How High Can Liston Be Reasonably Ranked?

I've seen him ranked that high (by @McGrain, I think, and maybe one or two others) and it's questionable but I remember it being defended quite well in the past.
There's a good argument to say Louis and Ali are top 2, and there's 5 or 6 names in the second tier that can be ordered in any manner.

 

Yes you can make a decent argument that prime Liston was the best head to head heavyweight of all time based on his technical skills, power, and chin. He was an absolute beast when he was a contender and to me the notion that some have about his physicality is absurd. The man had immense functional strength and was probably the second strongest heavyweight of all time next to Foreman.

 

Yet he quit twice against the first what I would call a modern heavy, a green Clay.

Cleaned out all contenders ? Again, by todays standards those contenders would have gotten their heads clean blown off by a big number of fighters coming after Liston.......the vast majority would not even be Heavies...

Cleveland williams.......the definition of a cream puff......he punched hard...and ?.......so did tommy Morrison.

Patterson were good wins, but again, there are numerous post Liston Modern heavies who would have iced him as quickly.

To me , Liston is the most hysterically over rated Heavy , bar none, next to jack Johnson.

 

I think he’s overrated. He looked great on film but the opposition was thin and he was bigger than most of the men he fought. I can see why he comes off as a good h2h fighter but I wouldn’t give him a high ranking in any other aspect

 

Me, based on H2H.
Based on resume, bottom half of the top 10.

 

I do

1. Ali
2. Louis
3. Holmes
4. Foreman
5. Liston
6. Lewis
7. Holyfield
8. Frazier
9. Marciano
10. Tyson

H2H, he starches Lewis IMO, outslugs a game Holyfield and mauls Frazier and Marciano. Tyson has a chance because of his combination of speed and power but Liston probably is too strong on the inside.

I slightly favour Foreman to outslug him. Louis-Liston is close to 50-50 with Louis a slight favourite. Holmes-Liston is close too; if Larry stands stationary (which he did at times), Liston would maul him. Holmes would need a perfect performance to win a close decision but i think its 50-50.

Ali is too quick for any version of Liston but Ali is in a league of his own.

Because Liston is a clear favourite over my 6-10, and is almost 50-50 with my #2-4, its hard not to rank him highly. I don't like his quitting vs Ali but its hard not to rank him highly.

Liston to be was champion from 1958-64. He was denied a title shot.

 

I rate Sonny as one of the best outstanding challengers to the title of all time. Probably nobody looked as good on the way up. . He rates #16 on my all time heavyweight list for me.

I would have liked Sonny to fight Ingo, Terrell, Jones and Frazier.

 

I love Patterson. He's my 3rd favorite fighter but I can't for the life of me see any way to put him above Dempsey.

 

How does he rank as champion................ when he QUIT on his stool......................

 

Quite a few people have him up there including Sports Illustrated. Herb Goldman, a well respected historian has him even higher at #2!

 

OK, this is a stretch.

 

Very reasonable. My thoughts are similar.

 

Think the problem w Liston is there is the Liston that hadn’t won the belt yet and the Liston after who was already older and not hungry and an addict (his own doing). Think you’re severely underrating him. Machen Folley Nino Patterson were excellent fighters and he beat them handily. Some were on the small side (except Nino) but those were the better fighters of the day. The Bakers of time weren’t as good as the Folley and Moore’s and Patterson’s of the time. Without steroids today fighters would be much lighter and the smaller ones would be competitive just like then.