http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1071618/index.htm ps Anyone know if Liston-Dejohn or Liston-Summerlin I (supposedly fought live on national TV) was filmed?
Thanks for that Suzie ,very interesting,to hear Sonny did all the damage with his underated right hand.
Liston's right hand is underated. It was a clubbing right by defintion, but it was arguebably the most powerful right hand in history...when it landed, the other guy either went face first out cold(westphal) or went flying across the ring(Bethea, Williams, Dejohn, Patterson)....Liston's trainer willie reddish really helped liston develop the right...it went from a push to a clubbing snapping knockout blow. Liston's right hand was very accurate and was a killer to the body.
Yeah, accurate and devastating but he was slow in bringing the straight right across. Fortunately he had a bit of variety with that hand, and his shorter punches were much more dynamic.
The straight right he connected with on bethea was not slow(listons peak fight)....I think Liston's right got a little ponderous as he got older, but when he was younger at his best, he threw his punches with quick like speed...they got to there targets fast and when they did they destroyed the target. The targets were usually young prime top contenders coming off there best wins.
Liston vs Bethea from two camera angles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZkFNdPkdI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZQRExcO9aA It's interesting that Liston only weighed around 205 lbs for this fight.
Liston weighed just 204lb, never looked so fast and sharp. Mcgrain, take a look at :55 and :56 of top clip, Listons straight rights down the pipe were fast.
Great link SQ! I've gotta go to a staff meeting now but your link seems to have a bunch of other articles available. Hope to go back in tonite and look around.
