How did this guy beat Liston?

Let us not forget Liston came back 7 months later and wiped the floor with Marshall, dropping him no less than 4 times on his way to a 6th round stoppage. a year later Liston beat him 9 rounds to 1 as well. If these two subsequent bouts don't erase the first then we need to reduce about 179 legends back to also rans.

 

How did this guy "beat" Liston ?
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRh9m-rrvIk[/ame]



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Just like this guy beat "d undertaker" :
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT-oS79P-9Q[/ame]

 

Don't you dare question the greatness of Giant Gonzales Frank! That's a step too far!

 

He was considered a journeyman then & there .
Just look @ his record .
Actually i thought he was going 2 win due 2 size considerations .
Only 2 me it was not a surprise but only later i understood d hype behind d undertaker and how much a huge of n upset it was .

I was also far from surprised when Yokozuna & Gary Albright had all of their wins .

same with Douglas' "upset" over Tyson .
It was d obvious waiting 2 happen .
If u show Douglas vs Tyson 2 some1 who does not associate d faces with d names , u won't c him surprised by d end .

 

Five or more years ago, I used to give this line of reasoning on this board and was crucified for it.

 

Ditto

 

Honestly I was shocked Yokozuna could walk let alone wrestle.

 

is there film that shows that moment?

 

Doug Jones,

New York Daily News

"I can't believe they just handed this 'Clown Clay' the decision. He reminds me of that
'dancing bean' in Detroit - Marty Marshall. I asked him in the ring, are we here to fight or
f-ing dance. Cassius Clay and Marty Marshall, the both of them should be put in cages."

 

A lot of it is careful matchmaking as well.


Incidentally, I don't think Liston was technically a better fighter than Marciano ,despite the latter's supposed "crudeness".

 

Howard King knocked Sonny Liston across the ring in their 1961 fight according to a couple of old-timers I spoke to.
I find that more remarkable than a 1954 Liston dropping decision to Marshall.

 

The chain links hadn't even been assembled at that stage, my goodness. In his 6th and 7th pro fights he takes on a guy with 18 wins and wins close decisions. How horrific. Anyone putting any importance whatsoever on these two fights has one very big axe to grind.

Ridiculous.

 

At some point, Liston went from being everyone's favorite whipping boy to sacred cow. What prompted it, I don't know, but I think the pendulum probably swung too far in both directions.

Personally, I have no idea where to rate him because I don't know how much of his career was legit, and how much was smoke and mirrors.

It seems naive to believe the mafia (specifically, known fight fixer Frankie Carbo), who owned him for his career, would only fix the Ali fights for profit when they could hedge their own bets and fatten their wallets by rigging things on the way up, as well. These weren't the kind of angel investors to hope for the best with any of their guys without stacking the deck in their favor to mitigate the potential risk of one of their fighters failing.