Put a prime Sonny Liston in the 70s...

Foreman and Ali beat him as would a pre prime Larry Holmes. Other than that Liston probably beats them all.

 

I'm not maintaining that one man was noticably stronger or more powerful than the other.. I don't however, see the evidence which supports the claim made by another poster that Liston was the stronger man, or even more powerful. The stats don't support it, their performances don't prove it, and nor do any testimonies that I've heard.

 

These sorts of stats usually get shuffled to the side by those who choose to ignore them, but what the hell, I'm bored at work, and just thought I'd mention it.

1. In 54 pro fights, Liston fought 28 men who were under 200 lbs, and lost to two of them. In addition, he was taken the distance by 8 of those sub 200 pounders.

2. In 81 pro fights, Foreman fought 14 men who were under 200 lbs, and lost to none... Only one of them survived the distance, and that was an 80 fight veteran in his 15th pro bout.

 

I see much over-rating of Liston here. He would probably be in the top 5 spot in the 70's. He would not clean out the whole division.

 

Listo was dangerous enough. A wrecking ball,like George Foreman.

 

One could make a fair argument ( as you already have ) that the smaller guys who Liston fought were better in quality than the smaller guys Foreman fought.. The problem I have however, is that Liston made his living fighting smaller men, wheras Foreman only fought a few. I don't think that beating a few better men here and there who were under 200 lbs, is enough to eclipse the fact that George only fought a fraction of such men..I'm also not sure that Frazier was the ONLY man who Foreman beat that would take Patterson, but that's a different debate for a different thread.. I'll also ad that Liston was Ko'd by a cruiserweight sized fighter in Leotis Martin.. Now, Liston was 37 years of age ( or older ) and totally past his prime... BUT, Foreman was closing in on age 50, yet still wrestling with prime giants like Briggs and Savarese. The more I think about it, the strength argument is starting to look in favor of Foreman.

 

KenNorton804,
Yes, there was such a high level of competition in the 70's, it seems unlikely
Liston would be dominant like some think. He'd be a good, strong fighter, but not nearly what
some make him out to be.

 

Foreman did indeed do a lot of weight training in his comeback years. I don't know what his routines entailed, but he was certainly very strong. Had he miraculously slimmed down to 210 lbs, his physique may have looked a lot like that of Mike Weaver's or Evander Holyfield's.. He was never a pretty specimen, but had just as much muscle mass as any of those guys..

 

I will also ad that of Peralta's 3 stoppages, one of them came against Foreman himself in their rematch.. In addition, I don't see Floyd Patterson doing any better against Foreman than he did against Liston, but I can certainly see Joe Frazier having more success against Sonny than he did against George..

 

I don't. I also certainly do not see Ron Lyle twice knocking down Liston and coming within seconds of knocking him out. Liston would blast Lyle away easily. I certainly don't see Liston getting outboxed, outsmarted, knocked down by Jimmy Young for a wide points loss.

 

Even if he was coming off a 15 month layoff and a devastating loss?

A prime Lyle faced George Foreman, Earnie Shavers and Muhammad Ali.. How many of these guys " blasted him out easily?"..

Before we make that assessment, let's make some changes is Liston's corner, the way they were made in Foreman's.. Let's also remove Sonny's desire to continue boxing and have him seeing images of jesus in the locker room following the fight.. Now, how do you see it going?

 

I don't see Foreman getting laid out cold by Leotis Martin.

Or quitting on his stool.