Sonny Liston is often considered overrated due to several factors. His rise occurred during a transitional period in heavyweight boxing, where many of his opponents were past their prime or lacked skill. His losses to Muhammad Ali raised questions about his mental toughness and ability to adapt in the ring. Liston's success was largely based on physical power, overshadowing his technical flaws like poor footwork and predictable offense. His reign as heavyweight champion was brief, and his legacy has been more shaped by myth than by significant accomplishments, making his standing as a great boxer questionable.
Liston was a strong, technically skilled boxer. I think guys like Patterson, Folley and Machen were skilled. Williams was a fast, hard hitting fighter. The only mark on Liston is that his best opposition were cruisers with same day weigh ins and some could be light heavyweights with day before weigh ins. Even Cleveland Williams could have made cruiser with day before weigh ins, but he still could compete as a modern day heavyweight if he didn’t drain weight. After all, Wilder wasn't much heavier than Williams but he was a few inches taller. But boxing has weight classes not height classes.
His offense was so predictable that he was able to knock out Patterson twice in one, back to back. Are we gonna say that Foreman is overrated next?
He was a highly formidable opponent for a few years where he would have been a head to head problem for a lot of people. His legacy is somewhat overrated though. He was a short lived champion with a title fight record of 2-2 against the same two opponents. Much of the strength of his resume came during his pre-title winning streak which was admittedly good. Some of those contenders were solid while others carried little weight. Very dangerous fighter but I don’t rank him as high as some do
The timing was all wrong for Listons title reign. If Liston had won the title in 1958 and beat the same opposition and reigned until 1964, he would have been remembered as a dominant champion. But Cassius Clay was the fly in the ointment, the proverbial banana peel that Liston slipped on. If Cassius Clay just became a factory worker instead of a boxer, Liston probably still reigns until the late 60s or perhaps until 1970 when an old Liston is dethroned by a Leotis Martin or even a hungry Joe Frazier.
Meh. It also didn’t help that he only fought once between 1962-1964. That and many of those would be title fight challenges from 1958 onward would have been slim once Machen, Folley and Williams were out of the way.
IGNORE OP HES A TROLL @BoxingFan2002 your opinion aligns with the person who made the post simply to troll me. What does that say about you?
I didn't see it until now, but yeah, he has two messages and three likes, lol (I just got on my computer). Along with the name, it makes sense.
