Sonny Liston vs. Jersey Joe Walcott

I have Liston. I believe the great jab and barrages to the torso (which will be thrown and will do damage regardless of accuracy) will offset the great footwork and countering of Walcott. It would be brilliant to watch. Liston was just better imo, no disrespect meant at all to Walcott, a fantastic boxer, best footwork ever in heavyweight history most likely.

 

Liston by decision. I can see how people could envision Walcott winning though. Walcott's accurate punches would pay dividends. however, I think liston's combos and jabs would get to Walcott eventually regardless of Walcott being such a great defensive fighter. Liston's reach would also come into play here.

I think that Walcott would do well though.

 

Liston by KO

Walcott was not very good.

 

Liston by KO

 

Louis, Marciano and Charles all discovered this was a bogus opinion.

 

I think walcott (on his best day) goes one better than burt whitehurst and can beat Liston through being slick and timing him. Thats not entirely discounting sonny's chances, liston can hit as hard as joe louis but was he as fast? elmer ray was a big man and so was baksi, walcott had seen it all before and he hit plenty harder than the men who knocked out Liston.The best version of Liston could not knock out machen who spoiled all night - walcott was the ATG spoiler though and he banged harder then machen.Its a 50-50 fight but if it is his best day walcott is better than anyone liston beat, he has the class to do it.

 

Walcott ,and Charles for that matter ,were not highly regarded during their reigns ,or for a considerable time after.
It is only comparatively recently that they have acquired higher status.

Louis had slid noticeably when he faced Walcott.

 

A lot of fighters weren't. It doesn't mean anything to me now though.

 

I'm fully accepting of the possibility that a peak jersey joe (basically that 5 years he was a full time hw and consistently a top contender or champion) would move ahead on points vs a peak sonny liston (60-64). Jersey might even make liston look foolish at some points in the fight sticking to the outside and jerking his way in and out of range landing combinations from any angle.

At some point in the fight, maybe even the championship rounds, liston will corner jersey and at that moment it's over.

My pick is a come from behind ko.

There's every chance ofcourse that a peak liston quits on his stool rather than stalk for the knockout but this is how I see it going.

 

WHy do you frame your debates with distorted facts out of the gate ...Tyson may have been a half inch shorter than Marciano. Were they the same size as well ? Size is not simply measured by height. Liston had ten inches in reach and twenty one pounds of muscle on Walcott . He was a far more powerful man with a huge reach advantage.

AS far as a fight goes Joe matches up much better than Rocky does but I see Sonny ultimately beating him similar to Machen .. Walcott would be cute and have his moments but he was not the bravest guy in the world, did not take the greatest shot and would survive but lose a competitive , interesting bout ..

 

I'm going to go for Walcott here. I like Sonny, but Walcott proved that he could box a banger for long periods. There is no doubt in my mind that Walcott beat Joe Louis 1st time around, and he was also outboxing him in the second fight before Wong stopped. He was also ahead on the cards before Rocky caught up with him.

He would time Liston all night lMO, and evade him with his better footwork and slickness.

The only thing I'd worry about is Walcott's tendency to either fall asleep in fights, or gas late on. Liston could well capitalise on this and knock joe out. But I don't think Liston hit as hard as Louis or Rocky.

Walcott by decision for me

 

I agree he would be hard to trap .. Joe was slick and crafty and could sock ... My thought is that he would have to take a lot of risks to do so enough to decision Liston and that would expose him to a lot of punishment ... it's one thing to box and clinch a man with a 67" reach ... another when you have to work your own way inside a huge reach disadvantage to be effective ... either way I do agree he is a very interesting challenge ..

 

Good Post!:good