Ernie Terrell holding the WBA version in 1966 , takes on the former champ Liston . Now , is the awkward to fight Terrell to much of a handful for the ageing Sonny here ..or could we see Liston become the second man to regain a version of the belt?
Good one McVey. I'm a little torn on this one in 66 .Liston may not have been a spring chick here but Terrell was no world beater. But he was damn awkward to fight sometimes .Would Liston struggle to impose his jab , he'd be the smaller man again as against Ali.Would Ernie take away Sonny's advantages here? Or see a rejuvenated Sonny smashing in to him?The footage u posted gives a feel of how they'd look together ,Sonny certainly Doesnt look a midget !
Ali gave a blue print for how to beat liston but Terrells biggest problem was that he didnt fight tall. He didnt utilize his height as well as he could/should have. If he did id make him a favorite but taking that into account its a pick em to me.
Good point s there from both .I've not seen a great deal of Terrell tbh .But taking in to consideration Terrell's fighting style klompton , do you see Liston in 66 being fit and able enough to beat Ernie ? He was Lord knows how old by then ,so he could have aged dramatically over a 15 round title fight. Or is Liston all wrong for Terrell , a cut above him. In a pick em match how's it go in the time frame ?
There are so many factors here its a tough fight to figure. Lots of questions: Does Ernie's time as Liston's sparring partner give him that "sparring partner mentality"? Does Liston's lack of 15 round experience hurt him if he cant get Terrell out of there? Does Liston take Terrell lightly based on that sparring history? Because Terrell improved a great deal afterwards. Is Terrell too big a step too soon after Ali? Theres a reason why Liston was fighting gimmes in the middle of nowhere in 1966. Mentally I dont think he was ready for the big time. You could go on and on but my gut tells me that while I wouldnt want to bet on it because Liston was still dangerous in spurts at this point if he cant hurt Terrell and either stop him or really take over and be comfortably in the drivers seat of the fight then Liston is either stopped late (probably on his stool) or outpointed in a boring fight. Liston was pretty methodical at this point and Ernie, despite being a bit of a banger in the amateurs, was never one to light the world on fire as a pro. I think theyd both settle into a comfortable routine/pace and would be content to basically continue that monotony until the final bell. The only thing I see upsetting that is if Liston hurt Terrell. Then you might see a brief shootout but Liston couldnt afford to sustain that for long in a 15 rounder if he couldnt get Terrell out of there.
Thank s Klompton ,great analysis . I have a long drawn out fight ,with Liston doing great in spurts, but unable to ever really get on top .And a fatigued Sonny being slightly battered in the championship rounds. Terrell by close unanimous. But if this was Liston of just 4 years previous a different ball game.
IMO, at that time, it could well have been a 'snoozefest'. Sonny flew off to Sweden, at that point, and again, IMO, wasn't right back on track yet. Ernie would have held, held, held, and Sonny hadn't re-found his mindset at that particular point. In closing, had they fought then, it would have been an 'eye sore' on boxing, a pre curser to the 'multi-champ' nonsense. My $0.02