Who are they? Why are they so overrated? Jeffries and Liston are two of the most overrated HW Champs IMO. Jeffries did all he could possibly do (except for beat Jack Johnson after a 6 year retirement) but that doesn't mean he was one of the best ever. Liston went 2-2 (2) in HW World Title Fights (2 wins over Patterson and 2 losses to Ali) but some people act like he was the best ever. Cleveland Williams and Jerry Quarry are 2 of the most overrated HW title challengers. Seriously, who did these men beat? Harry Greb? Well, I like what I have read about the man... but that's just it... no real fight footage of this man but people talk about him like they really know how he fought. Thoughts?
In the case of Liston he was avoided by Floyd Patterson for a few years. He ended up cleaning out the heavyweight division while Patterson was champion. Beating the likes of Zora Folley, Eddie Machen, Cleveland Williams 2X, Mike DeJohn among others. Then destroyed the heavyweight champion in brutal fashion. Liston was at his best in the late 50s early 60s. Thats the version of Sonny Liston most are referring to when he was at his most devastating. He also lost his title to probably the greatest heavyweight of alltime.No shame in that but It was the way he lost that hurt his legacy the most.
Williams does sometimes get a bit overrated - I'm pretty sure I once saw him placed 18th on an all-time heavyweight listing. It's true he doesn't have a glittering list of wins against top-level opponents, but it's also true that Sonny Liston was the only man to clearly defeat him when he was anywhere close to his prime. That's 12 years separating his early career loss to Bob Satterfield and his late career loss to Muhammad Ali. His loss to Ernie Terrell (the most successful heavyweight of the mid 60s other than Ali) was by a split decision which could as easily have gone the other way - the AP scored it for Williams. Along the way he got a draw with perennial top contender Eddie Machen (majority draw, actually, the 3rd judge gave it to Williams by a clear margin), a stoppage win against a slightly pre-prime Terrell (Terrell's last loss until he fought Ali 5 years later) and convincingly defeated fringe contenders like Billy Daniels and Roger Rischer. It's not the record of an all-time great, it's the record of a good top contender, which is what he was.
Liston is over8ed , but I consider diz "champions" iven mor over8ed : Aaron Pryor Ray Leonard Cautious Play Orlando Canizales Max Schmelling Ingemar Johansson Bob Foster Ricardo Lopez Wifredo Gomez Eusebio Pedroza "Khaosai Galaxy" Bernard Hopkins Roy Jones Jr Nigel Benn (i initially listed him as a contender :yep) Jeff Fennech Floyd Mayweather Jr Pernell Whitaker (despite of being de gr8est "faiter" in dis list bai far) Carlos Zarate Lionel Rose and diz contenders : Jerry Quarry Cleveland Williams Michael Watson John Conteh i will refrain 4 now from explicitly mentioning a certain UK bantamw8 whom his son posts / used 2 post here , but i do think that he is over8ed by his son and those whom r influenced by him in this subject .
sonny liston roy jones jr rocky marciano h2h he is overrated like hell larry holmes is overrated h2h, (not legacy) i think that wladimir and lewis would have beaten him ROBERTO DURAN IS OVERRATED LIKE HELL PRIME TYSON CLEVELAND WILLIAMS FOR SURE Jack dempsey Joe louis(h2h) 70s muhammad ali(h2h) max schmeling nino benvenuti h2h
