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

In all fairness, Liston had 7 pro fights when he faced Marshal and did manage to beat him twice in their rematches. I will say however, that Foreman fought comparable opposition during his prospect days ( like Peralta ), and did not pick up any early losses the way that Liston did.. So from that one standpoint, Foreman does come up better.

 

Oh I agree Foreman comes out on top, and for the very same reasons that you listed. I'm just saying that we can't claim that either man was prime for their meetings with Marshal or Peralta.. That's all I'm saying.

 

exactly! Prime Liston would have a chance to beat Ali? Even though he won ONE round in two fights against a pre prime version.

 

True, but we should also acknowledge that with only 3 fights, Foreman absolutely destroyed the veteran Chuck Wepner. In addition, while Liston was basically fighting light heavy weights at the same stage in his career, Foreman beat the 6'6", 235 lbs Jack Ohalloran who was coming off a win over Ramos. I think that no matter how we cut it, both men had very similar beginnings, but the key difference for me, was that George made it through his prospect days without ever losing or getting decked.

 

Nah, that would take a devastating "anchor punch" by Ali.

 

Maghoo,

Liston beat a Ring Magazine top 10 contender before his 10th pro fight(marty marshall) by one sided knockout. Foreman never came close to doing this. Liston also twice beat Johnny Summerlin, who would crack the top 10 within the year. I think it is quite clear liston beat better competition than Foreman early on.

Calling Wepner a "veteran" is startling to me. Wepner was only in his 22nd pro fight at the time he fought Foreman. Same as Summerlin when he fought Liston. Does that make summerlin a "Veteran" when he fought Liston?

 

Liston would not blast out Lyle. Liston would have trouble with Young
because Young would do his usual "run away" technique.

 

Liston should do well until he climbed into the ring with Ali or Foreman...in my opinion.

 

1. I think its been mentioned on a number of occasions that Marty Marshal was not a ring rated HEAVY WEIGHT contender. He was briefly rated at light heavyweight, before Liston fought him, and regardless of Liston's performance in the rematch(es), he was still beaten by him...

2. Johnny Summerlin may have been a good win... I don't know that much about the guy so I'll keep my comments to a minimum.

3. Regardless of what one thinks of Chuck Wepner, he was still a man who had 22 fights, and was stopped in 3 rounds by Foreman who had only 3. Not long after, Sonny Liston took 10 rounds to stop Wepner on cuts.. Now, Liston was totally shot by this point, but frankly, I think that a former world champion should have an easier time with the very same guy, than a green horn with only 3 fights..

 

I believe you are incorrect. Marty Marshall was a ranked light-heavyweight during the first two liston fights(but not the third fight). So lightheavyweight or not, liston did fight and knockout a top 10 rated fighter. My source is the 4th edition of the Boxing Register..

Perhaps..but Foreman did have the much younger reflexes, allowing him to catch Wepner faster. It should be mentioned Wepner did say Liston hit harder than Foreman..take it for what it is worth.

 

He also beat Zora Folley, Eddie Machen, Nino Valdes, Mike DeJohn, Roy Harris.