Leotis Martin vs Sonny Liston ABC’s Wide World of Sports 1969 (1080p 60fps)

So did Liston throw that fight as well or was he legitimately beaten up an stopped by Martin?

 

Beautiful quality. Thanks for sharing. Take nothing for granted. Get 'em while they're hot, as they say.

 

The vid is there to watch. Liston was doing fine but got busted up and began to tire. Martin hit Sonny with a huge right, then a follow up left and right on Sonny who was already virtually out before those last two punches were landed.

Martin fought a very good and very courageous fight behind a stiff and consistent jab. Liston was indulging in alcohol and drugs and could've been as old as 45 yo or so as at the time.

After such a devastating loss. ALL credit to Sonny for fronting for the post IV - many would not have. And with NO excuses, like many others would've plied. And can you believe it? Howard Cosell actually handled the IV very well - with empathy, tact and respect, exactly the type of treatment Sonny deserved - but all too often did not receive.

 

Once Liston got busted up...and began to taste his own blood...Martin had him!

 

Yeah right, Martin beat an alcoholic dinosaur who probably was closer to 50 than 40 and was gassed early after dropping Martin

 

Looks to me Liston exerted his energy trying to get rid of Martin after the 4th. You can see how much his endurance has vastly diminished since his peak.

 

Liston looked slow, his muscle tone was diminished, he didn't look like a 37 or 39 year old man. Either he was older than that or his out of the ring lifestyle had made him old. I don't know if it is true that he was an alcoholic and a heroin user but he looked the part. Martin fought a cautious fight and probably gave Liston more respect than was necessary at the time. It looked like Martin was a step ahead most of the fight, but he might have suspected that Liston had more left than he actually had, and he stayed away. Martin looked like he could bring his right hand over Liston's jab almost anytime he wanted, and he could go to his right and land the right hand. Martin probably could have opened up earlier and ended the fight.

 

Exactly. Liston looked like a scared little boy the moment he started bleeding. Typical bully mentality. Martin busted that nose and suddenly Liston looked scared about what was coming back at him every time he threw a punch.

 

Indian Danny Lopez introduced before the fight...wow.

Sad that Martin never fought again due to a detached retina suffered in this fight. He also didn't look like he weighed 199 pounds; looked like a middle weight in there.

 

Yeah, my wording was a bit lazy. Liston was def. showing signs of fatigue before his nose was damaged.

Though slowing down a bit, he held up well up to about round 6 - I think it was part way through that round Martin stepped it up given Liston’s even more obvious slowing down which seemed to exponentially increase through round 7.

Even when Sonny had Martin hurt and bailed up on the ropes as an easy target, he really wasn’t throwing much at all. He was def. feeling the pinch.

Of course Martin then had a big round 8 - busting Sonny’s nose which also caused breathing issues for Liston with the blood flowing down into his mouth.

At the start of round 9 Sonny was extremely weary and looked like he was 100 years old…

Perhaps the Clark fight TKO 7 prior to is useful for comparison. From what I remember when I last watched that fight - though Sonny performed very well and controlled the action, you could still see hints of fatigue beginning to creep in.

I think Older Liston was def. starting with a limited gas tank in the first instance in his later 60s fights and IF Sonny’s preferred meter and pace were upset (as it was vs stoic Martin) and/or a fight extended beyond 6/7 rounds , it peeled back his age onset stamina issues to their most extreme.

 

I agree. You can tell Liston crumbled by the way he was still utilizing his defense, and backed Martin into a corner, and unloaded punches on him less than a minute before the KO.

 

Excellent post. I'm not sure his endurance issues in this bout were entirely related to his age and drug habits. Though Sonny would never make excuses for himself as you wrote in your earlier post, Foreman stated Liston had come down with a cold the week of the fight,

Interviewer: How old do you think he was when you met him? When he fought Muhammad Ali, he looked old already.

Foreman: I had no idea of his age. As a matter of fact, it never crossed my mind because Liston was doing all the things the young heavyweight couldn't do. So physically there wasn't anything wrong as far as I could see, that was a challenge for him at his age. I saw him fight Henry Clark and Scrap Iron Johnson, and he was the one who had the stamina in the last rounds. The only time I saw a chink was when he fought Leontes Martin. But then Liston was sick prior to that. He got a cold he just couldn't recover from. And he would go out after a boxing match and start drinking and it would sometimes last a month. Then he'd come back and get into training. I think he finally went to the well, and there just wasn't any water.

I unfortunately can't post the source because it's from a banned site. If you'd like more info, shoot me a message.

I actually do agree that Liston's stamina against Clark and Johnson, while clearly diminished from his peak, looked notably better than here against Martin, so it is very possible Liston had a cold against Martin. Or he could've been in worse shape from his drug use/and or being that much older (Martin bout was 7 months after the Scrap Iron bout, and 17 months after the Clark bout.

 

You mean the split second where Martin backed away from four missed punches by Liston? LOL. Talk about seeing what you want to see. The rest of the round was basically the two fighters circling with Martin trading Liston jab for jab (some would argue Liston's best weapon). He was able to do that because Liston was only half heartedly committing because he didnt like what was coming back at him. And anyone question whether Liston was panicking need look no further than the look on Liston's face just seconds before Martin caught him.

[url]https://flic.kr/p/2oinRYA[/url]

He looks like hes shitting his pants right here and three seconds later he was counting sheep.

 

His face is so blurry in the pic i can't tell much of anything apart from him looking a bit bloodied and distorted.