Sonny Liston TKO 2 Cleveland Williams 1960 Rematch

A friend of mine saw that fight live.....he got up and went to get a beer..came back and the fight was over.

 

Good knockdown. Liston was really in good shape at 210.

What was Williams best win up until this point?

 

Great victory over a great contender.

 

Williams went 1-1 (1) vs. Ernie Terrell and he fought to a draw vs. Eddie Machen. He was stopped in the 3rd round vs. Bob Satterfield, Sonny Liston, and Muhammad Ali. Liston also stopped him in the 2nd round. He looked good beating up lower level fighters... not so much vs. top fighters.

 

Yes, everything you mention (apart from getting knocked out by Satterfeild) happens AFTER fighting Liston.

What I want to know is what was Cleveland's best win is BEFORE facing Liston that made him a strong contender at that time.

 

Well, my point is that the man was and still is overrated. He had very few wins over decent HWs. He was good at squashing guys who had no chance at victory. The way he berg those fighters compared to others was very impressive. So basically... he was better at beating up bums than a lot of the other HWs at the time.

 

**** victory over a **** contender

 

I agree with this. :good

Williams was also "fearsome" looking, and that seems to go such a long way with many fans and observers of the sport.

 

I think it was even money in Vegas that the rematch wouldn't last three rounds. So why did the one poster, who was there, go get a beer early in the fight? For those who saw the fight, did you catch the one left hook that Sonny unloaded early...that missed. Had that baby landed IMHO it may have 'iced' any Heavy, any era!

 

The fight was in Houston...Cleve's hometown. The Houston populace thought Cleve would do a lot better the second time around. Liston actually had a lot of respect for William's power....and the mystery "burning eyes" stuff occurred in one of the Williams fights, and Machen / Liston also. (pre-Clay v Liston)

 

Big Cat seemed to stun Liston in the 2nd, then they got into a shoot out, with Liston's bigger guns prevailing.

 

I couldn't help but notice how low Williams held his left hand , having said that he did a nice job of catching Liston's jab in the first round, caught over stretching a few times, but Listom chose not to capatalise. Williams then proceeded to land the first big shot of the fight and went hell for leather. It's a shame he didn't learn his lesson after the first fight, maybe the only way he thought he could win was blast Liston out.

 

Just as a side now, Williams had an amazing physique for a guy who never lifted weights. I know he lifted 80 pound bales of hay or cotton.

 

Williams probably could have been a hell of a football player.