Prime Lewis v Prime Liston

Lewis fought tomato cans until Tyson was shot and useless, the payoffs are only in your head. Tony Tucker knocked out Buster Douglas and gave prime Tyson his only competitive fight. Tucker was faster than Lewis and would have given him more than his fat ass could handle.

 

Two super powerful fighters and murderous punchers ... my mind goes to the Bruno fight and the trouble Lewis had with his jab ... Sonny had a terrific jab to go with his huge reach ... I lean to Sonny with a stopage but either can take out the other ..

 

-And Steward changed this because Lewis was down on points to Bruno and stopped by McCall. Lewis was not an effective combinaton puncher so it was scrapped as he matured.

-It might be, its his best shot. But the only fighters Liston had trouble ripping off combinations on were fast runners...Lewis was quick for a big man but he wasn't elusive. He relied heavily on his reach to keep fighters at bay, but pressuring jabbers had more than a little success against him...an inactive Mercer nearly upset him and old Holyfield almost stole their rematch before gassing out. Evander is listed at 6'2"1/2 BTW but for some reason thats greatly exaggerated, most likely 6'1" at the most such as when he was in the Olympics and boxing at Cruiser.

-Liston enforced his jab on Valdez, Williams, and Wepner..all 6'3-6'5" with 80+ inch wing spans.

 

lewis has faster hands. liston has the FAR better jab and boxing ability.

lewis' best qualities (1) awesome power (2) size (3) speed. his boxing ability comes last and really complements his three other traits. when power was out of the equation against mercer, lewis gave a mediocre boxing performance. against bruno, lewis gave a mediocre boxing performance until his awesome power (his best quality) saved the day. lewis looks like a good boxer against david tua or a washed up mike tyson but against a prime liston...his limited boing skills would show.

liston dominates the battle of the jabs and either goes for a 8-4 or gets a KO along the way.

 

Liston takes this for sure IMO

Too strong, too quick on the feet, jab, and great defense would do the trick

 

Liston by tko. Lennox had the ability to outbox Sonny,but I can envisage him being stopped. Mind you,it's only on a 60/40 basis.

 

I don't like Liston's chances against big men, personally. He doesn't have the legs for it. And I'm no fan of Lummox Lewis.

 

lol, do I have to be the first one to point it out?

I really dont want to be...

 

On the outside, Liston still can jab with Lewis because he has the stiffer and more powerful jab, and they have the same reach.
On the inside Liston will definitely destroy Lewis. So I don't see how Lewis would beat Liston specially since he can't just overpower him.

 

He may not have the legs for it, but he doesn't need em. he has the FISTS for it. Both in Reach and in Size.

 

he doesn't need to move against Lewis.

 

Oh no, I'm sure Lewis will just stand there and stick his chin out for Liston.

 

what?
It's not like Lewis is a fast dancer boxer like Ali or Machen. So I'm not sure what you're getting at here. Lewis wouldn't have the mobility or the fast feet to make Liston chase him.