Rocky Marciano vs. Sonny Liston

Well, I don't think Sonny feared BIG Cat, especially after Bob Satterfield KO'd Big Cat in 3...so I really dont think Sonny faced too many dangerous guys...Marty Marshall was no real banger and not until Leotis Martin did he fight a guy that showed him balls to get off the deck and fight back...Sonny has the look,one of the best but for me he was lacking and when he KO'd the much dropped Patterson it was not a surprise and lets face it Floyd was like a deer in the headlights ...which are the wins that you feel were against the pit-bulls of his time

I see a bully much like Tyson,Foreman but Liston was probably the scariest looking of the 3 but I am not so impressed with who he beat.

 

Thank you. The whole "bully the bully" tactic is being grossly overrated here, as it is too often with Tyson and even Foreman. Liston became the bully because he fought damn near every day of his life. Every bully falls sooner or later but not every chance another guy bows up.

But, then again, each of your posts I imagine in the voice of Sasha so I can not disagree.

 

Williams was the most feared man of that era. Satterfield beat a 19 year old last minute substitute version of Williams in 1954. The prime 1960 grown man version of cleveland williams would have slaughtered any version of satterfield. Liston also took on the highly regarded punchers Mike DeJohn, and Nino Valdes.

 

:good

 

Liston by KO

 

A brilliant post :good

 

I dont know why he was so feared except for his excellent body, what was the win in between his loss to Satterfield and his loss to Liston that made Big Cat so feared.

Dejohn was also KO'd by Zora Folley and Eddie Machen in a 2 year period after the Liston KO of him.

Charlie Powell KO'd the 1959 version of Nino Valdes 5 months earlier than Liston

 

I think the size thing matter to you, the thing that would bother Sonny as it did with Tyson is fighting a man with no fear. The Ali fight was unique as you say but even though he was older I think when he dropped Leotis Martin and Martin got up and went at Sonny hard, Martin got the KO...I am not so sure Sonny fought so many that were not intimidated of him.

The Tyson comparison is when Holyfield who a few months later struggled to stop Bobby Cyz showed Tyson no fear and caused him to fizzle

I think fighting a man with true heart and no quit makes a difference...Ali showed it differently but he like Marciano had a unique quality....Heart and strength of mind.

I am not sold on Sonny by virtue of what I saw against that unique fighter with the extra heart and strength of mind.

 

:good
Liston was impressive at a level but his performances against psyched out opponents has created a mystique that has overblown his standing in h2h ratings.

angelo dundee himself said (given that he was in besmanoffs corner when Liston beat him) that :“who did liston knock out? Al westphal that’s all. Cleveland Williams was on his feet and besmanoff was stopped on cuts. Forget Patterson - he was psyched out. Boxing beat liston. Boxing and cassius clay.”

Marciano was horrible to fight and more experienced than Liston. Sonny would be a hard opponent for Marciano too but it works both ways if both are prime. Once they both start swapping punches I think Marciano would win the exchanges, he was harder to hit with consecutive punches and also had a better chin.

 

Liston was fifteen-twenty pounds heavier than Marciano and a couple inches taller. We're really talking about less than Holyfield/Bowe differences here. Perhaps Liston should win. If you put that much stock in it. I never saw H2H monster in Liston. I also never saw the super heavyweight that was supposedly hiding in the regular-sized heavyweight literal weight and literal height. I mean, granted, I know it's there. I know the fact that he's 6'5 and 240 pounds. But, I could never comprehend it, in the "metaphysical sense" that other posters seem to be able to. So, because Marciano never fought a decent guy who was metaphysically enormous, I give him very little chance of winning a metaphysical battle against Liston. A regular physical battle, I'd call it a tossup, really.