First, an update on this "series". I hate to put too many out in one day, but I probably won't be able to get anymore out for a couple days. I don't want this to take too long, so I'll put this and another thread out now. That will put us over halfway through the 23 I plan on putting out. Once they're done, I'll put up a thread compiling the results. Looks like it will be real interesting. For Sonny Liston, I rank him at #19, just above victim Patterson. You can argue Patterson had a better overall career than Liston despite the one sided drubbings he received H2H, and sometimes I buy that. The main problem is that for much of Patterson's reign, Liston faced better contenders than Patterson, and won more handily than Patterson. He was almost the champion in recess. I rate him as essentially the 2nd best HW of his era (late 50's through early to mid 60's), you could argue #1 for a year or two before Ali came on the scene. Great power, ferocity, and reach, but very poor overall size by today's standards. Was dominant in his wins, and his losses were some of the weirdest in HW history. Actually, this is the only fighter I've done so far that I'm kind of talking myself into a higher ranking for than what I have for him. I don't see top 10 at all, but I guess top 15 would be fair.
I can see putting Liston anywhere from just inside the top 10 to maybe as low as 12-13 or so. Two of his losses came very early and very late in his career. I don't think those 2 fights hurt him much if any. That leaves him with 2 losses which were both to Ali when Liston was in his mid 30s. He ran right through Patterson twice when Patterson was coming off two of the biggest wins of his career. Those are top caliber wins. His 1960 was one of the best years any heavyweight has ever had. 5-0(4 kos) Machen was the #2 contender and Liston beat him Foley was the #2 contender and Liston stopped him in 3. Harris was #6 and Liston stopped him in 1 Williams was #10 and got stopped in 2. All 4 of those wins in one year You add that 1960 with the two blowouts of Patterson and a few other wins he picked up during his career like another Williams ko, DeJohn, and old Valdez and factor in he only had 2 losses that should really count against him(both to Ali) and Liston has a good case for the top 10.
