Would it be smart for Liston to cut off the ring more?

I think it would always be smart to cut off the ring,keeping your target in front of you and applying constant pressure Sonny just never learned to do it consistently as Archie Moore remarked .

 

Seems in a way his stance wasn't conducive for cutting off the ring. At times, his back foot was directly behind his front, almost on a line if you will.. Probably felt more natural moving forward instead of lateral movement .. and maybe giving his build ..he just didn't have the mobility to be a successful cutting off the ring, lateral boxer.. who knows?

 

I think the power of his jab sometimes worked against him because it pushed his opponents head back out of range of the follow up hook. George Foreman said he deliberately discarded his jab which had taken him years to perfect and used a"touch me type" jab to keep Moorer disregarding it and staying in range. He said it broke his heart but it paid off! Of course George was geometrically excellent around a ring.

 

Good point. George also like to blind his opponent with that jab, keeping it in front of their eyes whilst the right hand was already on its way.

 

Sonny liston could fight at distance or up close. If he was able to cut off the ring against ali he would have had a better chance. But liston had a jab that could knock men out, and he knew how to utilize it in a fight.

 

George is probably the best ATG heavyweight at cutting the ring. Watching him walk down Norton was terrifying.

 

Yes it was...like a horror movie!

 

Whether Ali was just blowing smoke or not, he once was quoted as saying he immediately recognized in their fight, that George was an expert at cutting off the ring, and he was going to have to alter his strategy in their Africa fight.

 

I heard/read the same thing; at the end of the first round, he realized he was expending far too much energy - Saddler and Moore had taught Foreman too well - and decided to find another strategy. Birth of the Rope-A-Dope ...

 

Cutting off the ring is always better for a puncher caveat that with Liston opponents rarely gave him a clear reason until Ali......because of his reach I don't think they were able to judge the distance of his reach so easy and still be within punching range themselves but had be been able to cut the ring off he would have been able to deal with Ali's foot speed much easier and his entire style may have been slightly different

 

I'd probably give the nod to prime Mike Tyson but Foreman's definitely up there.