Would Ali beat a prime Liston?

I don't think they were bad scores except for maybe the third one. It irritates me that we never really got to see them go it at their best. I really believe that Liston was better than Foreman and Frazier.

 

News to me. I had it 3-3 at the stoppage. Ali won his rounds more decisively though.

 

Same here.

 

Clay was a better fighter than Liston. So yes.

 

Liston was coming off of the Patterson wins before he lost to Ali so it's foolish to say that he was past it.

 

He'd been ducked by Patterson so long, by the time they finally fought, he was past prime.

 

I think Liston is very good from a technical standpoint, too. His power tends to overshadow this, but he has very good fundamentals in my opinion.

 

Totally agree.

 

Ali just can't lose to anyone, ever, can he? It's just not allowed. I get it, now.

 

I honestly don't know.
I know I wouldn't bet money on such a fight. I would advise no one else to.
I wouldn't bet against a prime Liston vs King Kong.

 

Well, he had a shoulder injury for the first fight and the second fight was one of the most poorly officiated fights in history, regardless of how far he was past his peak.

 

This. :deal

 

Ali can do no wrong.

Any whipping he took was either because he was coming out of exile, it was a stylistic mismatch or he was a shell of the real Ali.

The idea he simply got his ass beat is unthinkable.

 

It seems so.

 

Up to 1964, the only fighters that really gave Liston any trouble were "movers":
Marty Marshall, Eddie Machen & Cassius Clay / Ali. Cleveland Williams could move to some degree...and the biggest mistake was "hurting" Liston and moving in to try to finish Liston off. Liston respected Williams the most: "Cleve could hit as hard as I could....he just couldn't take it like I could".