liston vs the douglas that beat tyson.....

:good aint that the truth.

 

Tyson did defeat many big men but none quite as good as this version of Douglas, none with the gameplan or heart as this version. Tucker was probably Tyson's best opponent, I don't think he was as good as this Douglas even if beat him previously.

How out of shape was Tyson, obviously underprepared, but it wasn't like he'd gained shed loads of weight, he was lighter than when he beat Berbick.

So what did Douglas do that made Tyson look so bad? He kept range circling away from the left hook, effectively taking away Tyson's best weapon., while pumping what imo is 1 of the best HW jabs in history, he managed to land it getting off first time and again. When Tyson tried to move to the left and close the gap Douglas threw the counter right or uppercut, again getting off first with heavy punches. This is what he did time and again, great great performance in my view.

I'm disappointed too that Douglas basically gave up on boxing and himself. He could have been so much too and imo Tokyo Douglas beats Bowe. I think he could have been an ATG

Liston is much slower than Tyson but he has a longer reach and consequently better jab, but it was nowhere near as good as Douglas's jab. Liston also had problems with movers, see Ali but also had problems with Machen's movement and speed. But Douglas at 6'4 with an 84 inch reach is a far different proposition. It would have been interesting to see Liston-Terrell in the 60s

 

Agreed.

But even a straight line Liston--who had good footwork--presents problems. That lefthook off the jab is a fight ender. Douglas only boxes and he never even knocked down another top 10 ranked fighter. Not stopped, knocked down. He just does not have enough sizzle to keep Liston off and Sonny walks through the punches even if they land. Douglas is going to fold up once he has to absorb sustained punishment round after round to stay in the bout.

And Sonny was the better conditioned guy and Douglas drops those hands and a lefthook or right hand is going to catch him. And hurt him. And throwing those long right uppercuts against this guy could also work out just like it did for Buster in that Holyfield fight. It is an effective punch but stationary and he would be in Liston's range every time he threw it. Liston can absorb some of those. Just how many shots does Douglas absorb beat to the punch by Liston? Buster always threw lots of outside lead right hand uppercuts and it worked against Tyson but that does not automatically mean it lands against other fighters.

 

Douglas knocked mike williams down many times. williams was rated and had only lost one other fight on a split verdict to a 218lb witherspoon who was taking the sport seriously again after being blackballed by don king. williams was getting the build up as a Tyson opponent.

buster beat a lot of live rated fighters as the opponent. Not many fighters knocked down tex cobb, greg page, mike tyson and trevor berbick when they were all suposed to win and nobody ever knocked down oliver mccall yet.

Douglas would have bounced roy harris dejohn, valdes and albert westphal all over the ring also.


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Good points

However, what makes difficult for me to measure Douglas' boxing skills is that disconcerting briefness. It is like Douglas was Joe Louis for one night in Tokyo and that's it.

I wish a Douglas-Tyson II had been possible. I would have loved seeing Buster against a 100% in shape Tyson to better measure his stature as a fighter.

Anyway, not denying Buster's feat, and certainly Tokyo Douglas was his best version

But I still think that Liston is being sold short

 

Ali provided the kind of adversity that took the fight out of Liston.

Fast and elusive.

Speed, speed and more speed.

That and the fact that Liston couldn't land anything of substance on him.


Douglas' style was totally different, and he didn't have the goods to provide the kind of adversity that would have taken the fight out of Liston.

I don't think Douglas makes it to the final bell.