Sonny Liston in his prime stopping Wayne Bethea in 1 round

What a monster he was.

 

Liston was slightly past his prime when he got to Patterson.

 

I suppose you do know then ?

 

In 1958 Liston was never going to eclipse what hapened to eddie machen in sweden.

Liston fought wayne bethea in 1958 when bethea had just been beaten by a faded nino valdes in his last fight. In fact bethea had been decked twice in that fight and wayne had only won 4 of his last 9 fights at the time he faced Liston. I dont see how bethea was rated in 58'.

Two years earlier In 1956 bethea had a rating for beating ezzard charles but he soon lost that rating when he went on to lose twice to folley in the same year. I dont think he got a rating again after that.

 

Nino valdes did indeed win a few fights in europe but blew that with a loss against alex miteff, the first rated fighter he met as soon as he came home, right before taking on bethea. valdes was 6-5 in his last 10 when he met Listons Ko victim bethea. The loss to alex miteff no doubt took that spot in the ratings the month he met bethea. Of course by 1959 when Liston caught up with old nino the cuban was 2-3 that year and was taking beatings off of pro football player charlie powell, a journey man. liston vs valdes was a gimmie for sonny.

hmmm, I notice it is johansson that is rated and not Liston in 1957.

betheas record in 1957 was 3-2. he lost to folly for the second time then edged jeff dyer, bert whithurst and a guy called paul andrews on a split decision before taking a pounding from LH harold johnson. so basicly he lost to the only names he faced that that year.
1958 Bethea won one more fight then was hurt bad, decked twice during a 10 round pounding against old valdes before facing Liston. the guy was matched so hard. bethea was not doing very well at that time. he was ready to hit the skids as a fighter, a gimmie for any fighter on the way up.