Why does everyone mention marty marshall to attempt to degrade sonny?

I posted that ,I read it in an interview with Liston in an old boxing mag.Liston said he started laughing ,and Marshall hauled off and busted him one,Sonny said he made up his mind to be all business after that.

 

I have a fantastic article that goes into detail on the Marshal, Whitehurst, and Machen matches. I think the other fighter mentioned is Summerlin.

Sonny had his hands full. The comments from his opponents are very interesting, as they feel Sonny was close to cracking.

Maybe I can scan it in later.

 

That would be much appreciated.

 

I know it was pretty early in Liston's career and that Marshall was a good fighter, but should Marshall have stretched Liston like that? The man was basically a small cruiserweight and Liston enjoyed a significant size advantage.
I don't think winning a 10 rounder over a small cruiserweight is particularly impressive, even if the other man came to survive.

 

Foreman had trouble with Peralta, Clay with Cooper at a much more developed stage than Liston, Tyson with Tillis, Holyfield with Cooper - and the list goes on. I wouldn't take any notice of it in the general theme of things, especially considering their subsequent bouts.

 

I concur....any good info on Liston would be helpful.

He didn't get much national press coverage back then, mostly local.

Then he was pushed into the national spotlight with the 2 Patterson fights.

 

Fair enough mate, but I'm talking of their third fight.
I find it a bit odd that Liston was taken the distance by a man he had already knocked out, and by a man he must have been very familiar with already, having fought him twice before.
Also, it was Liston's 15th pro fight so he was not a complete novice anymore.
I wont say any more though until I learn a bit more about their trilogy.

 

Cheers. On the point of the last fight - Marshall was a last minute sub, and Liston won 9 rounds and shared the other. I'd say it's a decent effort really, especially considering Liston might have hardly been inspired given whom he was going to fight and who he ended up with. 9 rounds to nada is a flogging.

 

Remember too Marshall was very definitely a defense oriented fighter.

 

A while back someone posted a report suggesting Liston was favoured against Summerlin, I seriously doubt he was a 22 to 1 underdog.

The only place I've read that Summerlin was 22-to-1 favourite was in Nick Tosches' book, but Nick Tosches book is 95% BULL**** !
More likely, Summerlin had a 22-1 RECORD and Tosches got confused and thought he was "22-1" in the betting.
What do you think ?

 

I was thinking the same thing. 22-1 are ridiculously high odds for someone currently not ranked against a similar up and coming prospect.