Would Liston Have Had A Short Reign..?

He faded pretty hard after Ali, I don't see him making it through Frazier's rise to the top

 

Depends when he fights Frazier, if he fought him when he was 34-36, he beats him, if he retires by 37, between when he did fight Ali at 33, and 37 he’d destroy Jerry Quarry and, against Ellis, he’d probably give a few early rounds away getting outboxed because Ellis was nimble, had fast hands and was great on the outside, Liston also didn’t close the distance particularly well and didn’t have a high volume, but he’d clock him at some point because he did have the reach to reach Ellis and would take him out mid rounds.

 

IMHO Liston's reign should have started a year or two earlier.
Liston was supposed to fight the winner of the first fight, Patterson Vs. Johansson.

 

We do not really know how old Sonny Liston was. That makes estimating his reign, without Muhammad Ali around, very difficult. Sonny Liston did have the style to hold off a young Joe Frazier if his skill set mostly remained with him. If matched somewhat carefully it is certainly possible he could have gone on until the Leotis Martin fight, but I believe his skills would have eroded enough before that for someone to get him, maybe Joe Frazier, Ernie Terrell, or James Ellis.

 

Who'd beat a focused Liston until Frazier started
really smokin in 1968?
Same can be said of Frazier.
Who beats him if theirs no Ali or Foreman, and
he didn't take the punishment he received from them?

 

The thing is though, there is very little chance IMO of a focused Liston years down the line after he beat Patterson. He immediately began to let everything slide. That’s why Ernie Terrell probably ends up Heavyweight champion of the world around 1966 or ’67.

 

Wouldn't argue against it. Terrell's size
and spoiler tactics could certainly give
Liston problems if he went in not properly
trained and motivated.

 

I would bank on it.

 

To counter this he had to come back and beat Ali after losing to him, an Ali getting better and better and better. If someone else beat him it's FAR more likely, after getting that wake-up call, that he can get them back in the ring and prevail.

So for me it all depends on how old and age affected he really was.

 

If that happened though you’d still be interrupting his reign, even if he won it back. At most I’d say we’re looking at a couple of years as champ, maybe three or four, before Terrell or maybe Frazier gets him. Liston was a notorious bludger & getting up there in years.

 

On one hand there weren’t really any contenders around in the mid sixties who looked like they could have beaten him and some had already lost to him. On the other, he seemed to be aging fast and really wasn’t an active defending champion. Joe Frazier, Jimmy Ellis and Jerry Quarry wouldn’t emerge as serious title challengers until around 1967-68. Ernie Terrell is the only potential fighter I can see posing a threat to Liston perhaps around 1966 and by then who knows what would have happened

 

It would have to be an incredibly bad version for Terrell to beat him. Terrell never beat a puncher in his life.