Sonny Liston vs George Foreman

Liston has no chance of keeping Foreman behind his jab, while his jab was more consistent than Georges it was cetainly not good enough to keep George off of him. Liston has no chance in an all out slugfest with Foreman, nobody does.
And Sonnys speed was not impressive at all even in his prime, he was a little bit faster than Foreman but the diffrence wouldn't be a very noticeable.

Actually I'd say stamina would be Listons big shot here, if he could absorb enough of Georges blows, he could tire him out and possibly take him out late

 

Not sure I agree. Liston didn't tire as quickly as Foreman, could take a shot - two wins against (a non-shot) Cleveland Williams - and was less of a quitter than some people have made him out to be (eg his first fight with Marshall). And defensively not bad at all - not the best maybe, but light years ahead of a '70s Foreman.

For me, I narrowly favour Liston to win this. Considering that he would outbox his opponent, could defend and take a good shot and hit harder (much harder) than Lyle, I see this is a stoppage for Liston, mid to late.

 

You don't give very much thought to how boxers styles match up, do you.

 

Styles always play a big role.

In this case we are matching a slugger agast a boxer puncher.

That should be your starting point in making a prediction.

 

No, it wasn't. Take a look at any of the film we have of either man it his prime. Sonny's is faster, harder and comes from behind a much longer reach. No contest.

 

Which is usually the unmistakable sign of a Foreman fanatic, which this site has tons of.

This I will give you. GF had an excellent jab when he chose to use it. But you're the first person I've ever seen say that Foreman has a "better" jab than Sonny.

There is NO punch in Liston's arsenal that is "slower" than Foreman's. "Softer"? That is so far off the mark that I hardly even know what to say to that one. And anyone can watch either man to see that Sonny's reach is so much longer than Foreman's that there literally is no debate there.

Guess we'll just have to do the famous "agree to disagree" thing here. No hard feelings :cheers

 

Yet every single person who shared a ring with both said that Liston hit harder.

 

Liston stops George in about three rounds ... Liston is vastly underrated by many, forgotten by most ... a much better fighter, he could match Foreman on strength and power and had far superior boxing skills, speed and defense ... it would be brutal ..

Liston has become the most under rated heavyweight in history because of his bouts with Ali which took place when he was an old man .. likely far older than the 35 plus most admit to ... his domination of Williams, Folley, Valdez, Machen ( who won maybe two rounds in a safety first fight) and Patterson speaks for itself ... he was a tremendous fighter ...

 

woah - did thommo just praise Ali by calling him decent?:happy

 

A weak era ? Do you have a clue about what your writing about ?

 

Tommo, good gravy if you think Sonny's jab was soft I have to wonder if you were ever in the ring? He stepped fully into his jab with all his weight going to the fist. Until Gil Clancey took over Foreman's training and in my opinion messed him up, George did the same as both were helped at times by Sandy Saddler who did this himself. I couldn't tell you whose was the more powerful jab, both were something else at their best.

 

Was there anybody around at the time who you think would have made better opponents?

 

Compared to Liston , no .... on their own merits, absolutely ...

 

When and where? I don't recall this.

In fact I don't recall Liston saying much of anything on the record regarding Foreman.

 

No it wasn't. Both had great jabs, but Liston used his more. Another bollocks comment by the know all!