First to defeat Marciano

Okay, so forget about the fact that Louis was past it when he faced Rocky, while Rocky was at his peak, then forget about how Rocky would have been past it in 1960, while Liston was peak, and forget about how Liston was past it in 1969,

all for the purpose of using the Leotis Martin fight as an example.....Right?

Now that we're ready to talk sensibly, power is not the only factor that needs to be examined here. There is the issue, of speed, timing, reflexes, stamina, ability to take a punch, etc. These things are crucial when one all time great faces another, and they are usually long gone by the time a man hits his late 30's.. Additionally, I will point out that while power may be the last thing to go, most of these guy's punching ability were pretty much gone by the time they reached the late stages of their careers. Louis was no longer the punching machine that he had been 10 years prior to the Marciano fight, as reflected by many of his recent results going into that match. He went from anialating world champions to decisioning journeyman. Also, a lot of his power came from his lightening fast combo's which were basically gone. Liston had similar problems in his old age, as he was no longer flattening the divisions best contenders, but struggling with men like Martin and Wepner.

 

That was a pretty foolish example on my part I guess.

I was never sold on Liston though. He looked like a machine, but some of those guys were there for the taking.

I would just want to see how Sonny would react to a top notch fighter.

The only one he fought IMO was Ali and well you know it's Ali. Patterson, Machen, and Folley don't cut it for me.

 

fair enough