Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I'm not going to argue with what anyone thinks regarding who would win. But Liston being too big, & too strong? He was 6 feet tall, and 215lbs in his prime. He would have been the smallest opponent (other than Chris Bryd), that Wlad has fought in the last 12 years.
He also had an 82" reach with a hard powerful jab. Beat a lot of good boxers in his prime and only lost to the best (of course there was other losses too). Wladimir does not have Ali's speed, movement, or psychological intimidation. Liston would KO Wladimir.
I thought it had been proven via modern video technology that the punch did connect, whether it was enough to keep a man like Liston down seems to be the argument these days.
He would have been small, yes. But comparing hime to Byrd is foolish. Liston was a natural heavyweight, just like Foreman. Huge hands, huge wrists, huge body. I don't care about what a scale says, you know a natural heavyweight when you see one. Liston was a natural heavyweight and he was also naturally strong. No fake muscles or bloated weight like the Davide Hayes or even Wlad to a certain extent. He was also a pressure fighter, which Wlad hates.
Wlad. No question. Tyson would have a chance against Wlad because of his speed, but Liston was much too slow. Death by jab after jab followed by overhand right.
yeh i agree [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Wev6OgMGI[/ame] you can see in the slow motion bit that is does hit.... but to be honest i think he didnt really want ali for the second time....
I'm not commenting on your opinion on who would win, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Regarding the reach. If Liston had an 82 inch, that's only 1 inch more than Wladimir, and with the height difference there would be no reach advantage for Liston.
I agree that he was a natural heavyweight. But in terms of height and weight, he is just about equal to Bryd. Liston had bigger hands, & wrists, & body. Bryd definitely didn't have fat on him...so does that mean Bryd was more muscled? If Liston has the hands, wrist, & body advantage, and Bryd is not fat, what makes them the same weight? See what I mean? We could go round and round regarding this. The point is, Wlad would have 6 inches in height, and around 35 pounds of pure muscle on Liston. Wlad does not have bloated or fake muscle, how you can post something like that amazes me.
If this era's poor man's Sonny Liston could trouble Lennox Lewis in their first fight(yeah I know Lewis was out of shape and unfocused, but Rahman also had the right gameplan that set up that KO. Utilized the jab alot, especially to the body/chest, and then took advantage of the opening created upstairs with the right) Then Liston, who is lightyears better than Rahman could trouble Wlad too. Wlad never faced a jab the calibre of Liston's. Sonny had devastating power in both hands and wasn't shy about going to the body. Wlad could hang in a jabbing contest but when everything else starts flying out of Liston's kitchen(and when he also walks through Wlad's best shots) things will get ugly. There's no shame in this, it is Sonny Liston afterall. The one style that gave him hell was Clay/Ali's and Wlad fights NOTHING like that(nor does he seem as crazy to Liston as Clay/Ali did) And the scale/measuring tape showing tremendous physical disadvantage for Liston is very deceiving....the man was very strong. By this logic he should have went life and death with Cleveland Williams. The fact that he soaked up a puncher like Williams' best punch(and Nino Valdez, a man who Rocky Marciano's management steer him clear of) scared alot of fighters back then.
Wlad does not have bloated or fake muscle, how you can post something like that amazes me.[/quote] I didn't post something like that. You should really read more closely. I said that to a certain extent Wlad's muscles are not natural. That is, he is naturally a man with an average sized body type. He does not have huge legs, wrists or a neck. That would make him an ecotomorph. Do you know what that means...look it up! Liston, on the other hand was a pure mesomorph. A big man with big hands, wrists, legs, neck, etc. He didn't have to lift weights to put on muscle. He was naturally strong. And while Wlad may be naturally strong, weightlifting, not nature, has allowed him to gain those 30 pounds of muscle you speak so lovingly about. That means that they are naturally abou the same size.