Why Does This Forum Love Sonny Liston

I like Liston.

Always have always will.

 

So we agree Foreman wasn't an ATG.

 

Lol.

 

Because Sonny was a beast, and I doubt anyone since Jack Johnson overcame more obstacles to a heavyweight belt than Sonny Liston.
A brutal upbringing , prison , being ducked, avoided , and shamed as an ex con . I agree with Emanual Steward who believed , Sonny was much older than was known. Even after becoming the heavyweight champion of the world he was still hounded by the press, law enforcement and the mob who had him throw the 2nd Ali fight. And please he did throw that fight, one glance at him wallowing on the mat proves it. I rank Liston very highly, it takes a fighter with footwork ,boxing skills and lateral movement and quick hands to beat him. Anyone who stands in front of him for long will be in for serious trouble and I include Foreman on that list
A clear top 10 of all time

 

What I find interesting is Liston also gets rated above Wladimir Klitschko as well.

 

Both are great though I certainly rank Tyson higher. It's strange that Tyson had much the same blueprint for a career as Dempsey but with much better victims, yet Dempsey is the one constantly lauded and mythologized and Tyson is remembered more for his post-prison run.

 

Mikey didn't want any of an old Foreman,,, he wouldn't want Sonny either , I agree Liston would execute Tyson,

 

No I consider the teachings of NoNeck university to be heretical in nature.

 

Vibes mostly his actual resume and in ring performance isn't that impressive tbh.

 

Liston is clearcut top 20 material. He really needed to at least give Ali two really rough fights if wanted to live up to his aura. Beating a handful of contenders in a terrible era and Patterson isn't really top ten material if you turn around and get embarrassed by Ali. Wills should probably be given the nod over Liston because he never blew it.

 

Tysons power is more proven against modern sized heavies.

 

He is a great fighter and he was unlucky to not get title shot earlier which hurts him somewhat and before he died maybe he could stuck around into the 70s and got more wins even though he was getting older by that the 70s and would have quite a few more taken losses to and Foreman and Holmes and Frazier and Ali were still around. I don't rate him as high as many like you though or the era as a whole either and I think there is a extreme of favoritism towards boxers in the 60s.

I agree on the Ali fights. There are rumors Liston was a lot older than claimed but you have to take it how is and I think Liston tanked the rematch.

 

Tyson blows Sonnys consciousness clean out of his corporeal state.

 

Wlad never was afforded a rematch with Fury. Tyson didn't get a rematch with Douglas. Vitali didn't get a rematch with Lewis.

Liston quit in the first Ali fight, still got a rematch, and basically gave Burce Seldon his blueprint for fighting Tyson in that fight. People talk about the late title shot for Liston, but what really hurt his legacy was wasting everyone's time in the Ali fights. He subsequently didn't get big fights after that which hurt his legacy further. Bruce Seldon also couldn't get fights after Tyson.

And for the record, I think Seldon and Liston both got dropped and badly hurt in the first round. Walcott ultimately blew the fight w a WWE level reffing job, but Liston still put himself in a position where he might not have beaten the count in normal circumstances.

@Reinhardt I'm just alerting you to make sure you don't miss the parallels I've drawn between Sonny Liston and Bruce Seldon.