I see this fight as one of the most explosive fights that could ever be made (if you could turn back time). I pick Liston by KO in round 6 and heres why - Mike Tyson knows only one direction and thats foreward. He loved to slip punches and get in close to throw his deadly hooks and uppercuts to destroy his opponents. I truely believe that Liston is probably the only HW of the pre Tyson era (besides Ali and possibly Foreman) who could defeat a prime Mike Tyson. Sonny Liston at 6'1.5" with an 84 inch reach has a height and very big reach advantage over Tyson. Both men weighed 218 pounds in their primes. I believe that Liston hit hard enough and accurately enough to catch Mike coming in, and eventual knock Mike out. I see Tyson getting in some good shots and maybe even winning a round or two, but Liston's chin was just as hard as his punch. I know many of you will throw the 2nd Ali fight at me and say he had a glass jaw but that fight was fixed worse then the watergate scandal and Liston took a dive. Barring that catastrophy Liston was never really hurt by any other HW's punching power. Ali himself has said that Liston was the most powerful figher he ever faced, even hit harder then Foreman. With all the physical attributes, and fighting styles factored in I can't see any other result then a mid-round KO win for Liston. The main reason's are that Mike Tyson was super aggressive, and Sonny Liston had the dynamite in his fists and the granite chin which together would be enough to stop Tyson. Many of Tysons opponents had great chins, and many had good punching power, but none of them (until Lennox) really had both. This fight could go either way and its a case of who lands the first real damaging blow, but in my mind I believe Sonny would prevail in a fight where both men take a seat on the canvas and a definite fight of the year candidate. What do you think, who would win and why?
Well Liston was also KO'd by Martin, albeit later in his career. But that aside, I could image Liston beating Tyson because a prime Liston was a much better fighter than the versions who fought Ali, by then he was well into his 30's and to this day his exact age is unknown. Liston is also known to have one of the hardest jabs in history, and had a reach about the same as Lewis, in addition since he spend years in prison and was mob connected, generally scared the hell out of a lot of tough guys. So he had the potential to beat Tyson, whether he would or not, I don't really know.
