Rocky Marciano vs. Sonny Liston

yes, a good example. In these situations you cant blame a fighter for seizing the moment. nothing brings the best out of a predator than the sight of a wounded animal. A well focused fighter can sence the weakness of his victim instinctively. He can smell it and will strike imediatley. Makes the winner look twice as good and the loser twice as bad.

 

You want to know what's embarrassing fool?

I have an 80 plus year old Spanish lady neighbour, and she has NO vested interest in boxing at all, and no feelings about it one way or another, but I showed her the clip above and asked her what she saw.

" El pequeno esta asustado " was her reply.

When I told her that pontificating egotistical fools spend pages coming up with garbage cliches like " styles make fights " when watching that and similar instances, she chuckled, left the fresh baked bread she makes, and went home shaking her head.

That is what is embarrassing, being so fvcking blind, you are unable to see the wood for the trees.

As for who wins out of Marciano and Liston? Sonny unless the mob tell him otherwise, not that I give a **** either way, as both left a lot to be desired in their styles.

 

Both in their primes, hard call Rocky would have to get by arguably the hardest jab in boxing history. One thing is certain, the judges wouldn't be needed

 

This wouldn't go well for Rocky imo. Liston would keep him at a distance with his jab and if Rocky somehow got past that Liston would bust him up badly on the inside. Liston stops him in 4 rounds imo.

 

Stylistically this is a nightmare for Rocky ,and a Xmas present for Sonny."we've got this brave little guy who comes at you all night Sonny,he doesn't know the meaning of the word retreat and he is prone to cuts,you'll have nearly 30 pounds on him and16 inches of reach.Do you want to take the fight or wait for a 6'3" quick stepping jabber you'll have to chase instead?

 

Liston will likely drop Marciano but I think Rocky would weather the storm and fight fire with fire. He slowly dismantles Liston and knocks him out late on.

I don't know what would break first. His mind or his body.......

 

I won't write Marciano off in this, but I'd be betting on Liston to win, probably by mid-rounds KO/TKO.

 

That is sort of how I see it Rock could get close sometimes , but not enough times in my opinion

 

This is pretty much how I see it.

You never count Rocky Marciano out entirely, but a Liston win is the probable outcome.

 

Sonny wins this at range and inside ,and that's no disparagement of Marciano,he would do the same with
Frazier.

 

Marciano`s head movement was good, I watched him lean back away from a number of Louis`s jabs, I know it matters that Joe was old but still! One difference though Liston`s jab was much longer than Louis`s.

 

Rocky didn't slip many of Louis' jabs,he said himself," I just had to take them".

This content is protected

 

Maybe because he felt that Louis had lost his power like you alluded to earlier? Marciano wasn't just a puncher, the guy had fighting intelligence too.

 

Marciano would be an unpopular choice to win this match up.

Liston presents problems it's true, but at world level Sonny quit. In championship fights he was 2-2 and is therefore not the certainty many would like to think he is against great fighters.

After all, We must also remember Charles Liston was knocked down and beaten by lighter punchers than Marciano. Let's not forget that because it is the truth. Marshall, Ali and Leotis Martin all either knocked Sonny out or decked him even though neither are rated as dangerous punchers.

It may be true Sonny did do well with the kind of advantages he had over guys the size of Marciano. Though crucially none of them where remotely as durable or hit as hard as Rocky. So things like this must be factored in before Rocky is entirely written off.

There is even a real case that the 1951 version of Joe Louis beats all of the guys Sonny Liston beat. And 1951 Joe Louis was as big as Liston.

Once you get past a frozen Patterson (who lets face it, never turned up at all against Sonny) the remaining resume of Liston is rather slim pickings. Guys all champions will beat.

For all of that Sonny would still be favoured by most. This is because no matter how effective and consistent Marciano was at a higher level Rocky still never looked entirely perfect. By comparison Sonny was dominating, with great technique and power. He crushed guys and scared most of them regardless of their current form, smaller size or overall legacies. And most people can't get past that. The eye test.

Where as Rocky was not the image of most people's idea of what a great heavyweight should look like.. Sonny looks like a beast on film.

Out of Rocky and Sonny it is Liston who looks more like a unbeatable champion. But looks can deceive.

On paper, Rocky should not have got past all the guys he did beat but because he did it is silly to entirely rule him out against a man who quit as champion. He proved hard to beat. And he would be hard to beat here.

So how do I see the fight go?

I think Rocky has too much heart. He would get off the floor to stand up to Sonny. Inside Sonny would lose some leverage with Rocky borring in. He will hurt Rocky but not with his full power. Outside, The kind of jabbing that Sonny used was more effective on taller upright fighters. It's harder to knock back a side on croucher when you are jabbing down. The crude rhythm breaking strategy Rocky used was invented to eliminate the advantage of longer arms anyway. It worked. It seemed nobody ever did successfuly read the sequence, distance or angle of punches Rocky used. And i don't think Sonny would either. I don't see quite the seasoning and experience in Liston to overcome things not going his way against a great fighter. Two handed power from a better hitter than Sonny ever fought. So I envision Sonny getting frustrated and ground down late into the fight. Eventually punches harder than Martin and Ali had will deck Liston.