Hasim Rahman vs. Sonny Liston

Liston, easily. Mid round knockout.

 

IMO Hasim is a good all round fighter, Liston an arguably all time great. Hasim did have a pretty good chin. He stood up to Tua's bombs. It took a conditioned and focussed Lewis to stop him. His other stoppages had an element of bad luck.

Point is, could Liston do what Lewis did? Maybe. Maybe not.

I feel that a Liston Victory is certain. But it would not have been easy. Hasim would have given Liston an argument before losing.

 

abraq I am a fan of hasim rahman, but I mean look at his two fights with oleg maskaev, a mediocre fighter. He could not take maskaevs clubs.

 

Thats abouit how I see it too.

 

First of all Maskaev was hardly mediocre, and secondly looking at only the losses in Rahman's career does not sum him up fairly. He scored Ko's over Lennox Lewis and Corrie Sanders, along with having a hard fought draw against David Tua.

That said, I would favor Liston heavily to win this fight and without much trouble, but not based on the same criterian that you provided.

 

Liston, easily.

But Rahman is an underrated fighter and actually reminds me a little of Liston, at least physically. Barrel chested, not overly tall (6-1, 6-2) with an epic wingspan that allowed him (like Liston) to outjab much taller guys. Against Maksaev Rahman was actually the shorter guy but had a very noticeable reach adv. Of course his chin let him down again :yep

 

That was not my analysis as too why liston would beat rahman, only me stating facts why rahman is not even close to the same class as liston and this thread shouldnt be made. Rahman is a bit of a very poor mans liston. Rahman would be totally overmatched, Rahmans best weapon his jab would be negated by listons superior jab.

systically I see this fight as a jabbing match, with liston having the upperhand. liston would outbox rahman at all ranges, and would take apart rahman at mid range with his hooks/uppercuts. Rahmans inability to to keep up the pace as the fight goes on will cost him against liston.


Maskaev is mediocre, i watched his fight with the harpooned whale kirk johnson, both looked awful.

 

Rahman is one of my favorite fighters, but his embarrasing rematch knockout loss to maskaev(after rahman easily won the first 3 rounds then fought like ****) totally left a sour taste in my mouth about rahman.


I loved the way vitali cancelled the rahman fight 4 times, then did the staredown with rahman and then suddenly retired. It would have been the first young prime in shape contender vitali would have faced. vitali wanted no part of it.

 

You specifically said " look at his two fights with Oleg Maskaev, a mediocre fighter. " You state facts well enough, but only select ones that support your point, and not always the whole story.

 

pot, kettle, black

 

I used to have Hasim Rahman rated in my top 40 heavyweights of all time. After his rematch embarrasing performance and knockout loss to 38 year old oleg maskaev.........I dropped him out of my top 50