I was wondering what qualities in fighters will be remembered or forgotten in the future in terms of making them look better legacy wise. as an example some fighters get overlooked or criticized for being boring/safe, but will their success in other areas compensate that and eventually give them a legacy ten times what it is now? Just saw an article about Lennox Lewis and it made me realise, this guy had a lot of critics but compared to recent heavyweights he is a god. He seems like a good example of a fighters who’s legacy is improving with time, but wasn’t really appreciated while he was around, similar to Holmes I guess. The big names will always be up there, with their legacy’s enduring time but I wonder with some of those guys if the black marks will be remembered or slowly be forgotten, will the invincible fighters that got beaten be still remembered as invincible in 50 years?
Well, it's been almost 50 years or so since Sonny Liston had his last fight and judging by current opinion of him on forums like this, surely it won't be long before the legacy of Liston reaches mythical proportions? The man's entire life and indeed his death are seemingly shrouded in mystery and intrigue and this in turn, with each passing year, seems to have contributed to building an almost superhuman aura around the boxer within the ring as well, even though with every of those passing years, the number of those who actually saw him fight live, sadly also decreases.
Very true Ken, what u said. It's the passage of time that can really distort things. In fact the less film footage of a boxer there is, the more he can be moulded to a certain extent. U can't really do that nowadays because most fighters are right there on film for all to see, warts and all. But a big chunk of liston s career wasn't filmed. Tht main fight s that are watched are Patterson and ali fight s so a lot of his story is confined to that era. And fighters from seventy - eighty years ago even more so. Tyson if he had come along eighty years ago would have been seen today probably as a lot greater fighter than he actually was. Time can either build u up or knock u down I believe.
The Liston weight-ins were sometimes more interesting than the fights themselves. Liston putting the "evil eye" on some fighter (or Cassius Clay going ballistic).
Liston is an interesting one because of the Ali loses as well. It seems like they are having less impact on his legacy as time goes on. The rematch is pretty much written off and the first fight he was old and past it. that's not even going into the conspiracy theory's regarding fixes wrong doings etc. might be smoke and mirrors but those stories have an impact, is part of teh legend. he had that devastating prime which captures the public imagination, that span of invisibility goes a long way even when they lose.
Liston stock rises and falls dramatically. After Nick Tosches book on him, folks spoke of prime Liston as unbeatable. When I joined this forum a dozen years ago, it was heresy to pick against him in a head to head matchup. Later the pendulum swung back and Liston became a mere bully with no heart, a guy who could blast out no-hopers but not compete with the division's historical elites. As far as more recent champs, Wlad will probably get the Holmes treatment in a decade or two and be seen (rightly, I believe) as one of the greater champs the division has seen. I am interested to see where Hopkins' value goes, if people see his resume as the result of a lot matchmaking or true greatness. Tho undeniably great, I wonder also where Floyd will be seen in a decade.
