Rank these bruisers, all prime

Lewis would beat all of them

 

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Angelo said the same thing. I quoted him in the past. I think producing a blow out in a key fight is a good thing but to truly measure a fighters strength we need more.

Yes, I want to see something I already saw before but against better fighters. More evidence.

I mean that whilst a blow out is a good win and can go down as a best performance it won't provide all that a man is capable of.

No, I just think it was a bit harsh that I said the machen win was not mind blowing. It was a good win, I could have just said it showed Liston could not blow all fighters out.

I will reserve judgement until film of Liston v Foley turns up.

 

I am prepared to say that Liston is the most complete fighter on the list, and that he is the best all round technician. He is more durable than Lewis and Wlad, and he is much better technically than Baer, Foreman or Vitally.

Of course there are factors that can be weighed against this, such as questions about his desire, and opposition, but we can play that game with any fighter on the list.

I am certainly not saying that I would be confident of him dominating the group, but I might make him a slight favourite at the outset, if we have a super six style tournament.

 

We do indeed seem to have limited common ground.

On the issue of durability, I tend to grade chins primarily on who knocked you out and how. On that basis I have to put Lewis and Wlad beneath the other fighters on the list. I do not think that the second Clay fight was a legitimate knockout, but if you can convince me otherwise, you will go a long way towards making your case on the durability issue.

 

Well it is the weekend!

We have a bit of a melting pot of different opinions here, and everybody finds a few of them baffling.

 

Head to head: (best versions)

Foreman
Lewis
Vitali
Liston
Wlad
Max


Greatness (resume)

Lennox
Foreman
Liston
Wlad
Vitali
Max

 

One thing we struggle with concerning some of the younger posters, is that Lennox Lewis and the Klitschko’s are the most recent dominant champions, so they effectively define their concept of what a dominant champion should be like.

By starting with them as the benchmark of the ideal, they don’t look at their strengths and weaknesses, and don’t appreciate the range of other styles that have worked previously, or their intricacies.

 

I agree with all the things you said about Liston. He is the best all round technician and was a marvellous box puncher. Against the fighters we saw him beat he had a good chin. Better than wlad but I am not sure where we can base sonnys chin being better than Lewis? Whilst I have no doubt Sonny hits better than Rahman and McCall he still has to take Lennox's shots too.
Sonny took a whack up to a level, after all he came back well against Folley and WIlliams when hurt. Valdes is said to have hurt him too and whitehurst had Sonny do the chicken dance as well so Listons chin was tested. Lewis was tested by Bruno, Tucker, Ruddock, Morrison, Holyfeild. In fact against Holyfeild Lewis took punches better than Bowe did.. So I kind of think Lewis chin, whilst not perfect, holds up as well as Sonnys.

I would want Liston to beat Lewis, I just could not bet on him.

 

While I am by no means sold on Cleveland Williams as a fighter, I am sold on his power. People who sparred with him and fought him, have variously compared his power to George Foreman, Ron Lyle, Gerry Cooney and Frank Bruno. That would certainly imply that he probably hit harder than Rahman.

 

I think potentially Sonny would wipe the floor with w.klit. too much pace. His brother vitali gives Sonny a tougher time however. His tough defiance could drain Sonny of confidence. but to be fair, Liston could just as easy chop up that tender skin (like Lennox did) and tee off on that upright jaw. Lennox is Sonnys problem I think.