George Foreman recent tweet about Sonny Liston

Foreman didn't mention that he was probably a teenager when he sparred with Sonny, seventeen or thereabouts. It's hard to figure Liston out because we don't even know for sure when he was born. He may have actually been past his prime in the two fixed fights against Ali. Liston and George were, undoubtedly, forces if nature. Prime for prime, I pick Liston over George.

 

it is really funny when certain people take the nice words of george as proof of anything, Foreman was 18 when they sparred, george was probably at his lightest weight of his complete career and liston was at his heaviest . Prime vs prime i could see foreman taking the power from liston in the early exchange better than vice versa. Foreman by ko in 4-5 rounds

 

My feelings exactly...just Ol' George being nice again. He can be a walking Hallmark Card sometimes.

 

Yeah George is great...have any of you seen the TV show he was involved with earlier this year? Better Late Than Never....about him and some other old dudes (Fonzie, Bill Shatner, Terry Bradshaw and some guy named Jeff as a chaperone for old folks lol) who go on a tour across Asia. Pretty decent show where you get to see a little more of George's personality as well as hilarious interactions between the group. Great to see the 4 legends enjoying themselves at this stage of their lives.

 

George needs a few lessons on how to use twitter by the looks of it lol

 

Just because Sonny had the edge in sparring doesn't make him the harder puncher either. Liston at the time probably just had better skills, I speak from experience because I've been beat up sparring weaker punchers who were smarter boxers.

 

I pick Liston in his prime (whenever that was) to beat George because Sonny's punches were more accurate and harder to avoid than George's wide-swinging punches. In this battle of Titans, Sonny would probably connect with significant blows first, and George would find himself in a Lyle-type fight again, but against a much sharper and more skilled opponent than Ron. Liston by KO.

 

Good post. Agree.

 

I agree with Foreman beating Liston in around 4 or 5 rounds. People get so excited about Liston beating 170 pound china chin Floyd Patterson and think he can knock out "true" heavyweights like that. People also love to look at the Foreman vs Ali bout and try to judge him on on fight. That is like judging Ali on him struggling with Doug Jones, or Tyson getting destroyed by Buster Douglas.

Foreman as a amateur was 225-230. I don't know why they had him lose weight when he turned pro. I heard his earlier trainers weren't really that good trainers and didn't even teach Foreman basic techniques like how to throw his punches sharper and with leverage.

George also says tons of nice things about people now. He will say he could never beat Ali but then turn around and say Ali avoided him and would never give him a rematch. He said he was afraid to fight Quarry because Quarry was that good. According to Quarry they only sparred a few rounds when George was young and Foreman was the strongest man he ever fought. If you ask Foreman now could he beat Tyson he would probably say no even though clearly he would beat Tyson even when he was old.

 

Damn, I wish I'd fought Foreman and got knocked out by him.

By now he'd be making out I was the best thing since sliced bread

 

This is basically the way I see it. It doesn't really matter who hit hardest. They both could hit but I think Liston would land the cleaner shots and more accurate shots. He also used his jab more all through his career than the Foreman did in his first career. I think Sonny stops him.

 

totally agreed, what you mentioned about his amateur weight is the truth, Foreman could carry better his natural weight in the amateurs cause he had to fight only for 4 rounds, it was the motive because he was drained until 217 pounds in his early pro career and still he looked very strong ,the guy had huge frame

 

Love George but some of the craziest comments have come out of his mouth through the years .. very inconsistent .. as far as Liston , when they sparred I believe it was post 1968 Olympics and Foreman was 19 to 20 or so .. Sonny was ancient, had to be in his early forties at the time, at least. George was bigger and likely a bit stronger but Sonny was a better over all fighter and I see him beating George by a mid round stoppage ..

 

Foreman did say he was bothered that his punches didn't seem to hurt Sonny, but you're right. Foreman turned pro with 25 total amateur fights.

Prime for prime, I like Sonny because he was more skilled, and had zero stamina problems, but man what I'd give to be ringside to see it!