How Liston does with past champs from a 1963 article.

What i think people forget is on that nite ali fought probably the best he ever did against liston. People say williams and he was very very good that nite but it was a mismatch as such. Watch the performance against liston again. Ali showed absolutely everything. I cant think of a better performance in terms of skill. Maybe had big george foreman coming out and bashing up frazier but on a skill level i still say ali was the best i ever seen from any heavyweight probably ever.

And liston was still in the fight. On the back of that listons been regarded a lot lower than he should be today. I dont think anyone would have beat ali that nite imo. As someone said ali was the joker of the pack he messed up some good legacies.

I say that liston would have beat clay after the lay off. And clay was able to beat frazier foremann as well as some other great fighters after it. Without his movement in the first fight which was never the same after the layoff liston would have beat him. Because liston was a great fighter just beat by an unbeilevable fighter. And thats what ali was. I know people try to rewrite history but ali really does deserve the credit most people give him. Wins against frazier foremann liston alone should see him as the best heavyweight ever probably fighting in the toughest era ever.

 

One of the most absurd statements ever on these boards is that if Liston did not retire on his stool he would have beaten Ali in fight one.

Round five Liston came on because Ali was blinded. If Liston was unable to stop a blind Ali he was not stopping one that could clearly see. Round six was a dominant round for Ali as his vision cleared. Ali's jab was so quick and Liston so tired he could not slip it. Liston was cut, his eyes swollen and he was exhausted by the end on round six. There was no indication whatsoever that he was "coming on".....he was quite obviously fading badly.

Had Liston not given up his world Hwt champion sitting on his stool and instead fought on he would have lost every further round leading to a stoppage for Ali around the 10th round.