OK a little morbid lol, but inspired by the "if Foreman never came back ''? What if Liston had tragically died just after his second fight with Patterson? With no loss to Ali, and Liston seemingly to be at the high point of his career, how is he viewed as time goes on. What do you think people would have thought about the never to be fight with young Ali?
he would be the clear favorite, but Ali would probably do his thing. I think that Liston would be top 3-5 in most HW rankings and putting him so high would not be as controversial as it is today. Similarly, we can consider what would have happened if Frazier had ended his career before Kingstom, Foreman before Kinshasa, and Tyson immediately after the fight with Spinks. Each of them would be top 1 to top 3.
Rightly or wrongly his legacy would benefit. He'd be retiring with one avenged loss after the annihilations of Patterson. Untimely deaths give people a historical aura they would not have otherwise had. Hed become a mythic figure. Especially with the longest reach. He would be a common HW GOAT pick. At this point he had 8 really really good wins and without the Ali losses they paint a very different picture. Most people would incorrectly assume Ali couldn't beat Liston and Ali got the belt because Liston died. Liston beat their common opponents(Patterson, Folley and Cleveland Williams) way easier and even if things change due to the butterfly effect that is likely to hold true.
Yes the thought of Ali ever beating Liston would have seemed ridiculous. Especially after Ali s kd against Cooper. Death would have seemed to rob us of a potential long run..
He would be considered an unbeatable monster like Tyson in his prime and no one would've picked Ali to beat Liston especially after the Cooper fight.
"Ali would have gotten finished by Liston under 7 rounds, he got dropped by Cooper of all people." Shows how much we really know about the sport in hypotheticals
His legacy would be better. The fact that he lost to Ali didn’t hurt him it’s how he lost that dropped him so dramatically in the rankings.
That Ali went on to have the career he had, I don’t know about this idea that people wouldn’t still pick him to beat Liston.
The general belief in this Forum and the overall boxing universe would be: "Ali was incredibly lucky because Liston would have murdered him".
