You may be right. But, I can easily see Liston handing Joe a defeat in 67-68. I see Liston as being a poor style match up for Joe. Then, I think Foreman probably would have defeated an old Liston.
I didn't start the thread but thats a good point, its all academic I suppose!!! Now were getting into the Twilight Zone.... OK, assume Sonny doesn't die in 1970. I still don't see him holding out until Foreman is ready to challenge him in (say) '72.
Someone may have defeated him at some point, but I think a guy like Frazier is just made for Sonny, no matter how old.
1970-71 I could see the older, big punching champ being forced to fight at a pace he's uncomforable with and dropping a decision to Frazier.
My gross take: -Liston stays as champion up to 1969-1970 (he doesn't die yet in this alternate universe) -Frazier becomes the new champion around 1970-71 and cleans out the division -Foreman grills Frazier 1973 in the same way that it did in real life, he doesn't lose his self confidence because Kinhasa never happens, matures as a boxer, and reigns as undefeated champ for the next few years And here comes my big guess: Holmes arrives in 1978 and challenges Foreman. But, I think that a mature, self-confident, improved and more experienced Foreman has a real chance of stopping Holmes and staying as champion for some more few years, perhaps until the beginning of the 80s.
Judging by the previous posts, the consensus is Liston dominates in the 60's. The first 2 or 3 yrs. of the 70's goes to Frazier and the rest of the decade would be dominated by Foreman. In this scenario, I guess Holmes would not really be out of the picture then.