Foreman...stronger man and taller. If Liston slugs with Foreman he would geat eaten alive but if he box he could win by Dec or TKO.
Idk but what an absolute belter it would be. Probably make Foreman v Lyle look like a Jimmy young 15 rounder!
Liston's superior boxing skills, ring IQ, and versatility SHOULD bring him home. Close to 50/50 though. Both are in my top 5 H2H.
Foreman would win. He'd be so terrified of Liston he'd end the fight in the 2nd round to avoid getting hit by him. Best case for Liston is a Lyle sort of situation. Listons SOS was great for his ok era but he never really faced any adversity except Ali and he couldn't handle it either time and Ali couldn't match Listons power. I don't think Liston would be able to handle someone Alis size who could match it. I feel like Liston is like a harder hitting Mike Tyson with 14 inch longer reach in this way without the cardio limitations. He really needed things to be going well and against all but the best HWs who've ever lived that wouldn't matter but against Foreman it would. You can say it was the same with prime Foreman because of Zaire but Liston had 2 Zaires and against Lyle and Jimmy Young Foreman didn't vanish when things stopped going his way. Foreman might have lost to Jimmy Young and had a breakdown after the fight but he fought him close and almost knocked him out. Foremans didn't face much adversity either but not facing adversity against Norton and Frazier is different than not having it against Patterson and Folley. Foreman also had the 2nd career where he was trying to drown his best opponents in deep waters and the main reason he didn't do that in his prime because there was no need to. Older Liston got caught by Leotis Martin in a competitive fight he was winning. If Liston had won that would have been the only competitive decision win of his career. The punch was a fluke but doesn't exactly fill one with confidence that Liston would win a firefight with Foreman at any stage. Foremans got one of the strongest chins of the great HWs and while I don't think Listons chin is weak per say I'm pretty sure it was weaker than Foremans. In a power contest this fight would be close. But I think everything else points to Foreman.
Probably one of the best fantasy fights ever, I have to go with Foreman because the man has always been a beast even at 46 years old...
I've kinda went back and forth on this one, somebody is going to back up here. I think overall Liston is the better boxer and whoever uses his jab the best will control distance and set up their power shots . Charles Sonny Liston had one of the longest and most powerful jabs in heavyweight history ,I'd probably rank only Holmes jab as better overall. Liston by mid round Ko, not a certainty by any means with this kind of firepower in the ring though.
This is one of those fights where just about everyone sees it as what it is- A pick 'em in the truest sense. It's very hard to gauge just who would win here, and a lot of logic doesn't really apply when talking about two titans like this. If I have to bet, I'll say Foreman, but who knows?
Idk. I think this would be a case of the fighter that's better on paper not being better in the ring. Foreman is no Williams. Liston could outbox Foreman but Foreman could lure Liston into a slugfest, which I think Foreman has the advantage.
