Rocky Marciano vs. Sonny Liston

lol Liston ****s him up, plain and simple..

 

　

SERIOUSLY!!! Earlier in this thread I laid out in detail why the uppercut from outside is a hard punch to nail Rocky with. Marciano stands almost side on. He is not square like Frazier. Rockys head is behind the shoulder. Inside Liston can land it but if I was looking for Liston to win it would be with his left hook not the right uppercut from outside. To sugest the right upercut from outside the punch that did for patterson against Marciano is short sighted. Liston is a great fighter and he would have sucsess I just think he wont get to do all that he wants to do here, and he would need to against Rocky. IMO.
　

Liston can fight on the outside and he can fight inside. However rather than keep someone at bey Liston walks opponents down into a range where Rocky can land. I think Marciano will smother Sonny and make it an awkward inside fight where there is a good chance Rocky will outwork, hurt and frustrate Liston. He can grind him down. Obviously Rocky will take grazing shots on the way in but it is an inside fight.

 

Yeah I agree.

Marciano never lost. That doesnt mean he was unbeatable.

These Rocky Marciano threads get rather crazy. People love him I understand but now trying to make him out to be 185lbs Pernell Whitaker is going off the rails in a big way.

 

Liston's jab would make Marciano's life miserable. Tough son of a *****, but prime Liston was a bull in a china shop. Marciano was a man of a time and place, when fighting Light Heavyweights was your best competition at HW. Liston was a true Heavyweight. Too much for Marciano, since Liston will have access to Rocky because of his less than stellar defense. The Liston who fought Ali was not the Liston who chased the championship.

 

Marciano is the most over obsessed and talked about fighter on the board, by both his fans and detractors. It's almost getting worse than Dempsey (Less polarizing in opinion, though).

I think people try to make quite a bit more out of Liston too. His skills were solid. He's just as much boxer-puncher as he is puncher, but he has limitations and flaws. The reality is we don't know quite what to make of him in championship level H2H matchups because of his mental makeup. And it's not as if Liston was some unstoppable force like Tyson. He was ponderous, ploddy, and it wouldn't take necessarily a young Ali to do the job & frustrate. I recognize plenty is overblown with his fight with Machen with was rather one-sided. However, put him in with an ATG caliber HW and see how he deals with it. Vitali, Lewis, Holmes, etc. Barring maybe Lewis, I find it more reasonable for Marciano to overcome Lewis than Liston deal with the frustration of a fighter with the skills, force, jab, and size of someone like Vitali, Holmes, and Ali.

 

Met Liston as a kid in late 1964 when he was training for the 2nd Ali fight...he was training in Plymouth Mass. Met The Rock also as a kid at the Brockton Fair...

 

Why doesn't anyone agree with me that Liston wins by decision? Rocky was too tough to be knocked out, and liston was too methodical to go for the knockout..he loved to sit back, jab, box, and pick his spots.

 

Depends on how much damage he sustains. If Liston gets him in trouble early and smells blood, an all out attack resulting in multiple knockdowns may force the stoppage.

 

Liston was not that much bigger, 20 pounds at heavyweight does not make same difference it does in lighter divisions. No one Liston fought punched as hard as Marciano.


I don't see Liston as great champ, he did nothing as champ, and beat weak guy to win title. After Ali, he did nothing. Before title, he had some good wins, but not many. He is more image than anything else.

 

Remember also that Liston never faced a 2 fisted puncher like Marciano, and don't tell me Cleveland Williams, you know better....I know it would not be easy but the faster guys may have been harder for Rocky and we know when it comes to a war or battle of attrition Marciano very hard to beat. I think we are overlooking Marciano's will to win, respect of a fighter but lack of fear and the fact that he had great stamina.....Marciano was no Big Cat Williams, Marciano was a great fighter......Liston folded and came up short, the reason could be heart,his mind or the Bully cure (a fighter with no fear) does not matter, he just did not pass that test.

 

Sonny was actually more like 30 lbs heavier than Marciano. He had more than a foot of arm reach. His pre-title run was a bit better than what you claim it was too. he basically flattened an entire division of talented fighters, a number of whom were in their primes... And beating a peak Floyd Patterson, was not winning the title from a "weak" champion as you say.

 

:good:good

 

I think Sonny Liston works Marciano over.

He'd be spearing him with the jab at range all night. He could hit Rocky half the ring away, and when Rock got inside, he'd be enveloped by a guy stronger then him.

I think Sonny gets him out of there. It'd be the hardest Rocky was ever hit, and early, it'd be thunderous and repeated. If Rocky made it out of the 5th with his mind and face intact, he would likely last the distance, but I think a peak Sonny has a great shot at mopping Marciano up early.

 

I'm deeply fascinated by Tyson, Marciano, and Liston. May do a thread asking for career breakdowns and whatnot.

That said, I feel Marciano will be willing to push Liston farther than anyone he fought from the physical standpoint. He was spent mentally from Ali but he was past prime and unmotivated though a great win for Ali in an impressive showing.

Liston will stick the jab but I just see Rocky getting the better bodyshots and outworking him against the ropes. His face would be ripped up so it's possible Rocky gets stopped by cuts in 8-11 but can't come up with a prediction as to who would be up by then. Very great fight along with Holmes-Marciano & Frazier-Liston. Liston-Foreman, Tunney-Ali, Tunney-Baer, Braddock-Patterson, Dempsey-Louis, okay ima stop now and wipe off the drool from my face. Man I love ol times even if I wasn't born in em!