sonny liston vs joe louis

its a styles thing, pimp. Schmeling saw the flaw in Louis' defense and exploited it with what happened to be his best weapon, because he was a smart cat (as was Jack Johnson who saw the same thing). Conn was very quick and had the footwork to trouble Louis, you can't hit something you can't hurt it. Liston has very underated speed and mobility, but more in the offensive sense.

It would be a great fight. But the longer the fight goes on, the more I like Louis and I just don't see Liston doing enough damage to end things before Louis gets his game on.

 

I hate this thread, too close a matchup. We have my # 1 vs my # 3. at times this essentially for he is the battle for the greatest heavyweight of all time championship. Both are the epitome of what a heavyweight great champion should be. Both are physically strong can box can punch can jab can take a punch can defend. Liston and Louis are the best boxer-punchers in the history of heavyweight division.

Alot of people think louis would defintley win, but Liston has one of the best possible chances of upsetting a peak louis as anyone in history. Joe louis has never faced a boxerpuncher with the punching skills and jab of a sonny liston. Listons jab would give louis horrible problems(abe simon landed his 82" jab at louis that roughed up louis's face, louis admitted it) and at 84" he would be able to outreach louis and control the fight at all cylinders from the outside. Louis wouldnt be able to work as effectivley with lethal combinations insize cause of listons physical strength, aggresivness and his uppercuts. I do think however that louis is the faster sharper more accurate puncher, and that this will come down to a slugout and louis sharper faster combinations will beat liston to the punch and put him away. louis already been down twice in the fight. I do think louis has to be careful cause a 1958 sonny liston has a good chance of getting louis outta there early. Louis TKO 7 liston

 

quite possibly. i do rate patterson above schmeling, but not walcott. Louis felt walcott was one of elites of all time and picked him to beat the likes of ali.


I rank walcott # 10 Patterson # 16 and schmeling # 18

 

I've always considered this match-up one of the hardest to handicap...Liston was very powerful, but he could also box very well...I think Liston would floor Louis early and hurts him, but Louis gets up and turns the tables in a wild finish...In the exchanges, Louis gets there faster and with power....He'll catch Liston...lesser punchers have caught and kayoed him.

 

How is quitting on your stool against a light hitting loud mouth the epitome of what a great heavyweight champion should be?

 

Louis is overall the greater fighter but in a head-to-head situation there's extremely little between 'em. This one is a very tough call and for once I'd be hard pushed to pick a definite favourite either way.


My consensus: Liston early, or Louis late. In addition either fighter could edge the other out on points. :good

 

Louis wins because he was better in almost every department.

And to the couple of postors here who have said Louis was "nearly knocked out by Billy Conn" I say that is BULL****.

 

I just couldn't resist.

 

What in god's name justifies Liston as being rated on anybody's top 3 list? The guy was a good fighter, but 1 title defense and only a handful of wins over ranked fighters, does not warrant a number 3 rating.

 

There might have been foul play involved so we can't speculate too much. Its no secret that liston was contolled by franke carbo and the mob.


im talking about styles. liston and louis could do it all.

 

Actually I considered moving liston up to my top 2. Liston is one of the most underated heavyweights of all time. He accomplished alot, with very few flaws in his resume, he dominated top opposition, and what it boils down too head to head I think he beats nearly all heavyweights in history outside of a couple.

he was a great fighter

Listons 1 title defense is misleading, because he should have gotten a title shot in 1958, and so he would have been champ for 4 years and had numerous title defenses. Damato ducked liston for years.

also, liston already cleaned out the division pre title, so there was no one left to fight once he won the title. listons domination 1958-60 is reminisint of tysons incredible dominance cleaning out the division 1986-88.

only a handful of ranked fighters? I dont know about rankings, but I do know liston beat 4 of the top 5 heavyweights of his era (cleveland williams, zora folley, eddie machen, floyd patterson) not to mention nino valdez, mike dejohn, wayne bethea, johnny summerlin.

Liston fought and dominated all the guys no one wanted to face(valdez, williams, folley, machen). Liston fought everyone regardless of color

 

if they fought 5 times i would pick liston to win at least 3......louis is quicker but listons reach advantage would offset that just enough so that his jab would be the more affective of the two. i would pick liston to win by ko and cash in on the odds against him