Prime Holyfield vs Prime Liston: Does Liston get torn up, too?

I'd back Holyfield. Liston's losses to Ali make me think that he may lack the heart to survive a long dogfight with the Real Deal. Holyfield is multifaceted enough to get past that jab and to make sure that damage is dealt. I could be wrong. Both these guys are high level.

 

Holys foot speed would be a problem for Liston .. It took a near prime time Ali to beat a past prime Liston, and that's Ali.. However, A '59 '60 Liston was just a nightmare and Holy likes to mix it up, big mistake. If Bowe is stopping Holy .. so is Liston

 

I like this match-up! I don't think "Torn up" is the wording I would use, with that being said if the Ali Vs Liston fights taught us anything its that Sonny could handle being Flustered and out worked. Liston didn't take frustration very well. Holy may have started slow just to assure that Sonny wasn't going to catch him with any big shots early, eventually TRD turns it on out punching, out boxing , and out thinking Big Sonny.

I say Holy by TKO around the 8th or 9th...

 

What if Liston goes on PED's like Holyfield and comes into the fight at 240 lbs ?

 

More like 260-270...

 

LOL !!! Great comment ^. Liston "The Kodiak Bear".

 

Liston stoppage.

 

Holyfield wins because of his heart and Listons lack of.

 

No QUIT in Holyfield!!!

 

Liston for me.

 

Liston couldn't handle fast elusive speed merchant's ,that was not Holyfield.

 

I think it depends largely on what gameplan Holyfield utilizes in the fight. If he sticks and moves like he did in Bowe 2 then he might do well as Liston wasn't great at cutting off the ring. If he tries to make a war of it like he often did he's going to get hurt very badly.

 

I think the position that Liston doesn't have heart is overblown.
I think his age, connections, pressure from Islam, drug abuse, and bets were more of a factor in the Ali losses than lack of heart.

Liston was a monster in his prime, beating boxers and punchers.

I think Liston may come up short due to Holyfield's being busier.

Tough fight to call. Pretty even.

 

Let's look at Liston's career-

50-4 (39) overall and 2-2 (2) in Heavyweight World Title Fights. He went 2-2 (2) vs. Hall of Famers... yes, those same 4 world title fights. He beat Floyd Patterson KO1 x2 and was stopped by Muhammad Ali x2. He also beat Zora Folley KO3 and Eddie Machen W12. A lot of people will bring up his two wins over Cleveland Williams KO3 and KO2 but in my opinion a win over Cleveland Williams isn't much to brag about. Williams looked the part but who did he beat? Williams went 1-1 vs. Ernie Terrell and he had a draw with Eddie Machen. Williams never saw the 4th round vs. the 180 Lb. Bob Satterfield, Liston x2, or Ali. Liston was outboxed and suffered a broken jaw early in his career vs. the 180 Lb. Marty Marshall. He went 2-1 (1) vs. Marshall in their 3 fights. He had fits with the more experienced Johnny Summerlin. Nino Valdes was washed up. Solid KO wins over Mike DeJohn and Roy Harris. Solid KO wins over Henry Clark and Chuck Wepner after the Ali fights.

Holyfield's-

At age 30 he was 28-0 (22) overall, 10-0 (7) in World Title Fights, and 5-0 (2) vs. Hall of Famers. He had been the Undisputed World Champ at Cruiserweight and was the reigning Undisputed Heavyweight World Champ at HW. At this point he had win over Dwight Qawi W15 (in just his 12th pro fight) and KO4 (only other guy to stop him was George Foreman), C. DeLeon, O. Ocasio, R. Parkey, T. Booze, H. Tillman, L. Holmes, G. Foreman, M. Dokes, P. Thomas, B. Douglas, J. Tillis, B. Cooper, A. Stewart, A. Rodrigues, and others.

Past age 30 he had mixed results but still had some good wins and hard fought losses-

L12, W12, and LKOby8 Bowe
L12 and KO8 Moorer (I thought Holyfield did just enough for a win in their first fight)
W10 Mercer (1st man to drop Mercer)
KO5 Czyz
KO11 and WDQ3 Tyson
W12 Bean
D12 and L12 Lewis
W12, L12, and D12 Ruiz
WTD8 Rahman
W12 Oquendo
W10 Savarese
KO8 Botha
and so on.

At age 46 he was robbed vs. the 7' 300+ Lb. Valuev.

Holyfield went 16-7-2 in World Title fights and was a 5X World Champ... CW and 4X HW. If you count the WBF he is a 5X HW Champ. 3 of his World Title Losses came past the age of 40... Byrd, Ibragimov, and Valuev (which was a B.S. decision).