How do you rate Sonny liston?

What Sonny Liston had was the intimidation factor, and it has been said that during the referee's instructions at mid ring, that trainer Willie Reddish would stuff Liston's robe with towels to make his shoulders appear larger than they really were. Also Liston had that very intimidating stare, that he probably used in roughing up loan shark clients, as well as other fellow inmates in the penitentiary yard. These psychological attributes as well as very good boxing skills, would enable him to conquer other greats of the past. A match against the prime Kevin Rooney Mike Tyson would be interesting, but remember Sonny has beaten Cus D Amato trained fighters before, an example being Floyd Patterson, twice. Tyson, although has suffered well documented mental setbacks in his young career would provide an interesting match, to beat Liston, one would have to employ styles similar to that of Muhammad Ali and Eddie Machen. These two fighters excelled in spoiling Sonny;s quick knockout style. Mike's style would not fare well as Sonny would enjoy a fighter coming to him, so that he could hit them with his 14 inch fist. A prime George Foreman would be a better contested match, as both of them were devastating punchers, and size wise makes for an all out brawl fight. And quite possibly a prime Larry Holmes because of the movement factor in this match, Larry had one of the hardest left jabs to equal that of Sonny's. Holmes had a great heart as a fighter, as seen in his fights against Ken Norton and Earnie Shavers. If there had not been a young Muhammad Ali, Sonny Liston would have cleaned out the heavyweight division.

 

Just outside the top 10.

 

I rate Sonny as the best heavyweight in the world from the Patterson fight to the Ali fight.

He is my all time #15 heavyweight. So I rate him very highly indeed.