Sonny Liston vs. Hasim Rahman

Both at their very best.

 

Rahman is 2' taller and about 15-20 Lbs. heavier when both are in top shape. Their reaches were very close.

They both are very strong and have good power. They both have good jabs. Rahman is slightly quicker but Liston is more durable.

Liston beat Patterson x2, Machen, Folley, and Williams x2. He was beat by Ali x2. He was stopped in 3 out of his 4 losses.

Rahman beat Lewis 1 out of 2, Sanders, and others. He drew with Tua and Toney. He gave Tua and Maskaev hell in his losses to them. He really should have went 4-0 vs. these two men. He gave Holyfield some trouble but lost the decision. Prior to his loss to W. Klitschko he was stopped 4 times.

 

I'm not saying Rahman was better than Liston but there isn't this huge gap between them... like many would have you believe.

1st round? No way! Liston stopped Patterson in the 1st round twice and he stopped Folley in the 3rd round. Both were very good fighters but neither were known for their durability, and both were small HWs. Yeah, he stopped Cleveland Williams in the early rounds twice as well... so what? Williams is so overrated it's almost insane. Rahman would have stopped Williams early as well.

Machen gave Liston a competitive fight and went the distance. Machen was a good fighter and a small HW. Early in Liston's career he struggled with Johnny Summerlin twice but won both decisions. He beat Marty Marshall 2 out of 3 but suffered a broken jaw in the loss. Marshall was about 180 Lbs.


Rahman's KO over Lewis tops all of this even if he was destroyed in the rematch.

His KO win over Sanders is also very good. Sanders went on to stop Wladimir Klitschko in the 2nd round and was stopped by Vitali Klitschko in the 8th round after rocking him early in the fight. Sanders was in better shape vs. Rahman.

Rahman's KO over Kali Meehan was decent as well.

He clearly outboxed Monte Barrett. Rahman was not in great shape but Barrett was well prepared. Barrett had become the 1st man to beat Guinn and Beck (KO9) prior to his fight with Rahman. He also lost a MD to the undefeated Mesi that many felt he won. Barrett's last 3 opponents had combined for a 75-0 record.

Yes, Maskaev knocked him out twice... my only point was that Rahman was easily outboxing him prior to the stoppages. In their first fight Rahman went thru the loose ropes and hit his head on the floor. His feet were on the table and his head on the floor... no way he was getting into the ring in time unless somebody helped him (not allowed anymore). In the rematch the stoppage came in the 12th round. Maskaev won both fair and sqaure but he was fortunate to win both IMO.

The stoppage to Tua was Bullshlt! Tua hit him after the bell and hurt him (round 9). Rahman came out for the 10th still hurt (he got no extra time to recover). Tua jumped on Rahman and rocked him and teh fight was stopped. Rahman outboxed Tua in their rematch but it was scored a draw. As the bell rang to end the last round Rahman landed a clean punch that dropped Tua (it didn't count.)

Rahman showed up lazy more than once and paid for it. No way he should have lost to Ruiz or even drew with Toney (I thought Rahman did enough for the win vs. Toney anyway). He had a decent showing vs. a past prime Holyfield.

 

19-4 now... still a landslide though