Tyson's speed and head movement would negate Liston's great jab and reach. Neither man did well with serious adversity or when they couldn't be the bully, but Tyson has the edge IMO. However he needs to be at his best, the Tokio Tyson gets beaten up by Liston.
Tyson himself stated the one man he would fear getting in the ring with was Sonny Liston. This fight is 50/50 IMO
Actually Liston is very slow and his shots are very telegraphed.(Talking about his punches, his reflexes were decent) Prime Tyson would rip him apart. After Chuck Wepner, Tyson would be his heaviest opponent. Liston is going down, very early.
Boxers shout a lot of bull****. 52 year old Larry Holmes:"I will knock Butterbean out in 4" 10 rounds later:"He hit me harder than Shavers" (I do think he would have knocked out if he got hit by an overhand thrown by Butterbean (at 52), the difference between the overhand of Butterbean and Shavers would be an around 100 lbs weight difference and not much speed disadvantage for Butterbean, Shavers his powerfame is probably also because he threw his swings really wild, if he would miss he would be off balance. A true ATG p4p hitter like Julian Jackson didn't have those problems) "I tasted medicine" "I was injured" "He smelled too bad for me to perform" "I had the wrong socks" "Health comes first" "My toe hurt" And remember all those boxers who said Shavers hit them the hardest NEVER got knocked out by him. Tyson clearly hit Holmes harder. I don't know when he said it(Never wanting to fight Liston), but at the press conference before the Lewis fight he assaulted Lewis and bit him in his leg, clearly a sign of being intimidated. In a recent interview conducted by Brian Doogan of the Sunday Times, the retired Former undisputed Champion of the World, Lennox Lewis spoke on many things. An interesting topic that was hit on was the Mike Tyson incident where Tyson bite Lewis on the Leg. Lewis admits the bite put him in shock. Lewis stated in regards to the bite which Tyson took a chunk out of his leg: “The bite was bad because I was more in shock.” Lewis went more in-depth, stating: “We’re gladiators, man, we don’t bite. I know there was a big expectation from his crew. Everyone was edging up around him and the whisper was already out, ‘Tyson’s going to go after you’. We got introduced and he walked across the stage and, although he didn’t really come at me because he lashed out at the security standing next to me, he was showing aggression towards me by doing what he did. In my mind I’d rather be the first to throw [a punch] in that situation, which is exactly what I did." “Then the place erupted with people piling in left, right and centre and the next thing I know is that I feel a sharp pain in my leg and somebody’s biting me. So I push myself up and there’s Tyson, looking like a maniac, with his mouth in my leg and I’m in shock. I mean, if a man bit you, would you not be in shock for a split-second? I got bit by a man. Usually, an animal does that, not a human being. It was a situation that really took me by surprise but when I thought about it I realised that the guy must have been scared. Only a scared man would bite. You bite when your life is in danger. I also realised that Tyson spent some time in incarceration, so in prison that would be like a trophy. ‘I bit his ear’, he could always say. ‘I bit a guy’s leg’. Lewis went on to say that stopping Tyson [in the 8 th round in Memphis] meant that there was nothing left for him to prove.
