Joe Louis vs sonny liston

60/40 fight for me (Louis) .. Louis' infighting, hand speed, combos are going to land on Sonny and he will beat Sonny to the punch ..but Louis will right there for the Sonny to hit and he could drop Louis a few times .. I'm staying away from this one

 

Liston would clobber Louis . Better jab, stronger, longer reach, less hittable.

Style wise Liston would jump on him early and force Louis into the type of fight he doesn't like and that's being pressed. Liston would manage trading blows alot better and take 3 to land 1 if he had too.

Louis had never encountered a big bruiser like Liston. It would really just be a bigger Marciano whaling on him and Louis chin is suspect with fights he's been dropped in.

70/30 .Liston

 

" force Louis into the type of fight he doesn't like and that's being pressed". Louis made such a statement about himself regarding his fight with Marciano. Prime, pre-WW2 Louis would weigh-in at 200 lbs, and Liston at his standard 212 lbs. Heights similar, but Liston would a have 6 inch reach advantage. But Louis fought several guys that were much bigger than Liston (i.e. Buddy Baer, Al Simon, Primo), and others that had similar or longer reaches than Louis. Up to the Clay fight Liston had never really been shaken by an opponent's punch. But, the fast right hands of Clay, did wobble Liston several times in Fight #1. Neither fighter really has a Plan B, if things start going bad in Plan A. Therefore.,if Schmeling I Louis shows up, Liston wins in an 8 round war of attrition, but if super motivated Louis of Schmeling 2, could surprise everyone and take Liston out early when Liston realizes he is not the only bully in the ring.

 

In a trilogy the first fight liston wins by ko. For the rest of the fights louis will learn of former mistakes and he wins early by ko

 

Ali was 6'3 with 80 inch reach and mobile. Louis was not a fighter who covered a lot of ground, his movement was dictated to his opponents using slow and steady movements.

Liston's jab alone disrupts all this coupled with actual decent punching technique with power added , Louis had never faced anyone with good size and skills comparing to Liston.

By the Ali fights he was also past his best, the shots he took from Williams who was also a lengthy hard hitter shows he's going to take take direct hard punches while Louis showed he didn't react well with some.

Smelling only threw 2 punches in the rematch, its as questionable as the Ali / Liston rematch.

 

My thoughts exactly (though I'd be rooting for Liston to make me eat my words). Also don't see Louis (or anyone else for that matter) knocking Liston out early.

 

I have long enjoyed watching the Liston pendulum swing from GOAT to Bum... Testing the waters to see where it is now...

 

Me too, Liston in the first fight gets a ko more spectacular than Schmeling I but gets beat and stopped anywhere from 8 to 10 rounds in rematches.

 

Louis.
Sonny is not someone who would crowd Louis, because he isn't volume puncher.
Joe Louis had a jab equal to Sonny's, maybe not harder bur faster and sharper.Sonny is slow and that is bad when you are going to fight Joe Louis.
Max Baer was better than Cleveland Williams, and Louis made a quick work of him and stopping him very easy while Sonny had his hands full while fighting Cleveland Williams.
Every punch Sonny throw at Joe Louis would cost him very much because Sonny had two flaws and those are being open to left hook and right hand and guess what was Louis best weapon....exactly.
I think that Sonny would trouble Louis and drop him 2 times but Louis would rise and knock him like he did to Galento or Baer.
I pick Louis by 6th-9th round TKO and if Sonny last longer to 13th round, it would be just KO.

 

I think Sonny's jab is the key to him beating Louis as it will disrupt Louis when he gets set to punch not to mention it hit with the force of some fighters right hands .There's going to be a clash early in this fight and Joe Louis was not generally a quick starter , the Schmelling rematch aside and I think Listons power will have a big effect on Louis as I think he'll be the one to have to back up . I rank Joe Louis higher all time but this is a bad matchup for Joe as he will be right there for Sonny . Liston by KO.

 

I would favor Joe Louis and would want him to win personally. But Liston would be extremely dangerous.

 

Liston never ever ko'ed a fighter of Louis's caliber..............he met one green opponent of Joe's abilities and he was looking for the soft spot not only once but twice, absolute fact.................and after those two quit jobs never ever got himself into title contention again, fought nothing but club circuit fighters and even that back fired when he was one punch ko'ed....................and there were plenty of opportunities fighting live bodies but Liston did not fancy his chances, instead he succumbed to the Golden Dragon.

 

Awful tight fight. I lean ever so slightly towards Joe. 2 of the ATG's

 

I agree Louis could get decked with something long from the outside. Louis often doesn't get credit for his great jab, and I see that jab getting Joe into mid-close quarters, where his speedy combos are so deadly.

Louis UD/late TKO.