I'm not gunning for Liston. I like Liston. Young had a way of beating people he wasn't supposed to beat. I wonder if people here think he had a chance against Liston.
Liston actually had a great jab and real boxing ability and was on a separate pedestal compared to Young. I doubt young could deal with Liston's combos and jab in his prime
Jimmy Young was a good fighter to be sure. But I think he gets too many props in head to head match ups, and usually for the wrong reasons. He beat George Foreman and gave both Norton and Ali fits in fights that might even have resulted in robberies.. But the latter two of those three were past their primes while the former was at a bad place in his career. In most of those instances, they were close fights anyway and none of the above had anything in common with a prime Liston. Young's biggest strength was his elusiveness and the ability to make "good" fighters look unimpressive. But he wasn't what I would ever call a clear winner. He lacked power for a heavyweight, was non-aggressive in most instances and opted to play it safe. His durability and elusive style would force Sonny to work for the win, and it would by no means be an easy task.. But Liston's jab, reach, power, accuracy and persistence would earn him points on most judge's cards.. He might even deck Jimmy a time or two. I like Sonny by a decision or late stoppage..
Sonny's not chasing him like Foreman did in Puerto Rico. Liston stays mid ring and jabs away at distance. He'd also score to Young's body. Jimmy was tough, and much faster than Sonny, but as good a jab as he had, he wasn't super aggressive with it like Pastrano could be in his initiatory multiple jabbing first and run style. Foreman wasted a lot of energy on Young that Liston would not have bothered expending. Boring match, but clear win for Sonny. Jimmy wouldn't be facing an opponent negative boxing would work particularly well against, but somebody who could station himself in ring center, and patiently unload his reliable jab continually.
not so sure Sonny could just stay ring center popping the jab if Jimmy kept coming in blocking or slipping it while landing combinations on the slower Liston. And I am a Liston fan, he was badass!
Have to go with Liston on this one, either by UD or late stoppage. Young could certainly frustrate him and make him look unimpressive but Sonny's jab and aggressiveness would win rounds. If Liston could land a few heavy blows, he might wear Young down sufficiently to stop him. A prime or near-prime Young was difficult to defeat clearly, let alone stop. Liston had the style and tools to do it. I believe the best Young might do is to win a moral victory by duplicating Eddie Machen's feat of taking Liston the distance, losing the decision but making Sonny look bad.
the jimmy young who faced foreman would beat liston by decision, liston would look stupid and young would get robbed once more.
the power of liston is overrated and he was slow, i doubt that he was much faster than foreman, and liston never did hit as hard as george, foreman was taller,heavier, bigger,took a better punch and he was stronger,plus he did show a much bigger heart, young could deal with the power of foreman and shavers so a prime young would take the shots from liston, young was too elusive, durable and smart for liston h2h, machen could last the distance with liston... young would do it much better, a decision victory for liston is possible but i go with young.
Young strived on slower guys. Liston was faster than Foreman, Lyle, and Shavers yet he still had similar power to them. He actually put together combos and had a great jab to boot. Okay you think that Foreman was better in these areas. That's fine, but Foreman's tactics against Young weren't really good enough. Liston actually was able to throw good, accurate combinations, and had a variety to his jab. George was an easier style match up for Young, and he didn't have half of the skills Liston had, technically speaking. Foreman never really had great finishing ability, especially not compared to Liston Well it's not just about chin, I think he would go to Young's body after figuring him out in a few rounds, similar to the Machen match. Machen was more aggressive towards Liston, much more aggressive than Young would ever be towards a puncher like Liston. He probably stops him late.