Sonny Listons height and reach

I don;t know if Liston had reach of 76 or 84", he still is one of most overrated boxers in history. Reach is just wingspan, and fighters use legs to get close, or slip punch to reach a guy. OK, Liston had a 100" reach--ok? And he still could not beat most heavy champs. Still almost was ko'd by light heavy marty marshall, still had below average record for a champ. If people want, give him 200" reach.

 

"He was the single biggest man...of the not-particularly-big men that I've ever seen in my entire life."

~Don Dunphy, January 1995 Field & Stream

 

He was probably the same height as Samuel Peter -- 6'0 1/2". In fact, he was built similar to Peter, as well. Both stocky guys with deep chests. But Peter, of course, carried more weight!

 

You must be dyslexic. It was 1380.

 

Las Vegas

Autopsy Report listed Charles 'Sonny' Liston at 6' 1"

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=..._YD4BA&usg=AFQjCNGFs4Jh5K304EkBX3wdwPkopbY6gw

 

Solid point

 

Liston was as tall as the regular 1950s heavyweights only he had longer than usual arms and bigger hands. Even on film you can tell against men as tall as himself Sonny has the longer arms. Nobody but a taller fighter could match his reach.

However, Sonny was shorter than all the 6'3'' guys who came later.


In the 1960s Ali was tall. By the 1970s ali was not tall anymore. Liston was not tall in the 1950s.

If Hasim Rahman trained in the 1950s he would look like Sonny Liston.

 

Liston' reach was really incredible. Look at this picture here:

This content is protected

 

People get too hung up on these "Tales of the Tape". I've seen many different numbers for many different fighters.

IMO, Liston did not have an 84" reach. I also think that Ali's reach was not only longer than 79", but actually longer than Liston's. Liston was about 6' tall, maybe a 1/2" taller at the most. Ali was considerably taller than Liston.

Even if Liston had an 84"... when you are 4 1/2 - 6 1/2" shorter than guys like Lewis, Bowe, W. and V. Klitschko, that reach is minimalized a bit vs. these taller men. Who's more dangerous, a 5'5" guy with an 80" reach or a 6'5" guy with a 68" reach? Looks weird either way, but I'll usually take the taller guy considering their skill level is about even. If you believe all the "Tales of the Tape" you will believe that Foreman only had a 1" reach advantage over Bert Cooper. My point is that a long reach doesn't really mean you have an advantage.

I'm sick of the overrating of Liston and school girl type crush some people have on him. He wasn't built like a bodybuilder, far from it. He didn't look like Lee Haney or even Larry Scott and Sergio Oliva ... who were elite bodybuilders during the 60's. He was a bulky guy and bigger than most he fought. That wouldn't be the case today. He'd look pretty small actually. Someone mentioned Rahman. Rahman is 2" taller, reach is at least as long, arms; chest; neck; etc. is very close or even bigger. Rahman was still solid at almost 240 Lbs... but better around 230. Rahman looked tiny vs. Klitschko. Don't be fooled by the numbers.


He stopped Folley, and Patterson x2. He decisioned Machen. All small heavyweights. Cleveland Williams ****ing sucked! He looked like **** vs. Ali x2. What else did Liston do to make some of you rate him so highly?

 

Cleveland Williams got a title shot while being crippled and having large parts of his intestines removed.
That tells you all about the 60s for hw boxing.

On the night of Nov. 29, 1964, Williams's car was stopped near Houston by a highway patrolman, Dale Witten, who said he was speeding. According to the police, Williams resisted arrest, and the officer's .357 magnum revolver went off in a struggle. The bullet moved across Williams's intestines and lodged against his right hip.
Williams always maintained that while he had been drinking, he had not been drunk and was driving normally. Witten proceeded to drive Williams to an area of Houston that Williams later described as "tough on black folks." As this was segregation-era Texas, Williams became alarmed and Witten drew his .357 magnum on him. Still in the car, Williams tried to grab the pistol and was shot in the lower abdomen.
Williams lay in the street for some time while the police and local whites decided what to do with him. He eventually reached a hospital.
Williams underwent four operations over the next seven months for colon damage and an injured right kidney, which was removed in June 1965. Doctors did not take out a bullet that had broken his right hip joint and caused partial paralysis of some hip muscles.

 

I know all about it. Williams was and still is overrated. He stopped Terrell in early 1962 and drew with Machen in mid 1962... he lost to Terrell (a better Terrell) in their 1963 rematch. He looked like **** vs. Satterfield and Liston x2. He lasted a total of 6 1/2 rounds vs. Liston and Satterfield in 3 fights. He was down 6 times in these fights. All of this happened before 1964. Stopping Terrell, drawing with Machen, and even losing a SD to Terrell is pretty good... but knocking the crap out of Williams doesn't make you great.