Sonny Liston vs Rocky Marciano

It's hard to pick because theoretically both of these guys are supposed to smash up aggressive fighters. Moore, Charles, and Walcott were better than Liston's best wins. We saw Marciano fight 15 hard rounds. We never saw that from Liston. The longer the fight goes on, the more it favors Marciano. The longest Liston went was 12 rounds against Eddie Machen who didn't put up much aggression.

If Liston was white I don't think many people would be favoring him. Watch the footage of him and you'll find he isn't this bulldozing buzzsaw that he's built up to be. Excellent heavyweight no doubt, he was big, strong, possessed a stiff jab and power in both hands but he was also slow of both hand foot more than most heavyweights I've ever seen. Fast punches in bunches are what beat fighters like Marciano, Liston's combinations were incredibly slow and could be better described as single punches in conjunction. Liston would be there to be hit by Marciano 100% of the time and I do seriously think they share similar power.

 

If anyone wins late it would be not Liston!
Late fight is Marciano territory!Better say Marciano win late 11 or 12 round by ko!

 

I assume the 3 Marciano opponents you refer to are an old Joe Louis,Ezzard Charles who is best known as a light heavyweight and Jersey joe Walcott on his way to retirement.Which Heavyweight did Marciano beat who were in their prime and genuinely world class?

 

Moore did better against two Liston opponents and stopped them easier than Liston even at very old age!
Liston jab is long but very slow!His jab was not problem because it was not fast and slick like Louis or Ezzard jabs!
The fastest 2nd most explosive?You mean Patterson who was middleweight and scared with glass jaw who said Ingemar punched harder than Liston?Was Patterson known as the HW who was knocked most times in history?
Liston hooks and uppercuts could not catch Besmanoff and Leotis who were not near Rocky power!And Liston is not good inside where his long arms did not work!Rocky would crush his ribbs and arms and Liston would be frustrated!
Only man who would be forced back would be Liston with Rockys overhand right and better stamina and heart!
Liston would finish him like Patterson?Rocky granite chin comparing with glass jaw Patterson who was knocked many times and with Williams who was overrated bum knocked by washed LHW Satterfield and contender Mac Foster?
I know who is hater but Liston would be crushed Late and Rocky would break every his bone in his arms,forearms,ribbs and shoulders and wear him down late!

 

Ezzard Charles was LHW but the best LHW and Walcott won title then and was in his prime!
Louis was so old that won 9 previous fights and 4 were by KO?
Marciano fought best LHW Moore and Charles and won!
Which elite hw Liston beat?He fought almost 70 percent under 200lb fighters and lost against LHW bum Marty Marshall and Leotis Martin!
Charles>Moore>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Leotis>>>>>>>>>Marshall!

 

You still have not mentioned a top class heavyweight in their prime who Marciano beat.He is well over rated not in my all time top 10 list

 

I favor Liston but not easily

 

C'mon George! It's Liston and Choklab. Did you really expect anything less?

 

Liston had reach and power and an inch and a half in size, early rounds Rocky may have to lift himself up off the floor early but once Rocky started the momentum the stamina, pressure and power of Marciano could cause Liston problems.

Marciano would not fear Liston and he would be no doubt the biggest puncher Sonny faced on top of stamina - Sonny's best chances would seem to be early but who knows. What if Sonny gets caught early?

I love the Liston look but he did quit in 2 fights when the going got tough so I don't buy into the slam dunk Liston win that I hear many ecco.

Tough battle for both men with Marciano breaking down Sonny for a Leotis Martin type KO after a brutal battle and both men banged up.

Marciano KO 10

 

"I couldn't avoid avoid those jabs I just had to take them."

I would suggest rewatching the fight (if you even watched it in the first place) Louis even being shot as he was, managed to make it competitive.

Interesting. So Don ******* Cockell who was never much good to begin with can go 9 rounds and give The Rock a run for his money but Liston can't see 5 rounds?

Real objective

Remind me where Liston was at that point in his career?

Certainly debatable. I think Patterson was more skilled.

Rocky did not have the edge in "power punch" and certainly did not have a better chin.

 

I was actually in the middle of debating someone, then they said they scored the fight for Machen! I knew then that it was time to go.

 

That would be a great point if we were arguing about Marciano's eligibility as the greatest heavyweight ever but we aren't. The only fighter Marciano didn't fight that he should have was Nino Valdes and he clearly would have clobbered him. Valdes would have been a much better defense than Cockell and it's a black eye on Marciano's legacy but if that's the worst that can be said then he's doing much better than other champs. Valdes was obscure until he beat Charles then over the next 2 years and 9 fights he beat one top 10 fighter. To me that isn't very deserving of a title shot. Especially when that one top 10 guy he fought was never in a position to be legitimately considered for a title shot. Imo only the top 3 guys of that era were as good as the top 10 of many others.

He defended his title 7 times in 3 years and was one of the more active heavyweight champs in history up until that point. There wasn't a single person that seriously questioned his legitimacy as a champion. Was his title reign the best of any champion up until that point? Not quite but it was one of the better ones. The onus isn't on the champion to prove if ranked fighters are worthy of their status but rather the onus is on the contenders to beat each other until a single fighter sets themselves above the others.

 

If I were you, I wouldn't talk about Moore's performances against Liston opponents. He couldn't KO Howard King in 6 attempts and one of those times, couldn't even beat him! And we know King did so well against Liston right?

Moore also had to settle for an SD in a fight which many thought he lost against Besmanoff. Remind me what happened when Besmanoff got in the ring with Liston.

 

Joe Louis was class heavyweight and LaStarza was also!
Walcott was super class HW!
Only solid HW Liston faced were Folley and Williams!