Let's put Liston in with some top 175lb fighters

I'd say he probably beats them all.

I'm assuming this thread was made to see if people think these speedy, elusive guys could replicate Ali's fight.

Basically I say no. Ali won the fight from constant lateral movement, non-stop circling, combined with his height advantage, almost equal reach, and speed in general. I think Charles is the one who may give him the most trouble, but he wouldn't last the distance.

 

Tunney was hurt by the first punch in the series already. Dempsey sensed it and went for the kill instantly, but his age didn't allow him to do this. Tunney got on a very fast bicycle to have time to recover from the effect of that attack, had Dempsey been able to land cleanly at least once more in the same round, the fight would be over.

Langford was knocked down multiple times, including very hard knockdowns where he held for dear life. It's only that those heavyweights were not that skilled to finish him. He could be hurt badly by single punches from heavyweights, as fight reports show.

Charles was dropped so many times it's hard to count it, including many stoppages. He only had more success against heavyweights because they were slow and either crude or old, compared to some of his lower weights opponents. You can ignore these facts as much as you want, but they still remain. Charles chin was very vulnerable, based on facts it was more vulnerable that Jones's.

And like I said, all three were easier to hit than not-too-old Jones.

There are no facts and no logic whatsoever to make the claim you made.

 

Senya,

the amount of punchers that Langford faced far exceeds the number that Tunney or Jones faced. Hardly Jones or Tunney faced 210 plus pound heavies.

 

Langford was a rocking chair relic by the time he was counted out. Given the number of fights he had against heavyweight punchers you have to conclude that his chin was granite.

Hell Sam McVea hit him flush with a quintruple left hook and only stagered him.

 

Ditto!

 

I would give Tunney a better chance at pulling that off, even though all-round i think Charles is better.

 

How does that cancel out the fact that Langford was hurt or knocked down many times? That's a fact that isn't related to Jones or Tunney anyhow.

 

You are going to get hurt and knocked down many times if you fight the top heavyweights of your era 5, 10 or 20 times each. It dosnt matter how good your chin is.

 

Then why not mention that Liston is going to find his jaw along the way, and considering Liston's finishing abilities, he'll probably knock Langford out?

 

Because there are no grounds for believing that this is the case.

Langfod was never KOd in anything aproaching his prime. All his stopages were TKOs. Despite literaly dozens of fights against huge punchers. His first 10 count was in 1918 in his 173rd recorded profesional fight aged 36.

Frankly I would say that Langfords ability to take Listons shots is better proven than Listons ability to take Langfords.

 

How many fights did Langford have against heavyweights of Liston's size, weight and abilities? None.

 

Not true--Harry Wills was of a similar size and ability.

 

Literaly dozens.

 

And how exactly was Wills similar in ability? Do some experts rate Wills as high as Liston, that I'm not even aware of?

 

Ring Magazine in their top fifty ratings of 1998 rated Wills in the top twenty. Liston was number seven. That is close enough to judge them at least similar in ability.

Boxrec, in its all time ratings, has Wills #7 and Liston #20, for what that is worth.

I just looked up the Ring Ratings, and Wills was at #16.