured, but he was also favoured against Ali. let’s not forget johansson had already kayoed Patterson before Sonny did. Ingo would have fought Sonny if he had to but he was always closer to the title any time Sonny vs Ingo could have been made. There is a 1962 article where Ingo is interviewed watching film of Sonny and he shows interest in exploiting technical flaws that he views in Liston. “I would like to fight Liston and if he wins (against Patterson) I would get a chance at the title again, but I am sure Patterson would not fight me again. So if Liston wins, it is good for me.” -ingemar Johansson.
Losing to the greatest mobile HW of all time does not mean he'd have trouble with mobile boxers. His pre-Ali work against the "elitish" of his time kinda shows Ali was just his poison. You are correct he didn't, so how could he possibly be exposed........ again those results were never duplicated........And unless another Ali came along, I doubt they would be. There's no one that Ali beat during that first reign that would've beat Liston, hell 3 of those guys Liston had already beaten. I also think Frazier would've lost to Liston.
Could you please quote the exact post where that was said? I may have missed it, in which case apologies for that. Thanks in advance.
As much I dislike him Wladimir should be above Liston I mean he did make 23 title defenses compared to Liston with only 2. And arguably Holyfield should be above Liston ?