How do you rank Liston's defensive skills?

What a goddamn beast. I'm sure i watched this a while back, but jeez. It was sure worth another watch. He's got so much force, and the way he puts those punches together. It makes me feel justified in considering him such a H2H force. The mans got a lot going for him.

 

Basic but effective. He knew how to catch shots and block with a high guard, good head movement, also had solid footwork to glide out of range. Nothing stands out but did everything well on top of KO power which is a deadly combination. The usual suspects delude themselves reducing him to a slow easy to hit brawler

 

It's a bit like Sam Langford - the height and build don't necessarily match the nimbleness and subtlety of their skillset.

Liston clearly has one of the strongest jabs ever at HW and is deceptively 'fast enough' at close range with both hands and in combination. He has attributes that would sit extremely well on a man of a larger frame.

Louis, Liston, Holyfield - very different fighters, easily amongst the most complete of the ATGs.

 

Size queens are a dime a dozen around here. There's also a set against him by some, as well as some not seeing the forest for the tree's. There's multiple factors involved.

McGrain touched on part of it (via Cleveland Williams) not long back, and he was hardly wrong -

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...er-to-beat-liston.738816/page-8#post-23466521

 

It’s neat to see Liston doing neck exercises it’s something that the “science” caught up on… boxers have been training there neck for shock absorption for years, I wonder when F1 drivers and Football players picked up on it for those benefits? I noticed in the clips I’ve seen of Liston they’re always holding the bag for him, I assume these are later in his career when he’d started to lose his legs.

 

I’ve seen this vid before and it’s a brilliantly compiled montage. While displaying Liston’s nimbleness it also reflects how assiduously he trained.

Just random but I came across a rare pic of Williams and Liston standing side by side, circa ‘62. @swagdelfadeel , you might not have seen this one before brother?

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1962-press-photo-sonny-liston-fellow-2853715009