Tyson Fury Versus Sonny Liston

Boom, hurt, hurt, boom, boom down and out!

 

I agree, Fury is extremely underrated here. There are a lot of double standards when it come to him and Wilder here. For example, Wilder at age 38 (coming off two back to back brutal beatings and KO''s no less), was never better than when he lost to Parker and Zhang while Joe Louis and Larry Holmes were decrepit old men when they lost to Marciano and Tyson respectively at that same age.

I try to avoid threads involving them because you're not gonna see any objectivity whatsoever even among otherwise excellent posters.
However, I think most other than the diehard old-timers accept that Fury was much better than the likes of Willard and Carnera.

 

He’s not wrong, Fury is smarter and far more versatile than Liston.

 

Well one would hope so.

There are not many heavyweight champs who were never stopped or KOd.

He has been down a lot ( Wilder for all his shortcomings was an absolutely lethal puncher) but has always got back up.

He is not an easy knockout for anybody despite what many now say on here.

 

Fury is not "my guy" I have heavily criticized him in numerous threads and in this very thread said there's many scenarios where Liston may beat him.

Punch versatility is not a random or meaningless category. Ruddock could end up losing to Douglas despite the fact they're the same size because of Ruddock's lack of versatility.

 

Good post even though i have a different take on it. But i respect where you are coming from.

The punch variety is the only thing i would respectfully disagree on. Fury is not a genuine switch hitter IMO. Guys like Hagler and Crawford can switch hit because they could/can throw powerful backhands from their opposite stances. For example, Hagler could throw a decent orthodox straight right backhand and Crawford can throw a solid orthodox right hand as well.

Fury, on the other hand, does not know how to throw a powerful southpaw left hand. Him switching confuses some opponents but he is not an offensive threat from a southpaw stance. He neither throws a powerful straight left nor a powerful right hook from the southpaw stance. Him switching confuses low level opponents but against good opponents, they read right through it. Its why Usyk attacked him and clipped him badly in round 4 of their second fight when Fury switched southpaw. Usyk knew Fury couldn't hurt him with his southpaw left. If Fury had a strong southpaw left, Usyk would have been very hesitant in coming in so quickly.

Liston only fought in one stance but he had a great left hook, a great jab, a powerful right cross and a powerful right uppercut. 4 great punches. Fury only has 3: jab, right cross and right uppercut.

I agree Fury is being underrated and i don't have a problem with people picking him to win but i don't think he has more punch variety. I think he is offensively ineffective when switching.

 

This is a well written argument backed up by easily verifiable facts on film. I'll retract the versatility argument and say this is a roughly 50:50 fight if Fury is focused and in shape with a strict ref. Otherwise, it's all Liston. He has better fundamentals. Fury's southpaw stance is more of a distraction as you put it now that I think about it.

 

Tyson seems like he would have a frustrating style, but the again—Sonny was so accurate and devastatingly conscious when it came to how and when to hit a guy. A master boxer and a puncher, never one without the other.

 

Fury is actually capable of throwing punches from very strange angles. Perhaps it's because he doesn't have much muscle mass, unlike someone like Joshua, who is stiff.

 

I love Liston but I do think that Fury has a VERY favorable matchup here. He's probably the best heavyweight that I'd favor him against.